The two schools sign a Memorandum of Understanding to launch collaborative programs

April 16, 2008 — University officials from Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU), China, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the USC Viterbi School of Engineering on April 11, 2008, after visiting and touring the USC engineering school.

Dean Yortsos, left, and Shanghai Jiao Tong University Vice President Wenjun Zhang sign a Memorandum of Understanding on April 11, 2008.

The MOU, signed by Viterbi School Dean Yannis C. Yortsos and SJTU Vice President Wenjun Zhang, outlined a commitment from both schools to begin developing joint academic programs, including undergraduate and graduate educational exchanges and research programs in scientific areas of mutual interest to both institutions.

A delegation of Shanghai Jiao Tong University faculty and Ph.D. candidate scholars visited for most of the day.  The group  included:

•    Wenjun Zhang, vice president and distinguished professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and former dean of SJTU’s School of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering;

•    Xiaokang Yang, deputy director of SJTU’s Institute of Image Communication and Information Processing;

•    Li Song, an image and video processing expert, lecturer in electrical engineering and active participant on the international standards boards for China audio/video systems standards;

•    Rui Zhang, a lecturer in electronic engineering and Ph.D. candidate who is just finishing her degree;

•    Xiaoying Gan, lecturer in electrical engineering, who is interested in mobile and terrestrial communication technologies, including evaluating China’s standard for HDTV terrestrial transmission;

•    Dazhi He, a Ph.D. candidate at Shanghai Jiao University, whose research interests include HDTV and wireless communications.

L-R standing: Rui Zhang, Xiaokang Yang, C.C. Jay Kuo, Dazhi He and Xiaoying Gan; seated in front, Dean Yannis C. Yortsos, left, and Wenjun Zhang, right.

The purpose of the visit was to spark interest in some collaborative possibilities between USC and SJTU, and to explore new collaborative opportunities for research and student exchanges, Kuo explained.

During the visit, Viterbi School Professor C.C. Jay Kuo, director of the Signal and Image Processing Institute (SIPI), showed the Shanghai Jiao Tong University delegation around the Media Communications Lab and Integrated Media Systems Center (IMSC). 

Other faculty showed the group other research facilities related to multimedia, communication, computer vision, machine learning and information retrieval.  They included Ram Nevatia, professor of computer science and electrical engineering, who introduced the Shanghai delegation to the Computer Vision Group; computer scientist Cyrus Shahabi, who specializes in databases and information management; Ulrich Neumann, former director of IMSC; Shri Narayanan, director of the Speech Analysis and Interpretation Laboratory; and faculty from the Computational Molecular Biology Group.

Senior Associate Dean Cauligi “Raghu” Raghavendra, professor of electrical engineering, who directs the Viterbi School’s globalization program, hosted a luncheon for the delegation at the University Club.