CROSS-COUNTRY ENGAGEMENT IN HYDROGEOLOGY RESEARCH AND EDUCATION: EXPERIENCES IN CHINA AND USA (Invited Presentation)

In the past more than 15 years, the author has regularly traveled to China during the summer semester to engage in extensive research and educational activities in hydrological and environmental sciences, including delivering short courses, co-advising graduate students and postdocs, developing joined research and educational proposals and research publications, and leading and participating in field applications of hydrogeological and environmental related projects. The rapid economic development of China over the past two decades has pumped enormous funding resources into R&D, which help Chinese scholars advance their academic careers substantially. However, great difficulties have been encountered and big lessons have been learnt during such a rapid advancement period. Innovative ideas have also been proposed and new discoveries have been reported in an unprecedented pace. The author will share his first-hand experience and use examples to compare the research and educational approaches used by scholars and administrators from China and USA and to analyze the cultural and socioeconomic driving forces for the differences of such approaches used in these two countries. The lessons learnt from such a comparison will be beneficial to other countries as well.