Edward Crawley, Ford Professor of Engineering at MIT, was conferred with a Tsinghua University Honorary Professorship and appointed as the Founding Interim Provost of the Tsinghua Southeast Asia Center (Tsinghua SEA) in an online ceremony on April 24.
The conferment ceremony was held at the President’s Office of Tsinghua University, and was attended by Qiu Yong, President of Tsinghua University, and Yang Bin, Vice President and Provost of Tsinghua University, who hosted the ceremony.
Crawley joined the ceremony online from Boston, the US. Luhut B. Pandjaitan, Coordinating Minister of Maritime Affairs and Investment, Republic of Indonesia, Cherie Nursalim, Vice Chairman of Giti Group and Co-Founder and Co-Chair of the Tsinghua Southeast Asia Center, Tuti Hadiputranto, President of the United in Diversity Foundation, and I Gede Ardika, Co-Founder of the Tsinghua University Southeast Asia Foundation attended the ceremony online from Indonesia.
Gao Hong, Vice Provost of Tsinghua University and Executive Dean of Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School, Li Jinliang, Dean for International Affairs of Tsinghua University, and Liu Zhen, Director of the Tsinghua Southeast Asia Center and Dean of School of Continuing Education, Tsinghua University, also took part in the event.
In his remarks, Qiu welcomed Crawley to the Tsinghua community and highly acknowledged his expertise and contribution to the world of engineering education and his leadership experience in new education institution management. Qiu hoped that his expertise will promote the future design and development of Tsinghua SEA, which is a key component of Tsinghua University’s Global Strategy. Tsinghua SEA focuses on education and cultural exchange and cooperation in Southeast Asia and around the world and aims to serve the needs of Indonesia and Southeast Asian countries in terms of human capital training in the face of Industry 4.0, and contribute to the Belt and Road Initiative and UN SDGs.
Pandjaitan sent his congratulations to Tsinghua for its 109th anniversary. In his remarks, he noted that this year marks the 70th anniversary of China-Indonesia diplomatic ties and he treasures the collaboration and friendship between the institutions and people of the two countries built over the decades. He hoped that Tsinghua SEA in Kura Kura Bali will deepen the meaningful collaborations within the region, and the world. He also recognized Crawley’s high reputation internationally and congratulated him on his honorary professorship at Tsinghua University and appointment as the Founding Interim Provost of Tsinghua University. He hopes his expertise will contribute to the development of the UID Creative Campus and Tsinghua SEA.
Crawley expressed his thanks for the appointment. In his remarks, he talked about the tremendous changes at Tsinghua University over the decades since his first visit to Tsinghua in 1982 and spoke highly of the international reputation Tsinghua University now has.
After the conferment ceremony, Crawley delivered an online talk onUniversities as Engines of Economic Development – Making Knowledge Exchange Work.
Edward Crawley
Edward Crawley is the Ford Professor of Engineering at MIT and a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Royal Swedish Institute of Engineering Science, and the Chinese Academy of Engineering. Prof. Crawley got his doctoral degree in Science from MIT in 1980. From 2011 to 2016 he served as the founding president of the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology. Prior to that he had served as Director of the Bernard M. Gordon – MIT Engineering Leadership Program, and from 2003 to 2006 he served as the Executive Director of the Cambridge – MIT Institute. He has also been the Department Head of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT, leading the strategic realignment of the department. Professor Crawley’s research has focused on the architecture, design, and decision support and optimization in complex technical systems subject to economic and stakeholder constraints.
As the founder of the famous CDIO (Conceive-Design-Implement-Operate) model for engineering education, he was awarded the “Bernard M. Gordon Prize for Innovation in Engineering and Technology Education” by the US National Academy of Engineering in 2011.
He served as Guest Professor of Tsinghua University from 2008 to 2011, and is the Co-chair of the Advisory Board of the International Center for Engineering Education (ICCE) under the auspices of UNESCO.
