On April 2, 2017 (Beijing time), the North American Tsinghua Alumni Association of Automotive Industry was inaugurated at the 2017 China-US Green Mobility and Smart Vehicles International Forum in Ann Arbor, Michigan.[Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

On April 2, 2017 (Beijing time), the North American Tsinghua Alumni Association of Automotive Industry was inaugurated at the 2017 China-US Green Mobility and Smart Vehicles International Forum in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Nearly 200 people attended the inauguration ceremony, including Tsinghua alumni from Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Boston, Silicon Valley, Beijing and Shanghai, as well as outstanding persons in the automotive industry. The newly-established organization will facilitate communication between Tsinghua alumni engaged in auto research and development around the world to strengthen their fellowship and cooperation in accordance with the Tsinghua motto “Self-Discipline and Social Commitment”.

Professor Yang Diange, Head of the Department of Automotive Engineering of Tsinghua University and Vice Chairman of the Tsinghua Alumni Association of Automotive Industry (TAI), explained the development of TAI in his speech. With the support of the Tsinghua Alumni Association, TAI has been building a career development platform for all Tsinghua alumni in the automotive industry with its mission to enhance communication and collaboration among alumni. By now, TAI has branches in Sichuan, Chongqing, Guangdong and Shanghai, and has set up alumni groups in major automobile production and sales areas such as Beijing, Jilin and Hubei. The number of registered alumni has exceeded 2,000. Among them, one-third came from sister departments such as Mechanical Engineering, Precision Instrument, Environment and Computer Science. Professor Yang pointed out that North America not only has the largest number of overseas Tsinghua alumni, but also is one of the busiest regions of automobile development, production and marketing in the world, as well as one of the world’s centers for the intelligent automobile technology revolution. The newly-founded North American TAI will provide strong support for uniting international Tsinghua alumni and promoting global auto-related cooperation among them.

All TAI members should seize every developmental opportunity and vigorously take part in national strategies of innovation-driven development, push ahead new power and intelligent vehicle revolutions, strive for the strategic goal of constructing world-class automotive engineering, and join hands to make continuous progress in the automotive industry and technology. These things combined could build China into a world automobile manufacturing power, with an eye on “Domestic Development, International Cooperation and National Defense”, following the trend of “Safety, Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection” of the automotive industry.

Professor Yang Diange delivered the association flag to the North American Tsinghua Alumni Association of Automotive Industry, announcing its official inauguration. Fan Jiang, president of the Association of Tsinghua University Alumni in Michigan, Ford powertrain expert, 1987 alumni of Department of Automotive Engineering, as the Vice President of the North American Tsinghua Alumni Association of Automotive Industry, presided over the inauguration ceremony and delivered the establishment speech.

Fan Jiang mentioned that in Detroit, Michigan, as a gathering place of technical talents in the automotive industry, people need to broaden horizons and cooperate with others at home and abroad in the fields of automotive innovation and entrepreneurship. Standing at the forefront of intelligent car development, making full use of resources to develop traffic products that meet needs of the next generation, and creating traffic ecosystems is vital. Fan Jiang said that the North American Tsinghua Alumni Association of Automotive Industry would actively help alumni expand international business and career development opportunities through the alumni association and the global Automotive Industry Association Network.

Adhering to Tsinghua’s traditions, the North American TAI will maintain a high degree of self-discipline, and serve North American alumni with quality services. Zeng Hua, Council member and Secretary-General of the North American Tsinghua Alumni Association of Automotive Industry, read the congratulatory letter from Tang Jie, Secretary-General of Tsinghua Alumni Association.

Yu Peng, Deputy Consul-General of Consulate-General of China in Chicago in charge of overseas Chinese affairs, science and technology and administration, attended the conference to express warm congratulations to the inauguration of the "2017 China-US Green Mobility and Smart Vehicles International Forum" and the North American Tsinghua Alumni Association of Automotive Industry. He expected the newly established alumni association could give full play to its own advantages and play a positive role in promoting Sino-US auto industry cooperation.

Yu Peng, Deputy Consul-General of Consulate-General of China in Chicago, addresses the audience at the inauguration.[Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

This is the first overseas alumni association of Tsinghua Alumni Association of Automobile Industry. Its establishment marks the Tsinghua automotive industry alumni’s solid step forward in producing far-reaching influence in promoting the global automotive industry technology exchanges and cooperation.