A Brief History of the College of Urban and Environmental Sciences (UES)
The College of Urban and Environmental Sciences was originally established from the Department of Geography, which was established in 1952 as the Department of Geology and Geography. In 1989, the department was renamed the Department of Urban and Environmental Sciences, which later became the College of Urban and Environmental Science in 2002. As UES expands, the number of students has soared in response to the growing demands of these fields.
Administrative Structure
UES is under the administration of the Faculty of Natural Sciences. Currently, UES consists of five departments, Department of Environmental Science, Department of Ecology, Department of Physical Geography and Geomorphology, Department of Urban and Economic Geography, and Department of Urban and Regional Planning, and two centers, the Center for Historical Geography and the Center for Architecture. Each of the five departments and two centers are managed by a department chair or center director. The department chairs and center directors are elected by the faculty members of the corresponding department or center and appointed by the Dean. The primary responsibilities of the chairs or center directors is to conduct curriculum reviews and revisions of their respective program, recruit graduate students, and promote the department’s teaching, research, and service activities.
Faculty
There are 68 full-time faculty members at UES, among which 32 are full professors, 25 are associate professors, three are assistant professors, and eight are research professors. The full professors, research professors, and associate professors serve as graduate faculty, with full professors and research professors also serving as doctoral candidate supervisors. The total number of faculty has remained relatively consistent over the past five years, as the number of new hires tends to equal to the number of retirees. Among the full-time faculty members, fourteen are female. All faculty members are Chinese nationals, with the exception of one faculty member from the UK, who served as an assistant professor for three years and left UES this fall.
Among the faculty members, two are members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and five are Changjiang Scholars. Two research groups (Environmental Geochemistry and Ecology) have been granted by the NSFC Innovative Research Group Fund and nine professors have been granted the NSFC National Natural Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars.
hist. geog 5 geomor- 7 61-65: 4
Introduction of Undergraduate Programs
UES offers undergraduate degree programs, in which students earn a Bachelor of Science or a Bachelor of Engineering upon completion. The five undergraduate degree programs on offer include Environmental Science, Ecological Science, Physical Geography, Human Geography, and Urban and Regional Planning.
Introduction of Graduate Programs
In China, although the earliest graduate program dates back to 1956, graduate programs with conferred degrees of Master in Science or Doctor of Philosophy were not established until 1983. Currently, UES offers eight MS degree programs, including Physical Geography, Human Geography, Historical Geography, Geomorphology, Quaternary Geology, Environmental Science, Urban and Regional Planning, and Ecology, and six Ph.D. programs, including Physical Geography, Human Geography, Historical Geography, Geomorphology, Environmental Geography, and Quaternary Geology. In addition, a new program, Ecology will start to recruit graduate students in fall 2014.
Research Output
The quality and quantity of research output has continuously improved over the years. In 2013, the external research grant per faculty member reached 1.09 million RMB (178,000 USD 1). Publications in peer-reviewed journals per faculty member in 2012 was 6.59, including 1.72 published in international peer reviewed journals.
International Reputation
Largely due to the strong academic reputation that UES has established over the years and the outstanding quality of the faculty, there are currently 19 faculty members that serve on the advisory/editorial boards of international peer-reviewed journals.
Honors and Awards
UES faculty members have earned a number of honors and awards, including National Award of National Science, National Excellent Teacher Award, Young Female Scientist Award, Chang Jiang Scholars Achievement Award, National Outstanding Planning and Design Award, The UNESCO Asia-PacificHeritage Awards for Culture Heritage Conservation etc.
1 The USD to RMB exchange rate of 6.123 RMB/USD in Aug. 20, 2013 was applied throughout the report
Research Focus
UES’s current operational and management structure, program portfolio, and faculty composition have proven effective in organizing teaching activities while maintaining a strong research capacity. It is the combination of depth in discipline (e.g. chemistry and biology) and breadth in vision (e.g. geography and planning), which are widely recognized. Such a combination allows students to analyze physical and biological processes in the physical environment, as well as within the social-economical context.
Around five years ago, UES made a strategic decision to focus research efforts on the following three areas:
1)
2)
3) Climate change and ecological response; Environment quality and ecological/health impacts; and Urban study and sustainable science.
of species diversity. We find that number of species increases exponentially with environmental temperature as predicted by the MTE, and so does the rate of spatial turnover in species composition (slope of the species-area relationship). The magnitude of temperature dependence of species richness increases with spatial scale. Moreover, the relationship between species richness and temperature is much steeper in eastern Asia than in North America: in cold climates at high latitudes there are more tree species in North America, but the reverse is true in warmer climates at lower latitudes. These patterns provide evidence that the kinetics of ecological and evolutionary processes play a major role in the latitudinal pattern of biodiversity. Urban and Regional Planning
Rapid urbanization and industrialization in China has generated considerable demand for policy making support from universities. This is particularly true for UES, as the school has a strong focus in the areas of environment, ecology, urban, and sustainability. It has been UES’s long tradition and history to link theories with practice. One faculty member will serve as a member of the National Environmental Advisory Committee.
