The China Initiative - First of MSU's Efforts to Bridge Environmental Science Across Nations
Contact: Anisa Abid, News Writer for Environmental Science and Policy Program: (517) 432-3823 or abidanis@msu.edu
January 02, 2008
As China seeks to reduce the impacts of industrialization on its environment and citizens' health, Chinese scientists are coming up with solutions to the problems their country faces. "Possibly some of the best environmental research in the world is coming from Zhejiang University [ZJU]," says Dr. Thomas Dietz, director of ESPP at MSU. ESPP and MSU are partnering with ZJU, located in the city of Hangzhou (southwest of Shanghai), to develop a unique exchange program for international interdisciplinary environmental studies and research involving faculty, undergraduate and graduate students.
The partnership was developed to create a synergistic way of connecting across nations to tackle environmental problems. "What we're seeing is a change in philosophy of what it means to be international," said Dietz. Much of what is happening to our environment is occurring globally, so working with scientists in newly industrialized countries like China (where scientific research is strengthening) provides a broader comparative perspective of environmental issues and how to manage them.
The Chinese Ministry of Education is significantly increasing funding of international education for Chinese students, with plans to send up to 80 or 90 students per college abroad to continue their education. ZJU is one of the leaders in this exchange, which is one reason MSU is working with it. "Another main reason is that they have an entire college of environmental science dedicated to addressing [these] issues," said Dr. Jiaguo Qi, director of the Center for Global Change and Earth Observations, and associate professor in the Department of Geography at MSU, who is also working on the China Initiative.
Through the program, ZJU students will complete three years of undergraduate study in China, then complete a masters program at MSU in their field of study. The first three masters programs participating are in Public Policy, Civil and Environmental Engineering and Geographic Information Systems.
MSU faculty will also work with ZJU on research projects that are expected to focus mainly on water quality issues and managing pollution in China. "The concept [is that] we'll have very strong partnerships, including joint research projects involving faculty and students" said Dietz. "There are a number of areas where we have complementary strengths," he said "and the comparison across countries will provide deep insights into how coupled human and natural systems work and how we can govern them."
One project that MSU will be working on with ZU is on water pollution issues of the Tiaoxi agricultural watershed that flows into Lake Taihu, located on the border of the Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces. This lake is China's third largest body of freshwater, one of China's "Great Lakes." It was once a beautiful lake that supplied drinking water and fish. Now, heavy fertilizer use on rice patties has added nutrients to waters discharging into the lake. Chemical plants situated on its northern shore have contributed additional pollution and the lake has recently become eutrophic, or oxygen deficient. This has not only damaged the beauty of the lake but has made the water undrinkable and unfishable. The initiative will examine the causes of water pollution and develop water treatment systems. MSU students will help conduct field experiments and lab work, as well as work with the local students on better methods to treat their water.
There is still work to be done before the education program will be routine. Qi said that ZJU has responded very positively to the prospect. "Zhejiang had a presentation on the program and about 130 students attended. They estimate about 20% of the students would come," he said. The next step, Qi added, is for MSU to set up the infrastructure to accommodate such a large number of students in ongoing programs.
Qi hopes this collaborative effort will train young students well, so they can go back and use the skills they learned, in China. "They will become leaders in research and they will think of MSU," he said. Chinese students often get hired by their universities to do research, Qi explained, so having this experience at MSU may foster future collaborations on other projects between the two universities. At the same time the partnership opens up opportunities for MSU students to work in China. Last summer, a small group of MSU students (Chaopeng Shen, Rachael Shwom, Linda Novitski, Nathan Torbick) pioneered this effort by working at ZJU.
China is first on the list of countries that MSU and ESPP are partnering with but other countries will likely be added.
