VOLUME 13, NO. 1     DEC 1999

President Parrish speaks at major science policy meeting in China

WPI President Edward Alton Parrish presented a talk titled "Training Scientists and Engineers for the 21st Century" at the U.S./China Joint Science Policy Seminar in Beijing in October. Organized jointly by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), the seminar is the first of a decade-long series of science policy "conversations" designed to strengthen the countries' bilateral science and technology relationship in the borderless, knowledge-based economy of the 21st century.

The president was invited to participate in the seminar by the NSF. Other speakers representing the United States included Richard C. Atkinson, president of the University of California, and John McTague, retired vice president of Ford Motor Co.

Parrish spent a week in China. In addition to giving his presentation, he met with representatives of Chinese universities, secondary schools and corporations to lay the groundwork for cooperative relationships between them and WPI. These alliances could include distance learning and executive training programs, seminars and conferences.