On November 8, Dr. David B. Williams, dean of the College of Engineering of the Ohio State University, Dr. Patrick Osmer, Vice Provost for Graduate Studies, and Dr. William Brustein, Vice-Provost for Global Strategies and International Affair, revisited the College of Engineering (COE) to explore partnership opportunities. Following their visit one year ago, the delegation would like to reinforce the relationship built and to continue the conversation on research and student program cooperation. Professor Jianxiang Wang, associate dean of COE and Assistant Professor Antony K. Chen, representative of COE Department of Biomedical Engineering warmly received them.

Williams and Osmer introduced their current international exchange programs, including the 3+2 years’ bachelor and master program in collaboration with Shanghai Jiaotong University, and the dual-degree programs with many foreign universities. They expressed a strong willingness to have research and education cooperation with COE.

Professor Jianxiang Wang talked about the current status of COE in terms of departments, faculty, research areas, and especially the international educational programs. He said that COE cherishes international exchanges, and has formed long-term collaborations with many overseas universities in U.S., Asia, Europe and Canada. He said COE welcomes many forms of partnerships, including but not limited to short-term student exchange, joint degrees, and research collaborations.

Furthermore, Antony K. Chen shared BME’s experience of running the joint Ph.D. program with Georgia Tech/Emory over the past five years. The program was approved in 2008 as the first of its kind by the Ministry of Education in China.

Both parties agreed that there are good potential for cooperation in several areas, and it would be very helpful to organize a joint faculty workshop for deeper communication.