AOC STUDENTS GATHERING in PORTLAND - TOP -
By Xianglian Li
The annual AOC student dinner party, sponsored by AOC executive board, was held during the ASABE annual meeting on July 10th, at Narderin House, Portland. Around 40 student members, over 10 faculty members, and many guests attended the dinner party. This nice social event aimed at increasing interaction among AOC student and faculty members in a relaxed atmosphere. Thanks to the effort of the AOC board and SAC, the party was a great success, with people enjoying delicious food, making friends, sharing information and obtaining valuable suggestions from invited speakers.
This year four professors were invited to give a talk after the dinner: Dr. Joan Wu from Washington State University; Dr. Shufeng Han from Iowa State University; Dr. Lingjuan Wang from North Carolina State University; and Dr. Wenqiao Yuan from Kansas state university. Catering to the needs of students, these speakers gave a series of talks on topics such as succeeding in academia, seeking jobs, preparing interview and etc.
Dr. Joan Wu spoke about succeeding in academia as a female professional. Citing her own experience, she stressed passion, dedication, persistence, and hard work. ¡°You must love it if you are to do it.¡± She said, ¡°Being optimistic and learning how to deal with tough relationships are equally important¡±. When talking about securing a tenure-position, she pointed out two important factors: the uniqueness of one¡¯s program, and collaboration with other faculty members. When asked of how to make good balance between career and family, she responded that love and family can give passion and strength to deal with and solve problems. Dr. Wu also announced job openings in her program and encouraged student to apply.
Dr. Shufeng Han shared his experiences on how to get a job and become successful in both academia and industry. To obtain a job in industry, he emphasized several aspects, such as setting realistic goals, having both technical and communication skills, and possessing a good personality. ¡°Good relationship, teamwork spirit, and being aggressive with research are important,¡± he said, ¡°Another key issue is that you need a good boss.¡± Dr. Han also talked about the advantages and disadvantages in both academia and industry.
The third speaker was Dr. Lingjuan Wang, who joined Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, North Carolina State University, in 2005. She presented a slide presentation on how toget an offer for faculty position. Drawing on her own recent experience, she gave valuable suggestions on writing target resumes, preparing interview questions, conducting a successful interview and etc. She also pointed out that one should have a big vision and broad area at the same time. ¡°Have a dream and try to realize it.¡± She emphasized, ¡°If you don¡¯t have a dream, how can you realize it?¡±.
The last speaker, Dr. Wenqiao Yuan, shared his experience of conducting successful Ph.D. research and seeking jobs. When he was a doctoral student, he amazingly published 10 journal papers in just three and a half years. His experiences in doing good research and seeking jobs were very attractive to the AOC student members. He attributed his success to his interest in thinking, doing, and writing. He also said: ¡°My advisor told me that, if you do well, you will get a job no matter which area you are working in.¡±
The talks were welcomed by the students with great enthusiasm and excitement. After the speech, a lot of questions were asked of the speakers. ¡°What are good personalities? Can you be more specific?¡±; ¡°How can we communicate efficiently if our spoken English is not good enough?¡±¡ The speakers answered students¡¯ questions kindly and patiently. They also encouraged student to write to them for more questions. Let¡¯s see what the students said about the talks. ¡°I¡¯m looking for a job now. Today¡¯s speeches are very helpful to me.¡± ¡°This is the second year of my Ph.D. study. Sounds too far? No, at least it¡¯s time to make a good plan¡± ¡°Well, I will come back next year.¡±¡¡°These talks are very impressive,¡± said one student, ¡°I have thought a lot about my career path after my graduation, but now I¡¯m much clearer and more confident in choosing my career path.¡±
Before the speeches, AOC president, Dr. Ruihong Zhang, gave a brief comment on the SAC activities in the past year and the significance to AOC. She said that AOC would continue providing support to student activities. Dr. Naiqian Zhang, student advisor, helped out throughout the party as he always does. In addition, new student members were recruited during the party and a new Student Activity Committee (SAC) was formed for 2006-2007.
Finally, thanks to the AOC board, SAC, invited speakers, all other members and guests, this year¡¯s student gathering party has been held with a huge success. We wish everyone a happy, fruitful year, and we look forward to seeing each other in 2007!Thanks
AOC student membership is open to students in China - TOP -
By SAC-AOC
On AOC Board meeting this past January, AOC Board approved SAC's proposal of opening student membership to students (including graduate and undergraduate) studying in China. AOC Board also passed the motion that membership fee for students who locate in China should be waived. In another word, it is free to be a student member of AOC for students studying at universities in China. This is mostly regarded as a bold movement for AOC since this organization was originally proposed to serve only for "overseas" Chinese scholars. The SAC Board made this proposal based on the belief that promoting exchange and collaboration between scholars at China and US is one of the most important missions for our organization. SAC can make contribution towards this mission by recruiting student members from China.
