Tsinghua University's "Oversea Expert," Dr. Gary Glover

Sponsored jointly by the National Office of Foreign Experts and the Department of Education, Tsinghua's "Oversea Expert Program" is designed to bring "recipients of important international awards . . ., professors of world-renowned universities, and other established experts who have a great reputation in their corresponding international research community" to help train students and faculty in MR research and program design as well as to offer specialty courses and to provide guidance and consulting for research projects. Tsinghua University has over 20,000 students (including 12,000 undergraduates, 6,200 master's degree candidates and 2,800 doctoral candidates) and approximately 8 colleges, 43 departments, 44 research institutes, 9 engineering research centers, and 163 laboratories. The University also offers 37 bachelor's degree programs, 107 master's degree programs, and 64 PhD programs.

Karen Ying, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Engineering Physics and the Medical Physics and Engineering Institute, extended the invitation honoring Dr. Glover as Tsinghua University's Oversea Expert, who is to return annually for one month each year for a total of three years to provide scientific expertise and continuing guidance for Tsinghua's MRI program. Dr. Ying teaches a graduate course on the principles of magnetic resonance imaging. She and her three undergraduate and three graduate students comprise the whole MR imaging program for the University. They have no scanners; all MR and CT research is done at local hospitals. The University is constructing a medical school.

Dr. Ying has been a professor at Tsinghua for two years; prior to that, she taught and researched in the United States for ten years. Her father has taught in Tsinghua's Department of Engineering Physics for over 57 years. In talking with him, Dr. Glover learned that during the Cultural Revolution under Chairman Mao's reign, Dr. Ying's father was forced to quit the University and work on the farms for one and a half years. Although a professor emeritus, he still has five graduate students with whom he works.

During his visit from November 15th to December 5th, Dr. Glover gave 9 two-hour class lectures, and Ms. Chang gave 2. His lectures covered such topics as pulse sequence design and fast imaging techniques; the principles of diffusion/perfusion MRI and flow imaging; and functional MRI. He described the building in which he lectured as "gigantic with hundreds of classrooms that were busy from 0 o'clock in the morning until N o'clock at night." "Even as I walked around at 9 PM," Dr. Glover remarked, "there were students in the classrooms studying. There was a constant bustle of people around me, and bikes where everywhere at all hours; there were few cars on campus and no students' cars."

In addition to his lectures, Dr. Glover held two public evening colloquia and three meetings with University officials including the university president, provost, Vice President Ke-Jun Kang, Medical School Dean Zhao, and the Department of Engineering Physics Head Tang Chuanxiang. One topic he and the University faculty and administration discussed was the possibility of a foreign exchange program for graduate-level research/education between Tsinghua and Stanford to foster strong collaboration between our two institutions. He also spoke at a meeting with General Electric regarding research collaboration between GE, Stanford, and Tsinghua.

Established in 1911, Tsinghua University was built on the site of "Qing Hua Yuan," a former royal garden of the Qing Dynasty. Dr. Glover stayed at the guest house, which was across from a small island known as Jinchun Garden, where the eighth emperor of the Qing Dynasty, Xian Feng, had lived. From 8 AM until about 10 AM, Dr. Glover was greeted by the sights and sounds of people dancing to traditional Chinese music in the -20 degrees Fahrenheit weather in Han Pavilion of Jinchun Garden, which is surrounded by a lake with scenic bridges.

Han Pavilion

Also undaunted by the cold weather were the "pillbox" guards who stood watch over the campus from 6 AM until around 11 PM.

During his visit, he was amazed by the excellent customer service he received, "I went into the equivalent of a 'Best Buy,' and there were 27 clerks in the camera department waiting to help me. In the local pharmacy, there were 11 clerks--one every foot and a half of counter space. When my card key didn't work in my hotel door, two people and part of a third person came to remedy it after an extensive discussion. The service was wonderful!" While the customer service was excellent, the air quality was not: "I saw four power plants on campus burning coal; I never saw the sun; it was always filtered through the haze, and there were no stars at night. It was hard to breathe as I jogged on campus."

In his free time, Dr. Glover did some sightseeing in Beijing, a city of over 15 million people. He toured the Great Wall of China; the Forbidden City and its "Hall of Medium Harmony" (something has been lost in the translation); Tian Anmen Square; the Lao She Tea House; Fragrance Hill; the Sleeping Budha; the Botanical Garden; the Thirteen Ming Tombs; and the Chairman Mao Solemn Memorial. The streets were packed with bicyclists as most goods were transported by bicycle cart. While in Beijing, he also had the opportunity to visit a CT manufacturing site.

His visit to Tsinghua University was only part of his three and a half week "lecture circuit." Prior to coming to Beijing, Dr. Glover had flown to the University of Maryland where he gave two lectures: one on real-time fMRI and another on alternative fMRI methods. On his way home from Beijing, he flew to the University of Vancouver, B.C., to give another lecture because Judy Illes, PhD, the Canada research chair in neuroethics at the University of Vancouver and former director of grants in our Department, had invited Dr. Glover to give a lecture for their colloquium series.