UES faculty has been actively engaged in the policy making process at both the central and local levels. For example, two faculty members, Yixing ZHOU and Jian LIN, have been invited to deliver lectures on urbanization and land management in China, respectively, to the Politburo members. Faculty members were involved in the formulation of Cleaner Production Promotion Law of the PRC, Circular Economy Promotion Law of the PRC, and the Energy Conservation Law of PRC, as well as the national plans for environment, energy, circular economy, and other related areas. Research results of more than 20 projects have been approved by the State Council or adopted by the central government, and have played significant roles in environment, resource, energy, and land management of the country. Two national standards and eight industry standards implemented in land management, development, and planning have been developed or revised by UES faculty. The central government has held a number of research reports from UES
faculty in high regard, such as Wen Chuan Reconstruction Planning and Development Strategy, Urban Capacity and Crisis Management in Chinese Cities and Strategies to Global Climate Change.
At the local level, the faculty directly engages in urban, regional, and strategic planning, or provides high quality research to support planning. Faculty involved in planning, such as Land Use Planning in Beijing and Hainan Island, and Urban Agglomeration Planning in the Shandong Peninsula, and Beijing Tourism Planning, have had their research and expertise implemented by local governments. Recently, faculty from UES have led several projects approved by the Ministry of Science and Technology and funded by the Ministry of Finance to conduct research on key techniques and standards for spatial planning, land use, and land redevelopment at the township and village levels.
Facilities
U ES’s current equipment includes analytical instruments for trace pollutants and sampling tools; computational capacity in both teaching and research laboratories is excellent and well supports various teaching and research activities.
The Sai Han Ba Station of Peking University Observatory System for Ecology and the Environment (PKU-OSEE) was built in 2008. It is located at the forest-steppe ecotone in northern China, covering an area of 1 ha, with a construction area of 2,600 m2. It serves as a teaching base for undergraduate students majoring in Ecology and Physical Geography, as well as a research base for faculty and students. It is also open to researchers from other universities and institutions. The library resources available to UES programs are excellent and managed by the university library.
A Brief History of the College of Urban and Environmental Sciences (UES)
The College of Urban and Environmental Sciences was originally established from the Department of Geography, which was established in 1952 as the Department of Geology and Geography. In 1989, the department was renamed the Department of Urban and Environmental Sciences, which later became the College of Urban and Environmental Science in 2002. As UES expands, the number of students has soared in response to the growing demands of these fields.
Administrative Structure
UES is under the administration of the Faculty of Natural Sciences. Currently, UES consists of five departments, Department of Environmental Science, Department of Ecology, Department of Physical Geography and Geomorphology, Department of Urban and Economic Geography, and Department of Urban and Regional Planning, and two centers, the Center for Historical Geography and the Center for Architecture. Each of the five departments and two centers are managed by a department chair or center director. The department chairs and center directors are elected by the faculty members of the corresponding department or center and appointed by the Dean. The primary responsibilities of the chairs or center directors is to conduct curriculum reviews and revisions of their respective program, recruit graduate students, and promote the department’s teaching, research, and service activities.
Faculty
There are 68 full-time faculty members at UES, among which 32 are full professors, 25 are associate professors, three are assistant professors, and eight are research professors. The full professors, research professors, and associate professors serve as graduate faculty, with full professors and research professors also serving as doctoral candidate supervisors. The total number of faculty has remained relatively consistent over the past five years, as the number of new hires tends to equal to the number of retirees. Among the full-time faculty members, fourteen are female. All faculty members are Chinese nationals, with the exception of one faculty member from the UK, who served as an assistant professor for three years and left UES this fall.
Among the faculty members, two are members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and five are Changjiang Scholars. Two research groups (Environmental Geochemistry and Ecology) have been granted by the NSFC Innovative Research Group Fund and nine professors have been granted the NSFC National Natural Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars.
hist. geog 5 geomor- 7 61-65: 4
Introduction of Undergraduate Programs
UES offers undergraduate degree programs, in which students earn a Bachelor of Science or a Bachelor of Engineering upon completion. The five undergraduate degree programs on offer include Environmental Science, Ecological Science, Physical Geography, Human Geography, and Urban and Regional Planning.
