Chancellor Mark Wrighton, James Wertsch, director of the McDonnell Academy and Professor Jean Allman, J.H. Hexter Professor in the Humanities in Arts & Sciences and McDonnell Academy Ambassador to University of Ghana, traveled to the capital city of Accra in Ghana to sign papers making the University of Ghana the first Partner in Africa - and the 28th overall - in the McDonnell International Scholars Academy. Read Wrighton's blog here.
The symposium brought together leaders in the field to not only think of creative solutions to the world's energy needs, but also challenged these leaders to think differently about how these problems are solved. The symposium also challenged students to be the next generation of leaders and keep working collaboratively to solve these issues. Read the full story here.
Read the full story here.
Director James V. Wertsch visited McDonnell Academy partner, the State University of Campinas (Unicamp) in September. There he met with university leadership, faculty and students to discuss future collaboration and exchange. He also met with the leadership of Boeing Brazil in Sao Paolo. Boeing is an active Academy sponsor and helps arrange meetings around the world. For a report on the visit to Unicamp, see More Here.
The McDonnell International Scholars Academy welcomes 16 new students as part of its incoming 2012-2013 cohort, including its first U.S. Scholars. The 2012-2013 cohort includes Scholars from eight countries, pursuing degrees in six of our seven academic divisions. U.S. Scholars are expected to participate in all the activities organized by the Academy in St. Louis and elsewhere (e.g., cohort trips to New York and Washington, D.C.). In addition, they are expected to spend at least 3 months during their time as a Scholar at one of the 27 partner institutions in the Academy. This might involve activities such as working in a laboratory where collaborative research with Washington University is being conducted, fieldwork, or advanced language training at a partner institution. The McDonnell Academy has 49 Scholars in residence.
Academia Sinica in Taiwan and Washington University in St. Louis have jointly organized an international conference on Socioeconomic Determinants and Consequences of Public Health. The conference will be held on June 26-27, 2012, at Academia Sinica, followed by a one-day information tour on June 28. The conference will bring together researchers studying the effects and causes of public health, particularly in the following areas: health and health care over the life course, infectious diseases and socioeconomic development. Edward Lawlor (Dean of George Warren Brown School of Social Work) will give opening and closing addresses along with Chien-Jen Chen of Academia Sinica. Graham Colditz (McDonnell Academy Ambassador to the University of Queensland, the Niess-Gain Professor of Surgery, Professor of Medicine) and Ping Wang (McDonnell Academy Ambassador to Chinese University of Hong Kong, the Seigle Family Professor in Arts & Sciences) are Organizational Committee Co-chairs. Nancy Morrow-Howell (McDonnell Academy Ambassador to University of Hong Kong, the Ralph and Muriel Pumphrey Professor of Social Work) is one of the Program Committee members. Tuan-Hua David Ho (McDonnell Academy Ambassador to National Taiwan University, Professor in the Plant Biology, Developmental Biology, and Molecular Genetics programs) is one of the Steering Committee members.
The Academy hosted a Scholar Recognition Ceremony & Reception on May 19th 2012. Three McDonnell Scholars (Li Chen, Sasithorn Payakanate and Juanyi Yu) gave their speech.
Three McDonnell Scholars' stories were introduced by their home universities' newsletters. Yunzi (Melody) Li’s story was featured by the University of Hong Kong's Graduate School Newsletter in April 2012. To read the story on Melody, click here. The Fudan University Newsletter’s E-Journal introduced the stories of Weijie (Jeffrey) Li and Liu (Jo) Zhang in December 2011. To read the story on Jeffrey and Jo, click here.
Beginning in 2012, the Academy will recruit U.S. Scholars as part of its incoming cohort. U.S. Scholars will comprise up to 25% of each cohort. U.S. Scholars are expected to participate in all the activities organized by the Academy with other international Scholars from partner institutions. In addition, U.S. Scholars will spend at least 3 months during their time as a Scholar at one of the 27 partner institutions in the Academy. This might involve activities such as working in a laboratory where collaborative research with Washington University is being conducted, fieldwork, or advanced language training. To be eligible to apply to the McDonnell Academy as a U.S. Scholar, an individual must be a U.S. citizen and is expected to have spent most of his or her life and earned previous degrees in the U.S. For more information on the admission process, please check our Admission page.
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Time: February 17th, 2012. 4:30 p.m. Professor Han Sung-Joo is Professor Emeritus at Korea University. Prof. Han previously served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs (1993-94), UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Cyprus (1996-97), a member of the UN Inquiry Commission on the 1994 Rwanda Genocide (1999), Chairman of the East Asia Vision Group (2000-2001), Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to the United States (2003-2005), and Acting President of Korea University (2002, 2006-2007). |
Songqiao (Shawn) Wei, a McDonnell Scholar and second year Ph.D. student in Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, went to Antarctica for his fieldwork from December 2011 to January 2012. He traveled from McMurdo Station to Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station with the Prime Minister of Norway, who was attending the centennial celebration of Amundsen’s arrival to the South Pole in 1911. Songqiao’s group was based in the South Pole Station and traveled to each of their seismic stations on the polar plateau for servicing or installation. Songqiao’s group was the first group of people to arrive at the two stations. For this reason, one of the new stations was named after Songqiao as "SWEI".
