On June 6, Wang Yonggang, Associate Vice President for China & East Asia Affairs at the University of Arizona, and Professor Liu Yong, Director of HSLopez School of Business Analytics of Eller College of Management, visited CUEB to share new ideas for broader cooperation and engage with faculty and students. CUEB representatives included Chen Yanbin, Vice President and member of Standing Committee of the CUEB Party Committee; Liu Wenchuan, Director of the International Cooperation and Exchanges Office; Zhao Lingfei, Deputy Director of the Office; Sha Yezhou, Assistant of Director of the Office; Li Xiaoou, Party Secretary of the School of Data Science Branch; and Zhang Baoxue, Dean of the School of Data Science, along with Ruan Jing, Vice Dean of the School of Data Science.

Cooperation: Launch of the Sino-US Business Research Center

On June 6, the Sino-US Business Research Center for Big Data Innovation and Development was officially launched. This center, jointly established by the Eller College of Management of the University of Arizona and the School of Data Science of CUEB, aims to expand cooperation and exchange, laying a solid foundation for CUEB to introduce world-class educational resources and carry out high-level educational cooperation. This is part of the broader strategy to implement the spirit of the Fifth Party Congress of CUEB and to improve the quality of the construction of the “Silk Road Project”.

Sharing: Sino-US Academic Exchange Meeting

In the morning, the “Sino-US Faculty and Students Exchange Meeting on Academic Subjects” took place in the Boyuan Building. Prof. Wang Yonggang and Prof. Liu Yong participated and gave advice. Li Xiaou, Zhang Baoxue, Ruan Jing and representatives of Chinese and American teachers and students attended the meeting. The meeting was hosted by Ge Ruilin, Secretary of Student Affairs of the School of Data Science.

Both student teams presented their projects of Honorable Mention of Mathematical Contest in Modeling and College Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship Key Project. Wu Qincheng and Li Fanglu, students from Grade 2021, and Zhou Yubu, a student from Grade 2023, introduced their project of “Turtle Guardian: EcoTrackShell’s RFID Crusade Against Illegal Wildlife Trade”. The team focused on the issue of “Global Illegal Wildlife Trade--Protecting Green Turtles” and established an integrated multimodal system based on AHP and ARIMA. Through quantitative analysis and simulation of multiple factors, they assessed the effects of different interventions.

The study found that real-time tracking and monitoring of green turtles through RFID has sustainable feasibility in terms of low cost, high efficiency and optimal allocation of resources. It can not only provide an in-depth insight into the ecological behavior and migration patterns of animals, but also improve the protection measures and efficiently fight against illegal trade, with a view to providing a new path for the protection of endangered species and ecosystems around the world in the future.

Guo Siyi and Wu Huanqi, students from Grade 2023, presented the “Green Patent Technology Support System for Enterprises Based on Large Language Model (LLM) and Generative Artificial Intelligence”. The team explored the application of BERT model and ERNIE model in the green technology innovation and patent mining. The team combines the three major theoretical technology of multimodal data introduction, LLM processing and customer-oriented output. They believed that it is theoretically feasible to construct an AI patent service system based on multimodal data processing and context-specific fine-tuning of LLM, and that the project shows great market potential and development prospect.

The research outcomes and academic exploration of the student team triggered heated discussions and exchanges among the teachers and students, and the teacher participants fully affirmed the high-level research findings. Wang Yonggang highly appreciated the expertise, academic potential and English skills of the team, and encouraged them to make good use of the educational resources of both universities to improve cross-cultural communication and practical skills. Liu Yong encouraged students to expand their global vision and consider opportunities for further study abroad.

In his concluding remarks, Zhang Baoxue highlighted the achievements of the Sino-foreign Cooperative Education Program over the past three years. He noted that 178 students have embodied the school motto---“Advocate Morality, Value Competence, Strategize National Development, and Serve the People” --- and embraced the Wildcat spirit of “Bear Down”. They have won many awards in the “Challenge Cup” Competition and National College Students’ academic competitions. Zhang credited the joint efforts of the Chinese and American universities for building a high-level platform that integrates industry and education, improving the quality of Sino-foreign cooperative education program. He emphasized that the School of Data Science has made significant strides from its inception, continuously improving its educational quality and efficiency through practice and collaboration.

Mutual Learning: Improving Sino-foreign Cooperative Education

In the afternoon, a symposium on Sino-foreign cooperative education program was held. This symposium was aimed at collecting phrased feedback on the program and sharing new ideas for broader cooperation.

Li Xiao’ou expressed her warm welcome to the delegation of the University of Arizona and introduced the program’s success. She said that thanks to Sino-foreign cooperative education program, strong disciplines from both universities have been introduced and integrated, breakthroughs have been made in enrollment and school-running benefits, and remarkable results have been achieved in education and teaching, personnel cultivation and so on. The School of Data Science aims to further integrate quality educational resources from China and America, develop the personnel cultivation system, and expand cooperation in new fields.

Wang Yonggang praised the program’s achievements and emphasized the need for continued exchanges and effective joint management to give full play to the important roles in high-quality personnel cultivation, international cooperation in education, and coordinated development in Chinese and foreign faculty. These efforts will contribute to the international personnel cultivation to promote Sino-US exchanges and cooperation in education.

Both sides had in-depth exchanges on cooperative education program, such as the construction of curriculum system, quality assessment, and cooperation in fields of big data technology and business data analysis. They agreed to ensure the higher-quality service and collaboration of the Sino-foreign cooperative education, and prepare for the program quality assessment.

In addition, Sha Yezhou and the U.S. delegation exchanged views on an initial plan to expand research cooperation.

During the visit, Wang Yonggang and his delegation also visited the School History Museum, the office space of the School of Data and Science, smart classrooms and foreign teachers’ apartments. He spoke highly of CUEB’s fruitful achievements in international, digital, and intelligent education. He stated his commitment to furthering the Sino-foreign cooperative education program and continuing to enhance cooperation focused on personnel cultivation and cultural exchanges.