December 12, 2007
Bowling
Green, Ky. - Dr. Wei-Ping Pan and Dr. Chris Groves are in Beijing, China, this week presenting progress of their joint research work at the 2007 Regional Forum of the Asian Environmental Compliance and Enforcement Network (AECEN).
On Wednesday (Dec. 12), the Western Kentucky University faculty members presented “Engaging the Chinese Public in Environmental Awareness,” coauthored with Amelia Chung of the International Institute of Rural Reconstruction and Dr. Jennifer Turner of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
Dr. Pan, who directs WKU’s Institute for Combustion Science and Environmental Technology, and Dr. Groves, who directs the Hoffman Environmental Research Institute, both part of Ogden College’s Applied Research and Technology Program, have been collaborating for just over a year on the China Environmental Health Project (CEHP), with major support from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the ENVIRON Foundation. USAID support was made possible by Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
While the major goal of the CEHP is to seek solutions to environmental health problems in China through collaborations between WKU and several Chinese universities, there is also a strong outreach component to raise awareness of environmental health among different facets of China’s population. Particular efforts underway, for example, include lectures and questionnaires on air quality and health effects that have been distributed to the public in Anhui Province, and training to enhance community engagement and participation among rural farmers of the Yi and Hani minority nationalities of southern Yunnan, near China’s border with Vietnam.
AECEN Forum participants include senior environmental officials, policymakers, judges, lawyers, academics and other environmental experts from related government agencies and international organizations from a range of countries, including Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Lao PDR, Nepal, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam.
After the conference, Dr. Groves and Dr. Pan will travel to Huainan City in eastern China, where they will share results of CEHP collaborations between WKU the Anhui University of Science and Technology with officials from the USAID’s Asia Regional Development Mission.
“Dr. Groves has made many trips across the Pacific to China this year as part of this research program and he is fast becoming one of the world’s experts on the karst and water components of China’s environmental challenges,” noted Dr. David Keeling, Geography and Geology Department Head. “This level of international research is made possible by WKU’s Applied Research and Technology Program, which has provided critical logistical support, start-up funding and other important incentives over the past decade.”
More WKU news is available at www.wku.edu. If you’d like to receive WKU news via e-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.
For information, contact Chris Groves at (270) 745-5974.
-WKU-
"A leading American university with international reach"
Office of Media Relations
Western Kentucky University
1906 College Heights Blvd., Bowling Green, Ky. 42101-3576
Phone: (270)745-4295 - Fax: (270)7455387 - E-Mail: western@wku.edu