On Tuesday, December 6th 2011 the McDonnell International Scholars Academy hosted the Circus Harmony – Financial Literacy workshop. This workshop was organized by Fernando Lopez, Ph.D. student in Finance and a McDonnell Scholar graduated from the University of Chile, and his wife Constanza Manzur. This activity provided Circus Harmony students with a 3-hour college experience with the objective to encourage them to pursue higher education as well as to stress the importance of financial planning to attain their educational goals. The keynote speakers of the workshop were Maria Rebecchi, Program Director of the Scholarship Foundation of St. Louis; Yunzi Li, Ph.D. student in Comparative Literature and McDonnell Scholar graduated from the University of Hong Kong; Vivek Shah, PhD student in Chemical Engineering and McDonnell Scholar from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay; and, Masato Hoshi, Research Fellow from Washington University Medical School.
This activity is part of a financial literacy program Fernando and Constanza are providing to students from Circus Harmony. This program involves the development of an individual financial plan for each student in order to help them to develop a financial plan for their life after high school.
Graduate and professional students within the McDonnell International Scholars Academy shared their respective cultures with the general public on Saturday, Nov. 19, in an interactive fair at the Saint Louis Science Center, “Planet Passport: Your Journey to Our Multicultural World.” An estimated 700 people attended the event. During the fair, the scholars showcased the language, dress, history, government, educational systems, and science and technology innovations of more than 15 cultures. Attendees began their journey by receiving a fact-filled passport that could be “stamped” as they visited each booth. McDonnell Scholars also offered three global science and technology demonstrations in areas ranging from robotics to chemistry. The McDonnell Academy and the Gephardt Institute partnered with the Saint Louis Science Center to launch this event.
Up to five PhD students from Taiwan per year will receive full-tuition and living stipend scholarships to attend Washington University in St. Louis because of a recent agreement signed between the university and Taiwan’s Ministry of Education. WUSTL and the Ministry of Education will contribute an equal share to the “Taiwan-Washington University in St. Louis Scholarship” program, which will enroll its first students in fall 2012.
Junchen GU is not waiting for graduation to take on the leadership responsibilities encouraged by the McDonnell Academy. Gu, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Biology and Biomedical Sciences and the Monsanto/Dr. Norman Borlaug Corporate Fellow in the McDonnell Academy, has been appointed president of I-CAN (International Graduate Student Association for Career Development and Networking) for the 2011-12 academic year. I-CAN is a university-wide graduate student association whose mission is the help international graduate students build networks, and develop communication and leadership skills through group project work in an English-speaking, multi-cultural environment. It is serves primarily students who studied outside of the U.S. until beginning graduate studies, and who consequently are less familiar with American culture.
At the same time, Gu will serve as the 2011-12 secretary for the Graduate Professional Council (GPC), the University’s graduate student association that reaches across schools and disciplines to provide all graduate students with opportunities for professional and personal development through social, academic, community, and cultural events.
Wearing yet a third hat, Gu serves as the treasurer of BioEntrepreneurship Core (BEC), whose mission is to promote entrepreneurship among graduate and undergraduate students, faculty and staff in all disciplines sharing an interest in biomedical research and its interface with entrepreneurship. Gu explained that it is his goal to spend the upcoming academic year in service to the University through these various leadership roles. “Hopefully it’ll be a fulfilling and rewarding year," he remarked.
The men's basketball team from Tsinghua University traveled to St. Louis to participate in the Lopata Classic Basketball Tournament at Washington University in the last week of November and first week of December. This is the first appearance of a team from outside the U.S. in a Washington University athletic event, and players from Tsinghua and Washington University spent a very enjoyable week together, practicing and then playing in the tournament. The visit was organized by Professor Frank Yin of Washington University's Department of Biomedical Engineering and the McDonnell Academy's ambassador to Tsinghua. In addition to touring Chicago and St. Louis, Washington University hosted the Tsinghua team members at several events on campus.
From October 1 - 5, 2010, the McDonnell International Scholars Academy and Washington University in St. Louis were hosts to the Symposium on the Global Energy Future on the Danforth Campus. The highly anticipated event brought together Presidents and top leadership from 23 of the Academy's 25 University Partners throughout Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Latin America, and featured esteemed guests and speakers from the government, corporate, academic and industry sectors.
The 5-day event opened with keynote addresses and discussions lead by Dr. Kristina M. Johnson, Former Undersecretary of Energy, U.S. Department of Energy, Dr. Richard Meserve, President, Carnegie Institution for Science and Dr. Gary Calabrese, Vice President of Science & Technology at Corning Inc.. Throughout the days following, presentations were made by each of the Presidents and representing leadership on the progress of research and energy-related projects in their respective universities and countries.
This event provided McDonnell Scholars and the McDonnell International Scholars Academy an opportunity to interact with important representatives from their alma maters and University Partners and foster the already strong ties developed since the induction of the Academy in 2005.
