At the closing of the Ninth National Congress of the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST) at the Great Hall of the People on June 2nd, Professor Yang Shiqiang, Professor Sun Maosong and the young teacher Cui Peng, from the Department of computer science, were elected as members of the Ninth National Committee of CAST. More than 1300 official delegates attended this Congress, whereby 383 were elected as members of the Committee. The selection of the conference delegates and the committee member candidates were based on their extensive representation over a wide range of subjects, regions and ages, as well as the representatives from the outstanding technological workers within the new emerging field of science and technology, so as to increase the proportion of frontline technological workers at the grass-root level. Three teachers were nominated, through various channels, to participate in this Congress. Yang Shiqiang, the supervisor of the China Computer Federation, and Sun Maosong, the vice president of the Chinese Information Processing Society of China, were nominated by their institutions as the conference delegates and candidates for the Committee. Cui Peng is the representative for the young scientific and technical personnel, and he was nominated by the standing committee of CAST for the “Young Elite Scientist Sponsorship Program”.

The China Association for Science and Technology is the grass-root organization for Chinese scientific and technological researchers. CAST comprises the National Congress, research institutions and local associations. It is a networking system with great coverage most of the subjects on natural science and the industrial departments. CAST represents 81 million technological researchers around China. Four major Chinese technology conferences convened on May 30 at the Great Hall of the People, and they are: The National Congress and the Second Plenary Session of the China Association for Science and Technology, the National Technology Innovation Conference and the Conference of academicians from both Academies. The General Secretary Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Li Keqiang delivered keynote speeches at the conference. Twenty-two representatives from our university attended the meeting, where 12 were elected as members of the Committee.