MIT and the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) in Shenzhen, China, have announced the launch of the Centers for Mechanical Engineering Research and Education at MIT and SUSTech. The two centers, which will be located at MIT and SUSTech, aim to foster research collaborations and inspire new approaches to engineering education.

At a ceremony on June 15, Anantha P. Chandrakasan, dean of engineering at MIT and the Vannevar Bush Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and Zhenghe Xu, dean of engineering at SUSTech, signed an agreement establishing the two centers. They were joined by faculty from both MIT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering and SUSTech as well as representatives from the local Shenzhen government.

“This research and educational collaboration will give MIT’s faculty and students the opportunity to benefit from a wider range of research and engage in a discussion on how to best train mechanical engineers,” says Gang Chen, the Carl Richard Soderberg Professor of Power Engineering and head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, who will serve as faculty director for the MIT center. Professor Zhenghe Xu will serve as faculty director of the SUSTech center.

“Launching these new centers will help support research on some of the world’s most pressing problems,” Chen says.

“The Centers for Mechanical Engineering Research and Education at MIT and SUSTech aim to inspire intellectual dialogue, innovative research and development, and new approaches to teaching and learning between experts in China and at MIT,” says MIT Associate Provost Richard Lester.

Each year, one or two faculty members from SUSTech will visit MIT for a semester. In addition to conducting research at the MIT center, the SUSTech faculty will be invited to observe MIT’s approach to mechanical engineering education firsthand.

Students from SUSTech will also have the opportunity to conduct research and take courses at MIT. Roughly a dozen graduate and undergraduate students from SUSTech will spend time at the MIT center each year.

Meanwhile, faculty and students from MIT will be invited to travel to Shenzhen and observe developments in the area’s innovation ecosystem, through a number of programs supported by the Centers for Mechanical Engineering Research and Education at MIT and SUSTech.

“Our collaboration with SUSTech on launching these two new centers can help us make a positive impact on research and education both in the U.S. and in China,” Chen says.