The next event, the 4th of it's kind (previous events held in St. Louis - 2007 - and Hong Kong - 2008) will be held in 2012. The location and date are to be determined. For more information on the Symposium on the Global Energy Future events, visit http://mageep.wustl.edu/Symposium2010.
Yanjiao XIE completed his PhD in the Department of Energy, Environmental, and Chemical Engineering and has accepted an offer as Senior Chemical Engineer at Nalco Company, a world leader in water treatment and process improvement. Yanjiao will be working at the world headquarters of the company in Naperville, Illinois, where he will conduct research and engineering studies on water quality
and wastewater treatment.
A graduate of Academy partner Peking University, Yanjiao was in the first cohort of Scholars who came into the Academy in 2006. While working on his PhD, he also completed an internship at Cabot Corporation, a corporate sponsor of the Academy, in the summer of 2008.
Reflecting back on his time in the Academy, Yanjiao writes, “The Academy has been a platform for to learn, interact, and grow. It is also a place where I have felt at home in my schoolwork and in the world. All sorts of economic, cultural, and political events organized by the Academy not only cultivated my leadership, communication, and networking skills, but also provided me with close friends, mentors, and a large family.”
Yuanming SHAN, who graduates from Washington University in May 2010, has made a gift his first month's salary to the McDonnell Academy. Yuanming came to us from Fudan University and entered the Academy and the Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering (ESE) in 2006. In addition to earning a masters degree in ESE, he received a Master of Science in Finance from the Olin Business School in 2008. In January 2010 he accepted a position at the Houston green tech firm Horizon Wind Energy.
In looking back at his time in the Academy, Yuanming spoke of "the great opportunities provided by the Academy to develop ourselves" and concluded that "hard work alone does not guarantee achievement." Instead, "leadership and networking are also about caring for others' success," a point that led him to say he hopes that "when we gain more ability and accumulate more resources, we can help create more opportunity for new Scholars."
"The Academy is deeply appreciative of the generous gift Yuanming has made. It is the first gift of its kind to the McDonnell Academy. In addition to the financial support, we value his reflections on the Academy's role in shaping his future and the future of those who will follow in years to come." - Jim Wertsch, Director
24 McDonnell Scholars visited New York City during the week of March 7th with Chancellor Mark Wrighton, Trustee John F. McDonnell, and Academy Director James V. Wertsch. During their visit to New York to experience American culture and business, the Scholars met with UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, New York City Mayor, Michael Bloomberg and Council on Foreign Relations president, Dr. Richard Haass. On Wednesday, March 10th, the Scholars visited the New York Stock Exchange and were present when the Opening Bell rang to start the trading day. Visits were also made to Bloomberg LP, Gracie Mansion and the Museum of Modern Art.
During the week of November 1, 2009 - November 7, 2009, the McDonnell Academy welcomed Vice Chancellor BB Bhattacharya of Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, India.
Professor Bhattacharya specializes in macro and monetary economics, public finance, planning & development and international finance. During his visit to Washington University, Professor Bhattacharya attended a number of events and engagement on the Washington University campus, including the "Americas Energy Future" Symposium hosted by the International Center for Advanced Renewable Energy & Sustainability (I-CARES) on November 2, 2009. In addition, Professor Bhattacharya gave a public lecture to the Washington University community on "Causes and Consequences of Global Economic Meltdown" on November 5, 2009.
The Academy welcomes the 2009 cohort of Scholars from partner universities around the world, including those from Santiago, Chile; Haifa, Israel; Budapest, Hungary; and Beijing, China and many more.
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A delegation led by Frank Yin, the McDonnell Academy Ambassador to Tsinghua University and the Stephen F. & Camilla Brauer Professor of Biomedical Engineering, participated in the "Forum of Biomedicine Science Frontiers" on June 17 - 19, 2009 at Tsinghua University Medical School and Peking Union Medical College. Presentations at the meetings dealt with issues ranging from the role of genomics in viral detection and discovery to vaccines against HIV and influenza viral infections in China to endoplasmic reticulum-mitochondrial crosstalk in programmed cell death .
The forum grew out of a major new Academic Exchange Agreement between Tsinghua University and Washington University. Negotiated by Frank Yin in 2008, this agreement will provide opportunities for meetings, student and faculty exchanges, and other forms of collaboration in the future.
Three professors from Washington University in St. Louis have been elected fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
The new fellows are Ursula Goodenough, Ph.D., professor of biology in Arts & Sciences; James V. Wertsch, Ph.D., the Marshall S. Snow Professor in Arts & Sciences and director of the McDonnell International Scholars Academy; and Wayne M. Yokoyama, M.D., the Sam J. Levin and Audrey Loew Levin Chair for Research on Arthritis, professor of medicine and director of the Medical Scientist Training Program.
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"U.S. Colleges Get Serious With Partners Overseas" profiles the McDonnell Academy and other universities' similar initiatives.
This article is no longer available on the McDonnell Academy Web site. Washington University has acquired the rights to reprint a limited number of copies of the article and a copy may be available upon request. Please contact mcdonnell@wustl.edu for further information.