Introduction of Graduate Programs
In China, although the earliest graduate program dates back to 1956, graduate programs with conferred degrees of Master in Science or Doctor of Philosophy were not established until 1983. Currently, UES offers eight MS degree programs, including Physical Geography, Human Geography, Historical Geography, Geomorphology, Quaternary Geology, Environmental Science, Urban and Regional Planning, and Ecology, and six Ph.D. programs, including Physical Geography, Human Geography, Historical Geography, Geomorphology, Environmental Geography, and Quaternary Geology. In addition, a new program, Ecology will start to recruit graduate students in fall 2014.
Research Output
The quality and quantity of research output has continuously improved over the years. In 2013, the external research grant per faculty member reached 1.09 million RMB (178,000 USD 1). Publications in peer-reviewed journals per faculty member in 2012 was 6.59, including 1.72 published in international peer reviewed journals.
International Reputation
Largely due to the strong academic reputation that UES has established over the years and the outstanding quality of the faculty, there are currently 19 faculty members that serve on the advisory/editorial boards of international peer-reviewed journals.
Honors and Awards
UES faculty members have earned a number of honors and awards, including National Award of National Science, National Excellent Teacher Award, Young Female Scientist Award, Chang Jiang Scholars Achievement Award, National Outstanding Planning and Design Award, The UNESCO Asia-PacificHeritage Awards for Culture Heritage Conservation etc.
1 The USD to RMB exchange rate of 6.123 RMB/USD in Aug. 20, 2013 was applied throughout the report
Research Focus
UES’s current operational and management structure, program portfolio, and faculty composition have proven effective in organizing teaching activities while maintaining a strong research capacity. It is the combination of depth in discipline (e.g. chemistry and biology) and breadth in vision (e.g. geography and planning), which are widely recognized. Such a combination allows students to analyze physical and biological processes in the physical environment, as well as within the social-economical context.
Around five years ago, UES made a strategic decision to focus research efforts on the following three areas:
1)
2)
3) Climate change and ecological response; Environment quality and ecological/health impacts; and Urban study and sustainable science.
of species diversity. We find that number of species increases exponentially with environmental temperature as predicted by the MTE, and so does the rate of spatial turnover in species composition (slope of the species-area relationship). The magnitude of temperature dependence of species richness increases with spatial scale. Moreover, the relationship between species richness and temperature is much steeper in eastern Asia than in North America: in cold climates at high latitudes there are more tree species in North America, but the reverse is true in warmer climates at lower latitudes. These patterns provide evidence that the kinetics of ecological and evolutionary processes play a major role in the latitudinal pattern of biodiversity. Urban and Regional Planning
Rapid urbanization and industrialization in China has generated considerable demand for policy making support from universities. This is particularly true for UES, as the school has a strong focus in the areas of environment, ecology, urban, and sustainability. It has been UES’s long tradition and history to link theories with practice. One faculty member will serve as a member of the National Environmental Advisory Committee.
UES faculty has been actively engaged in the policy making process at both the central and local levels. For example, two faculty members, Yixing ZHOU and Jian LIN, have been invited to deliver lectures on urbanization and land management in China, respectively, to the Politburo members. Faculty members were involved in the formulation of Cleaner Production Promotion Law of the PRC, Circular Economy Promotion Law of the PRC, and the Energy Conservation Law of PRC, as well as the national plans for environment, energy, circular economy, and other related areas. Research results of more than 20 projects have been approved by the State Council or adopted by the central government, and have played significant roles in environment, resource, energy, and land management of the country. Two national standards and eight industry standards implemented in land management, development, and planning have been developed or revised by UES faculty. The central government has held a number of research reports from UES
faculty in high regard, such as Wen Chuan Reconstruction Planning and Development Strategy, Urban Capacity and Crisis Management in Chinese Cities and Strategies to Global Climate Change.
At the local level, the faculty directly engages in urban, regional, and strategic planning, or provides high quality research to support planning. Faculty involved in planning, such as Land Use Planning in Beijing and Hainan Island, and Urban Agglomeration Planning in the Shandong Peninsula, and Beijing Tourism Planning, have had their research and expertise implemented by local governments. Recently, faculty from UES have led several projects approved by the Ministry of Science and Technology and funded by the Ministry of Finance to conduct research on key techniques and standards for spatial planning, land use, and land redevelopment at the township and village levels.
Facilities
U ES’s current equipment includes analytical instruments for trace pollutants and sampling tools; computational capacity in both teaching and research laboratories is excellent and well supports various teaching and research activities.
The Sai Han Ba Station of Peking University Observatory System for Ecology and the Environment (PKU-OSEE) was built in 2008. It is located at the forest-steppe ecotone in northern China, covering an area of 1 ha, with a construction area of 2,600 m2. It serves as a teaching base for undergraduate students majoring in Ecology and Physical Geography, as well as a research base for faculty and students. It is also open to researchers from other universities and institutions. The library resources available to UES programs are excellent and managed by the university library.