Invitedby Tao Lin (ZJU-100 Professor), Prof. K.C. Ting, Vice Dean of InternationalCampus Zhejiang University, gave an academic presentation on “Planning forFuture ABE”. The presentation mainly talked about the history anddevelopment of the discipline of Agricultural Biosystems Engineering (ABE). Prof.Ting specially introduced the special meeting about issues regarding the namesand contents of educational programs about ABE in detail, which was organizedby ASABE in 2005, in Tempa, Florida. Several topics werediscussed, including curriculum and accreditation, student interest andrecruiting, industry recognition, and professional engineering licensing andprofessional society membership. Prof. Ting argued that the name ofAgricultural Biosystems Engineering fully illustrated the engineering characteristicand the goal of serving the agriculture of this discipline. In conclusion, thevision of this discipline is “creating a world with abundant food, energy,water and a healthy environment”. The mission of this discipline is “enhancingsustainable productivity of food and agricultural systems through innovativebiosystems that are empowered”. Besides, Prof. Ting introduced the corecompetencies of ABE of UIUC, including automation, culture, environment andsystems (ACESys model). At last, Prof. Ting discussed where ABE will go fromhere and introduced the eight-stage of conducting a strategic plan to developABE (refer to LEADING CHANGE wrote by John P. Kotter, Harvard BusinessSchool Press, 1996,187p) .

At theQ & A session, Prof. Ting answered the questions from participatingfaculties and students in detail. In response to the question about thecultivation of students majoring in ABE, Prof. Ting stressed that cooperationbetween the university and government that tend to hire students of ABE is criticalto enhance students’ ability and career competence.

Brief introduction of Prof. Ting. Prof.Ting now serves as Professor and Vice Dean, International Campus of ZhejiangUniversity. Prof. Ting (PhD-Illinois & Professional Engineer-New Jersey)served as Professor and Head, Department of Agricultural and BiologicalEngineering, UIUC from 2004 to 2016. He also served as department head/chair atThe Ohio State University, Rutgers University, and University of Houston in theU.S.A. He has been leading research teams to develop and implementmethodologies for system techniques, computer models, simulation andoptimization results, and decision support systems for agricultural productionand intelligent food systems, as well as to study the related issue of automation,energy efficiency, environmental impact, and economic feasibility. His directresearch funding includes PI and Co-PI for over US$ 12million. He has publishedover 295 articles, papers, monographs, presentations, and reports. He hasdelivered over 135 invited presentations in 17 countries. He has participatedin establishing international collaborative education and research programsbetween institutions in the U.S. and countries in Asia, Europe, Middle East,South American, and Africa.