Supporting Higher Education Collaboration | June 2008
On June 16-17, 2008, Stanford University hosted a design for innovation workshop with Tongji University of Shanghai and California State Polytechnic University to begin visioning the development of a pilot sustainable rural community in China. Other academic participants included faculty from Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering and the Fielding Graduate University. The Center is a partner in the project – connecting resources, best practices and lessons learned from previous projects in China for the long term success of the collaboration.
Professor Zhao Jianfu, Vice President of Tongji University, led the delegation of architects, planners and environmental scientists from China. Professor Larry Leifer, Director of the Center for Design Research at Stanford University, and Professor Linda Vanasupa, Director of the Educating Global Engineers Initiative at California State Polytechnic University, organized the workshop in Palo Alto.
At the close of the workshop, Stanford, Cal Poly and Tongji University inked an agreement that launched an international collaborative research and development institute through the UNEP-Tongji Institute of the Environment and Sustainable Development.