China’s Sichuan University Begins Construction of Pittsburgh Institute

A groundbreaking ceremony was held July 2 to launch construction of a 100,000 square-foot building that will house the Sichuan University-Pittsburgh Institute in Chengdu, China. The institute, a partnership between the University of Pittsburgh and Sichuan University that was announced in 2013, is a joint engineering institute that will educate undergraduate students and foster collaborative research.

The first class of students is expected to enroll in fall 2015. Students will spend the first two years of the program immersed in the Pitt engineering curriculum in China with the option of transferring to Pitt’s campus in Oakland during their third year in the program.

Top photo shows artist’s rendering of the institute building. Below, the officials who gathered to break ground on the building were, from left, Shijing Yan, vice president of international affairs at Sichuan University; Guangxian Li, executive vice president at Sichuan University; Patricia E. Beeson, provost and senior vice chancellor at Pitt; Heping Xie, president of Sichuan University; Lawrence Feick, director of Pitt’s University Center for International Studies; Gregory Marcus, former consular chief at the U.S. Consulate General in Chengdu; Gerald D. Holder, the U.S. Steel Dean of Engineering and professor in Pitt’s Swanson School of Engineering; and Minking Chyu, the Leighton and Mary Orr Chair Professor in Pitt’s Swanson School of Engineering.