Fu Congbin, a Chinese scientist specializing in the studies of
climate change, was elected as the new president of the Pacific
Science Association (PSA), the organization announced Sunday.
"The PSA is involved?in disciplines of various kinds and I
will work to realize more exchanges and cooperation among different
areas of study and wish to contribute to the sustainable
development in the Pacific region," said Fu.
The 67-year-old professor is one of the leading Chinese
scientists working on climate variability and dynamics and a member
of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
"The China Association for Science and Technology is an adhering
organization of the PSA. China will make more contributions to the
PSA in the future," Fu said.
The PSA, founded in 1920, is a non-governmental scholarly
organization that seeks to advance science, technology, and
sustainable development in and of the Asia-Pacific region.
Chinese scientists have been active participants in the regional
academic organization. Zhou Guangzhao, former president of the
Chinese Academy of Sciences, was the president of the PSA during
the 1990s.
Fu has been vice-president of the PSA and member of its
executive council in recent years. "Science is for the benefit of
society," Fu said, "the PSA has recently set up some task forces to
get itself further involved with local science organizations and
work on some specific issues."
Members of the Hawaii-based organization have also realized that
more interaction with other science groups within the region would
help the 87-year-old PSA regain its youth, Fu added.
Fu, who will serve as the PSA president from 2007 to 2011, has
been engaged in studies including air-sea interaction, air-land
interaction, and climate-ecosystem interaction on global and
regional scales. He has put special attention to the modeling and
diagnosis of the variations of monsoon systems and their response
and feedback to earth system dynamics.
The PSA is composed of both individual scientist members and
national and regional member organizations including China,
Australia, France, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, a range
of Pacific island nations, and others.
(PLA Daily June 18, 2007)