Overseas Chinese Earth Science and Technology Association

Minutes of the 1998 General Meeting, October 27, 1998, Toronto, Canada

The 1998 OCESTA General Meeting for all members and Chinese Earth science professionals during the Annual Meeting of the Geological Society of America, October, 1998, Toronto, Canada, was announced via listserver (geochina-L@ucsd.edu) and on website (http://www.geochina.org) and during the GSA meeting an announcement was posted on the message board at the GSA meeting site.

Place: Ho Yuen Chinese Restaurant in Toronto Chinatown

Time: Tuesday, October 27, 1998, 6:30 p.m.

Present: I.-Ming Chou, USGS, president of the OCESTA
Mrs. Chiu-Jung Chou
Chen-Lin Chou, Illinois State Geological Survey
Mrs. Susan Chou
Lynn Chyi, University of Akron
Hongfei Hou, Managing editor, Episodes (Beijing)
Irene Leung, City University of New York
J.G. (Louie) Liou, Stanford University
Ru-Yuan Zhang, Stanford University
Ai-Yun Zhang, China University of Geosciences (Beijing)
Bing Zhou, University of Manitoba
Hongen Ma, University of Manitoba
Recorder: Chen-Lin Chou

The business meeting took place following the dinner. The minutes of the business meeting are as follows:

1. I-Ming Chou, the president of OCESTA presided the meeting. He welcomed the attendees from North America and China. I-Ming then explained the background and reasons for establishing OCESTA, which basically unites two exiting Chinese earth scientists organizations in North America. One is the North American Chinese Earth Scientists Association, which was founded in 1970. It has 143 members; twenty-one of them had their college education in mainland, two from Hong Kong, and the rest had their college education in Taiwan. The other organization is the North America Chinese Geologists Association. It was organized at the 1992 GSA meeting, and has about 100 members, mostly from mainland China. Because these two Chinese earth science organizations have similar purposes, it is to the benefit of the members of both organizations that the two are united to become one. The recently established OCESTA has an even broader base, it aims to include not only those in North America, but all overseas Chinese earth scientists. This goal appears feasible because of today’s effective global communication system. However, an important item on the agenda of this meeting was to discuss the draft of the Constitution and Bylaws of the OCESTA, which was distributed to the attendees.

I-Ming also mentioned the progresses of OCESTA during this year that listserver (geochina-L@ucsd.edu) and website (http://www.geochina.org) are well established. These services facilitate effective communication among members and made it efficient for the OCESTA to conduct business.

2. Professor Irene Leung is a mineralogist at City University of New York. She talked about her experience in collaborating with Chinese geologists in diamond research. Many productive projects can certainly be worked on jointly by overseas Chinese geologists and Mainland Chinese geologists. Many interesting research topics on Chinese geology can be pursued. Irene called for more exchange of information and cooperation.

3. Mr. Hongfei Hou is Managing Editor of Episodes (Beijing), an IUGS publication. He thought that such joint research between overseas Chinese geologists and mainland geologists are viewed as international projects which are most welcome.

4. Professor Ai-Yun Zhang of China University of Geosciences (Beijing) said international projects need an agreement between the participating parties, and need to get funding. Oftentimes a critical part of an international project is to get funding. Because the number of projects funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) is limited, many geologists in China wish to collaborate with overseas Chinese geologists who have funds to do research in China.

5. Most of the business meeting was devoted to the discussion of the draft of the Constitution and Bylaws of the OCESTA. I-Ming, the president, asked Chen-Lin to read the draft article by article. Suggestions were made for changing a few wordings in the text. And the draft of the Constitution and Bylaws with changes was passed unanimously. The OCESTA is to register as a non-profit organization in the state of Virginia.

6. There was some discussion about the membership fees and whether the membership fees should be reduced for members in mainland China. This issue is to be decided by the council.

7. Professor Lynn Chyi of University of Akron is active in the International Division of the GSA. He thought it might be possible to co-sponsor symposia with the OCESTA.

8. I-Ming thanked the attendees for this very successful meeting. The OCESTA is going to hold its first symposium at Stanford University, December 11-12, 1999, immediately before the Fall AGU meeting. The theme of the symposium is "Chinese earth scientists facing the challenges of the 21st century." Future announcements about the symposium will be posted on the website. I-Ming urges Chinese earth science professionals to make suggestions, support, and participate the symposium.

8. The meeting was adjourned.