Arizona
State University to co-host Chinese Youth Space Academy
The Arizona State University (ASU) is partnering with the Chinese government-run Web site, China.com.cn, to host the Chinese Space Youth Academy. In this event, thousands of Chinese high school students are competing to show their knowledge of space exploration subjects. The winners will come to the United States in January 2008 to join a group of Arizona high school students for a 10-day hands-on space exploration experience.
"ASU is the first educational institution outside of China to co-host such a large-scale Chinese national event," says Jennie Si, Professor of Electrical Engineering in ASU's Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering. Si is the director of ASU's China initiatives and special projects in the Office of the Vice President for Research and Economic Affairs.
The final round of competition in the Chinese Youth Space Academy takes place Nov. 17 and 18, 2007, in Beijing. The entire event will be videotaped and made into a documentary for airing in China right after the competition.
"I am excited about the opportunity to showcase in China ASU's top caliber research," says R. F. Shangraw, Vice President for Research and Economic Affairs. He leads a delegation from ASU to serve on the final competition panel.
Fifteen Chinese high school students will be selected from 50 semi-finalists to come to the United States. Upon completion of the U.S. space exploration activities, up to four of the Chinese students will receive a four-year, full scholarship to attend ASU.
The space exploration questions that qualified the 50 semi-finalists were developed by ASU's School of Earth and Space Exploration, as was the project used to select the final winners: Designing a human outpost on Mars. The Mars outpost project reflects the combined science and engineering focus of the School, which is part of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
The Chinese Youth Space Academy aims to excite high school students about space science and engineering, and to create a communication channel for students from the U.S. and China to understand and respect each other’s culture.
The 15 winning students will visit the United States in late January, when they will meet with a similar number of high school students from Nogales, Ariz. Together, the American and Chinese students will work on space exploration projects at ASU's Mars Space Flight Facility. At this facility, ASU researchers are in charge of operating scientific instruments on the Mars rovers and in Martian orbit. No other university in the world is operating so many instruments on other planets.
The U.S. and Chinese students will also explore some of Arizona’s famous geologic and space-related sites. Field trips are planned for Meteor Crater, the Grand Canyon and Lowell Observatory.
Arizona State University is one of the premier public research universities in the U.S. Enrolling more than 64,000 undergraduate, graduate, and professional students on four campuses in metropolitan Phoenix, ASU is leading the transformation of higher education to a model both academically excellent and broadly inclusive. It is acting on a vision to be a new American university, promoting excellence in research and its students and faculty, increasing access to educational resources, and working with communities to positively impact social and economic development. The university offers outstanding resources for study and research, including libraries, museums, studios and performing arts spaces, and state-of-the-art scientific and technological laboratories and research facilities.
