On April 27th, Prof. Gregory D. Abowd, dean of the College of Engineering, and Prof. Yingzi Lin, director of the Human-Machine Systems Laboratory of Northeastern University visited the School of Mechanical Engineering (SME). Mr. Musheng Song, secretary of the Party Committee of SME, Prof. Junying Min, vice dean of SME, Assistant Professor Bingcong Jian and other faculty representatives were present.
During the exchange meeting, Mr. Musheng Song extended a warm welcome to the delegation. SME was approved to build Shanghai Key Laboratory of Wearable Robotics and Human-Machine Interaction in 2024, which has a high degree of match with the research fields of the U.S. delegation. SME looks forward to the Sino-U.S. cooperation in robotics and other related fields.
Both sides provided an overview of their international cooperation efforts and discussed undergraduates exchange (in 3+1 Model), double-degree program of graduates, joint Ph.D cultivation, faculty members exchange etc.. The two parties expressed their hope that this visit would serve as a platform to leverage their respective each strengths and further promote Sino-U.S. cooperation in talent cultivation and high-level research.
As part of the visit, Prof. Gregory D. Abowd delivered a lecture titled “Ubiquitous Computing Considered Harmful: A Two-Act Story of Getting Things Right for the Wrong Reason”, which introduced proliferation of pervasive computing and the potential threat to the health of the planet. He introduced the concept of the “Internet of Materials”, emphasizing the need to reprioritize design and fundamentally transform the way computing technologies are made and applied in order to achieve sustainable development.
Additionally, the delegation visited the Intelligent Wearable Robotics Laboratory and the Advanced Manufacturing Technology Center of SME.
The visit of the Northeastern University delegation expands SME's international cooperation network, laying a strong foundation for collaboration between the two parties in joint talent cultivation, faculty members, and scientific research, which also contributes to the higher-level Sino-U.S. cooperation in the field of mechanical engineering.
