Overview

The US and China both consume large amounts of energy and produce large amounts of environmental pollutants, resulting in climate change, health risks, and other global problems. In response to these shared challenges, the Natural National Science Foundation of China (NSFC) and the US National Science Foundation (NSF) have launched a series of co-sponsored bilateral workshops to foster US-China cooperation and establish new mechanisms to support collaborative research, education, and networking in these critical areas.

This first workshop addressed two major themes: (1) Advanced Solar Cells and (2) Nanomaterials and the Environment. Goals were to:
  1. Identify potential research areas/topics to address shared energy and environmental challenges facing the US and China.
  2. Generate recommendations for addressing these challenges together, including potential jointly funded research projects between the US and China.
  3. Establish active US-China working groups in these areas, as part of the Materials World Network.
The Workshop was attended by more than 60 invited researchers, students and observers from academia, industry, national labs, and government funding agencies in China and the US.

Findings

The primary finding of this Workshop is that solving global energy and environmental challenges will require transformative approaches and new levels of cooperation. Among the key recommendations to emerge from the working group sessions was the establishment of a jointly funded and operated US-China institute that would provide a seamless, sustainable environment for long-term collaborative research, education and networking.

Organizers

  • R.P.H. Chang , Northwestern University, US
  • Duan Weng , Tsinghua University, China
 
Last Updated on Monday, March 21 2011 15:11