China Visit 2011

China Visit, May 2011

Introduction:
I was invited by Professor Yinlai Jin, Dean, at Linyi University to present a graduate mini-course in the numerical solution of partial differential equations in May of 2011, and had the opportunity to accompanying a larger contingent of faculty from USM who were also visiting Linyi University. I was also honored to have been invited to Yishui College, a branch campus of Linyi, to give a presentation to a large number of undergraduates on the US education system.

The official contingent from USM visiting Linyi University consisted of Professor Bob Lyman, Provost for the University of Southern Mississippi, and Professors Dave Davies (Dean of the Honors College), Wujian Miao (Chemistry and Biochemistry), Shuyan Wang (Technology Education). Fei Xue (Mass Communication and Journalism), Chaoyang Zhang (Director of the School of Computing), and myself.

Toward the end of my visit in China, I went to Nanjing Normal University on the invitation of Professor Wenyu Sun, Nanjing Normal University, to present at the International Workshop on Optimization and Scientific Computing, in honor of He Xuchu (1921-1990). Subsequently I managed a brief visit to Hohai University to visit Professor Wen Chen, a colleague and collaborator of Prof. C.S. Chen. The visit also allowed me to meet up with my Department colleague, Professor Jiu Ding.

A photographic account of the visit to China is given below:

The trip provided an opportunity to revisit with many of the faculty in the Department of Mathematics at Linyi University, some of whom have stayed with us at USM as visiting scholars. Having visited Linyi again made me aware of how much it had grown and been built up even since my previous visit only six months before. I have thankful to all at Linyi who helped make this visit pleasant and memorable, and also for the opportunity to visit with so many students.

The trip also allowed me to meet up with some colleagues and acquaintances I had made in my previous trips. From Linyi University this included Tongsong Jiang, Zhaolin Jiang, Houchun Zhou, Yinlai Jin, Ke Feng Diao, Ping Zhao, and ZhaoZhong Zhang. I was particularly pleased to have met with Tongsong Jiang again, who was at USM as a visitor the year before, and with Ke Feng Diao who had visited the Department for a semester as well. From a much earlier visit to Nanjing in 2002 to Nanjing University for Aeronautics and Astronautics, I again met again with Qin Ni from NUAA, and with Wenyu Sun from Nanjing Normal University.

Acknowledgments:

I am thankful to Linyi University for their full support on travel and accommodation, making this visit possible, and for their invitation to teach a graduate class at Linyi. The assistance of Tongsong Jiang (Vice President and Prof. of Mathematics), Zhaolin Jiang (Director of Foreign Affairs Department and Chairman of the School of International Exchanges and Prof. of Mathematics), Yinlai Jin (Dean of School of Science and Prof. of Mathematics), Jianlong Qiu (Vice Dean of Science and Technology Department and Associate Prof. Mathematics), Houchun Zhou (Vice Dean of School of Science and Prof. of Mathematics), Ke Feng Diao (Professor of Mathematics), Zhaozhong Zhang (Associate Prof. of Mathematics), Ping Zhao (Associate Prof. of Mathematics), and Chengcai Xie (Office Manager at the International office), were valuable in making my stay productive and enjoyable.

I am grateful to Ke Feng Diao, Zhaozhong Zhang, and Ping Zhao for making my everyday stay a pleasant and memorable one, and as always I was grateful to make the renewed acquaintance of so many at Linyi that I had come to know from the visit last November. Finally, I would like to thank Yinlai Jin for the invitation to visit, and of course, Tongsong Jiang, whom I first met at USM when he was a visitor with us for a year. I wish to thank all at Linyi University for their kindness and hospitality and for the opportunity to view Han Dynasty tombs, and so many places of interest in Linyi and around it.

I am grateful to Professor Wenyu Sun for the invitation to the Nanjing conference for the kind invitaton to participate in the International Workshop on Optimization and Scientific Computing, and for providing accommodation during my stay, as well as his hospitality, and the opportunity to tour Sun Yat Sen's Presidential Palace in Nanjing, and the River View in Nanjing.

I also thank the University of Southern Mississippi for their contributions to the success of this visit and for making it possible. To all of those who came along on this visit to Linyi University (and to those who did not, but who helped to coordinate and plan), thank you.