The Stanford Center for Sustainable Development and Global Competitiveness (CSDGC) held its 2015 Annual Partner Meeting on May 16 at SCPKU.  The meeting included a discussion on innovation-driven sustainable industrial development and upgrades with a focus on smart learning, the application of green technology in building a smarter society, and smart manufacturing and operation in the industrial transformation.  Participants also exchanged ideas about CSDGC's future development in China.  Attendees included CSDGC Affiliate companies, representatives from collaborating universities, and visiting scholars.

Stanford’s Asian Liver Center (ALC) held a press conference at SCPKU on April 17 to share progress on the ALC’s Hepatitis B education pilot program in China's Gansu and Qinghai provinces. In addition to media participants, there was representation from the Chinese Center for Disease Control, China’s National Health and Family Planning Commission, and the World Health Organization.  Dr. Samuel So, ALC Director, delivered the keynote address.  Targeting pregnant women and healthcare workers in Gansu and Qinghai provinces, the ALC has collaborated with local health departments to provide a series of classes, workshops, and public health services to enhance understanding and management of the disease.  The program has so far trained over 12,000 local healthcare workers and reached over 3 million residents in the two provinces.

Stanford Office of International Affairs: Stanford Graduate School of Business Assistant Professor Szu-Chi Huang talks about her research on consumer behavior and motivation and her faculty fellowship at the Stanford Center at Peking University last winter.  Read more.

SCPKU sponsored a Stanford graduate seminar entitled “Chronic Disease in China: Health Care and Public Health Challenges” March 16 to April 3.  Taught by Stanford Professor Randall Stafford from the Stanford Center for Research in Disease Prevention, the seminar focused on analyzing the multiple factors leading to China’s increasing non-communicable disease (NCD) burden and implications for health care services and policies – both within China and globally. In addition to Professor Stafford and his Teaching Assistant, seven Stanford students participated in the seminar along with students from Peking University and Zhejiang University.   

Two Stanford participants share some of their seminar experiences below. Ben Seligman is in the School of Medicine pursuing his MD and PhD and Daisy Zheng is working on her PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering. Content from the interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

Qu: Why did you decide to apply for this SCPKU graduate seminar?

Ben:  The topic was relevant to my research interests and I am interested in doing more work involving China.

Daisy:  It aligned very well with my research and provided a chance for short-term study at a prestigious campus, Peking University. 

Qu: What did you hope to learn in China as part of the program and were your objectives met?

Ben:  I hoped to work on my Chinese, learn more about available datasets, and network with local faculty.  I would say I was mostly successful across the board.

Daisy:  I hoped to learn: 1) the differences in performing research abroad, 2) the difference between China’s healthcare system and that in other countries, and 3) the impact that environment has on quality of life in China.  What I found most surprising were the differences in male and female health factors in China (obesity and smoking), the issues with particular Chinese databases, and the categorization of disease treatment and diagnosis. 

Qu: Did the Chinese students from Peking University and Zhejiang University have an impact on your experience?

Ben:  Yes, having them present was a core part of what made the experience worthwhile.

Daisy:  Yes, I found working with them was most enlightening when discussing research habits.  The challenge was that the students were taking full loads at their universities while attending the seminar so they were extremely busy.  It would have been ideal to have Chinese students with lighter loads participating – perhaps students at the PhD level no longer taking classes or holding the seminar during the summer.

Qu: Was this your first time participating in an overseas course/field trip?  If not, please share some of the challenges that you may have encountered on your other trips and how you resolved them. 

Ben:    This was not my first trip.  Cross-cultural communication is always a challenge, particularly if the working language is English and many of the participants are not fluent.  Likewise, keeping on-schedule is a significant and important challenge.

Daisy:  No, I participated in a National Science Foundation International Research and Education in Engineering program in which I conducted research at Tsinghua University in Beijing.  The largest challenge was getting access to academic resources at Stanford.

Qu:  What are the first three words or thoughts that come to mind which best describe your experience at SCPKU?

Ben:  Exciting, informative and fun

Daisy: Fun, enlightening, bonding

Qu: Do you have future plans to travel to China? 

Ben:  I hope to return to SCPKU as a pre-doc fellow.  Longer-term, I hope to do some of my epidemiological and demographic research in China, building partly off of the contacts I have made.

Daisy: I would love to be able to go back and study air quality conditions in Beijing.

Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) have become the leading causes of death worldwide and China's increased NCD prevalence is of growing concern. Randall Stafford, Professor of Medicine in the Stanford Center for Research in Disease Prevention and SCPKU Faculty Fellow, led a symposium at the center last fall.  Entitled "Tackling China's Noncommunicable Diseases: Shared Origins, Costly Consequences, and the Need for Action," the symposium focused on China's NCD threats to public health and the urgent need for solutions.  The symposium summary was published earlier this month in the Chinese Medical Journal.

More than fifty former visiting fellows and scholars, and friends of the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center joined faculty for a special evening at Stanford Center at Peking University, part of an inaugural gathering held in Beijing in October. Read more and view photos.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti visited SCPKU on November 20 and spoke at a conference focused on urbanization challenges and opportunities.  In addition to Mayor Garcetti, conference panelists included U.S. Ambassador to China Max Baucus and leadership from Stanford University, Peking University, the Los Angeles City Council, and the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group.  During the conference, the mayor shared key lessons Los Angeles has learned in terms of creating sustainable urban environments and offered support to China as it addresses its significant environmental challenges.  See SinovisionNet story (in Chinese).

The Technology and Engineering Study Tour in China (TECS) held a reception for Stanford, Peking University, and Tsinghua University engineering students at SCPKU on September 8.  Developed by the Stanford School of Engineering and the Bing Overseas Studies Program (BOSP) in 2013, TECS is a program that gives Stanford engineering students – both undergraduates and graduate students - a window to understand technology and engineering businesses in China.  This year, 21 students participated along with one faculty lead and one Ph.D. student lead.  Between late August and mid-September, the team paid visits to 14 Chinese companies spread across industries including automotive, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, design, hardware, and software/IT.   The SCPKU reception gave Stanford students the chance to interact with their counterparts from Peking University and Tsinghua University and discuss a wide range of issues including student life and entrepreneurship. Refer to Stanford School of Engineering’s Global Engineering Programs website for more information.

Stanford and Peking University MBA students took the same Stanford Graduate School of Business "Startup Garage" entrepreneurship class in real time September 16-20, 2014 via an innovative education technology - the Highly Immersive Classroom at the Stanford Center at Peking University.  Read more (in Chinese).