By Stephanie Kwan
The 16th President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dr. Susan Hockfield spoke at the 32nd Tsinghua Forum on the 21st of June 2010 regarding the partnership between China and MIT and its role in advancing innovation.
In a short opening speech, Dr. Hockfield praised Tsinghua University as one of the most distinguished universities in China. In many ways, she remarked, Tsinghua is writing the story of the future.
Dr. Hockfield likened the relationship between MIT and China to that of a pair of old friends. MIT’s links with China extends back to 1876 where the first cadre of Chinese students enrolled in the University to study subjects such as mathematics, chemistry and mechanical engineering.
MIT’s links with China are easily visible on an institutional level. The China-MIT Management Education Project established in 1996 was founded for the purpose of strengthening graduate management education programs at a selected number of Chinese Universities, including Tsinghua University. The project also served to support the development of International MBA programs at a number of Chinese Universities. More recently, MIT has entered into other collaborations with universities in China, including the Tsinghua-MIT-Cambridge Low Carbon Energy University Alliance and the Tsinghua-MIT-CUHK Research Center for Theoretical Computer Science.
Dr. Hockfield stressed that human capital also forms a very important component connecting MIT to China. Currently there are 33 Chinese-born scholars serving as part of MIT’s faculty. This includes Professor Victor Zue, who is the director of MIT’s largest research center, the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. The student population at MIT also represents a powerful connective force. Over the last two decades, MIT has educated 5000 Chinese students and has also sent an increasing number of students to work and study in Chinese companies and universities.
Looking towards the future, Dr. Hockfield emphasized the importance of the continual collaboration between MIT and its partners in China. MIT’s mission, to advance knowledge and to educate students that would best service the world, drives the institute to work to address many of humanity’s most pressing challenges. Dr. Hockfield believes that working closely with counterparts in China will serve to amplify MIT’s mission and restore ‘sustainable innovation based economic growth’.
Towards the end of her speech, Dr. Hockfield spoke about how to accelerate innovation and the role MIT has played in fostering innovation and economic growth since its establishment in 1861. The Forum concluded with a short dialogue session in which Dr. Hockfield was able to answer some student questions.
Dr. Susan Hockfield has served as the 16th President of MIT since December 2004. As a noted neuroscientist whose research has focused on the development of the brain, Dr. Hockfield holds a faculty appointment as professor of neuroscience in MIT’s Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences. She is the first life scientist and also, the first woman to lead MIT. Prior to joining MIT, Dr. Hockfield served at Yale University as the William Edward Gilbert Professor of Neurobiology and provost.
Dr. Hockfield holds a B.A. in biology from the University of Rochester and a Ph.D. from the Georgetown University School of Medicine. She also holds a number of honors and honorary degrees including that from Brown University, Tsinghua University and Mount Sinai School of Medicine.
(Photo by Guo Haijun)
