Graduate Students International Workshop held in Singapore

The Graduate Students International Workshop, consisting of eight graduate students from the College of Environmental & Resource Sciences, took a meaningful study and research tour to Singapore from July 16 to July 21. The workshop aims to provide the graduate students with a chance to learn about the cutting-edge technology of pollution control and to get hands-on experiences on the environmental protection. The workshop not only helps the graduate students to broaden their international horizon, but also enhances their academic and research competitiveness.

The group first visited the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, National University of Singapore (NUS) on July.17. Professor Hu Jiangyong and Professor He Jianzhong from NUS warmly welcomed the students and gave a brief introduction of NUS, including the CEE doctoral programs and the main research directions. The group then visited the lab with advanced equipment under the guidance of two doctoral students. During the interactive sharing session, students introduced their research directions to each other and discussed the similarities and differences between the graduate education and the academic research at home and abroad actively with the PhD students from NUS.

On the second day, the group visited Nanyang Technological University. Professor Zhao Zhiye from NTU gave an overview of the school. Professor Fei Xunchang presented the advanced waste treatment technology of Singapore and pointed out the shortcomings of some waste treatment technologies used in other countries. Students learned from the visit that there is still gap between China and overseas education. They were encouraged to further enhance their research ability and to contribute to the double first-class construction of Zhejiang University.

On July 19, the group visited the Semakau landfill and Waste to Energy Research Facility. Students learned from the local staff and scholars, and got the hands-on experiences from the solid waste landfill. Both the world's first artificial island and the pilot project with obvious reduction effect showed the wisdom of the Singapore government.

On July 20, students visited the Newater plant of Singapore, where the regeneration technique has been successfully applied to practice. Newater plant increases the amount of water in Singapore by purifying the sewage. Students learned about this deep processing technology and its effectiveness in solving the problem of water shortage.

 On the last day, students investigated the ecological system of Singapore, including the Green Building-Gardens by the bay and the Sustainable Singapore Gallery. During the ecological tour, students obtained a broad view on distribution of local biospecies including animals and plants. Subsequently, they went to Sentosa to continue the ecological study. After the exposure to the beautiful ecological environment of Singapore, students were all impressed by the continuous innovation and efforts of environmental engineers in creating a beautiful environment for the world.