There are two benefits for both our organization and our members: first, our organization is strengthened and expanded by having more members, which will give us more power and influence; second, we can provide information on graduate assistantship to those student members who plan to pursue their graduate degree in the US, offer suggestions to their application and build up an information exchange platform email-list which can be used for academic exchange. We believe those young professionals are important for the future of AOC.
To be a Student Member in China, please send your basic information (Name, University, Major, and your Email Address) to: aoc_china@yahoo.com. Upon pre-approved by administrator, you will be required to fill and return an official membership form before your membership is finally authorized. Click here to download the membership form. Also please help to distribute the Member Recruiting Flyer
E-News Issue 2 Released Feb 7th, 2006 - TOP -
By SAC-AOC
Topic List:
1. AOC student membership is open to students in China
2. Free dinner for student members at AOC banquet this year
3. AOC student paper competition awards increased to six
4. SAC is to recruit representatives in north america
5. SAC is given the authority to manage student membership
6. Three more new members joining SAC
7. Dr. Naiqian zhang attended CSAE meeting in China
8. SAC board meeting minutes Jan. 5, 2006 and Jan 26, 2006.
9. Job openings
To access details of this issue and receive future E-News, please join SAC newsgroup through link: Join SAC Newsgroup. Thanks!
E-News Issue 1 Released Dec 15th, 2005 - TOP -
By SAC-AOC
Topic List:
1. An open letter to AOC student members and friends;
2. SAC winter meeting minutes, Dec. 9th, 2005;
3. New SAC web-pages and Newsgroup Launched
4. SAC Fall meeting minutes, Nov. 11th, 2005;
5. File (PowerPoint) downloadable Speeches from Dr. Ting and Dr. Zhang
6. Job Postings
You could access details of this issue from website: http://www.aoc-web.org/student/enews01.htm. However, you must join SAC newsgroup to receive future E-News. To encourage member involvements, we will publish future issues only through SAC newsgroup mail list. If you are not a newsgroup member? Please join now through: Join SAC Newsgroup.
Thanks for Dr. Naiqian Zhang for providing job postings for this issue. If you have new job information (or TA/RA/Fellowship information) want to share with the community, please email to aoc_china@yahoogroups.com. Your posting will be directly forwarded to newsgroup members and included in oncoming issue of E-News. Thanks!
AOC student gathering party on July 19 th in Tampa - TOP -
By Chunxia Wu
If you did not attend the AOC student gathering party on July 19 th in Tampa , chances are you missed a fabulous seafood feast, a great opportunity to meet friends in your research area, and even worse, you just missed two fantastic presentations and tons of great suggestions from successful professors.
As an event of the students’ activities during the 15 th ASAE annual meeting, a student dinner party, sponsored by AOC executive board, free access for AOC student members, was held in The China First Seafood buffet in Tampa . A total of 46 members, including about 30 student members, attended the party. Attendees had great time in the party:
enjoying the fresh seafood, knowing each other, talking, sharing information, and getting suggestions from two presentations for developing a successful career. Volume 5, Issue 1, September 2005 7
Dr. KC Ting, Professor and Department head from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, gave a speech on "Faculty Appointment, Performance Evaluation, and Promotion & Tenure Process". (Download speech documents)
“It was a great presentation.” said one student member, “It was a very attractive speech. Clearly, delivery of the information was efficient; and, most importantly, the information is very helpful, not only to those who are pursuing or already have a faculty position in academia, it was helpful to all who want to start or to make improvement for their careers…”
Dr. KC Ting left the party right after his speech, leaving no time for questions; but he encouraged students to send email asking any question they might have. "I am expecting more," a student regretted the time limitation for the presentation; he said: "I definitely will contact Dr. Ting later for more details." The presentation material from Dr. KC Ting will be posted in the AOC website to benefit more.
Dr. Ruihong Zhang, the AOC president for the 2005-2006 year and a professor from University of California at Davis , gave a talk on “How to succeed in academia in the US as a female professional”. (Download speech documents)
"It was very touching." said an American female friend, who was invited by one of the AOC student member. "That was very true: as a female professional, you have to work like a man to be successful. When you work for a company or any other institute, if you always remember you are female, they will think you are too feminine; however, if you head for a job and think there is no such a glass ceiling above you, you are fool. "
"I like the answer about the baby" said another female AOC student member, "It is a big issue for not only a few people. To be honest, I kept on thinking this problem ever since I got married. I agree with Dr. Zhang, there is not one answer fits all; it depends on individual's situation. "
The party was very successful as a whole. "Unquestionable, AOC had made huge progress during the last couple of years." said a student member, who attended a student party 3 or 4 years ago and rejoined AOC this year, "I would like to attend all the activities if they were all like this one". I bet what he meant was not only the free food.
AOC student members were recruited during the party to form a new Student Activity Committee (SAC) responsible for the student activities in 2006. More successful student events in 2006 can be expected with the efforts of the new SAC.
