Rector of University of Missouri and Dean of the Confucius Institute Visit XIEG

On October 13, 2012, Dr. Handy Williamson, rector of University of Missouri and Dr. OuYang Wen, dean of the Confucius Institute at the University of Missouri visited Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography (XIEG), Chinese Academy of Sciences. Prof. TIAN ChangYan, deputy director of XIEG and more than 10 students attended the meeting.

Dr. Handy Williamson gave a high appraisement to the research achievements XIEG obtained on the aspects of desertification control and ecological protection, and said that he hoped to increase scientific cooperation between XIEG and the University of Missouri in the future. Prof. TIAN ChangYan introduced the discipline construction, training mechanism of master and doctor students and international communication of XIEG. He hoped that the two sides could strengthen cooperation to promote the talent exchange and gradually establish a multi-discipline cooperation relationship.

The University of Missouri was founded in 1839 in Columbia, Missouri, as the first public university in the west of the Mississippi River and the first state university in Thomas Jefferson's Louisiana Purchase territory. It is a major land-grant institution and Missouri's largest public research university. The University of Missouri is famous in the fields of agricultural science, biology, sociology, chemical and bio-molecular engineering, environmental engineering, mechanical engineering, broadcast news, media and news. The University of Missouri and XIEG have a multi-discipline cooperation prospect, especially in agricultural science and eco-environment protection.