President Zhang Xinxin Leads USTB Delegation to Renew Cooperative Agreement with Tohoku University

         On August 31, USTB President Zhang Xinxin led a delegation to Tohoku University (TU) in Japan to renew a cooperative agreement between the two universities.

         The delegation was met by TU President Susumu Satomi, who warmly greeted the USTB visitors. He spoke of the two university’s long personal history with close contact between their teachers, dating back to 1952 when USTB was known as the Beijing Institute of Iron and Steel. In 2002 the schools began a new era of collaboration after they signed their first cooperative agreement, and in 2010 they celebrated their 10-year anniversary with USTB hosting the “Tohoku University Day”. Thus far the two universities have carried out joint research in the fields of metallurgy, machinery, and other fields, as well as jointly holding academic conferences and establishing joint laboratories. He concluded by expressing his hope that there would be even greater collaborative efforts in the future.

         President Zhang then spoke, beginning by thanking his hosts at TU. He then went on to speak of USTB’s development in recent years, and especially of its international initiatives. He echoed President Satomi’s praise for inter-school cooperation, noting the number of USTB graduates who went to TU to pursue their doctorate degrees. For its part USTB has recognized a number of TU teachers as honorary professors at USTB, while the schools have made great advances through joint research initiatives. Both universities have jointly held 17 undergraduate innovation seminars, which have been attended by over 500 students and teachers. President Zhang ended by expressing optimism for continuing the 15-year long relationship between USTB and TU.

         With warm applause, the two leaders signed a renewal of the university’s cooperative agreement. Following that the USTB delegation visited the TU Graduate School of Engineering, Institute for Materials Research, and Institute of Multidisciplinary Research for Advanced Materials, where they carried out in-depth discussions with the researchers there.

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