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BIDDEFORD, Maine

Noted environmental scholar Shupei Cheng presents seminar at UNE

Dr. Shupei Cheng, professor of the School of the Environmental at Nanjing University (NJU) and director of Nanjing University's Institute for Environmental Health, recently visited University of New England to present a seminar and discuss collaborative research opportunities with Timothy Ford, Ph.D., UNE vice president for research and dean of Graduate Studies. 

Nanjing University is one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in the People's Republic of China.

Cheng's seminar was entitled, "Advanced Environmental Health Sciences Collaboration Between NJU in the People's Republic of China and UNE in the United States of America."

Cheng's research focuses on environmental biotechnology, environmental health bioinformatics, and environmental microbiology. He is also the vice director for Environmental Microbiology Specialty Committee of China; vice director for Environmental Biotechnological Specialty Committee of Jiangsu, China; and the biology director for The State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse of China. Cheng has also been a visiting scholar, Department of Environmental Health, University of Washington (USA).

Ford has worked with Cheng for the past five years on the International Workshop on Environmental Health and Pollution Control (EHPC), for which Ford serves as academic chair. According to Cheng, the first EHPC workshop (there have been three so far) held in Nanjing in 2006 was the first of its kind to be held in China and is a reflection of the growing understanding of the importance of environmental health for the country.

In 2009, Ford was awarded a concurrent professorship by NJU in recognition of his contributions to the university, and to encourage continued collaboration on environmental health sciences development. The honor was presented in a ceremony held at NJU's Gulou Campus, situated in the heart of Nanjing City, the capital of Jiangsu Province in the lower Yangtze River drainage basin.

Areas of collaboration that Drs. Ford and Cheng are discussing include:

  • Genomic methods for measuring pathogenic bacteria, viruses, protozoa and helminths in drinking water and in source waters, including both lake and river ecosystems;
  • Control methods for decreasing and/or eliminating the risk of the pathogenic microorganisms in drinking water and in source waters; and
  • Methods for measuring the economic costs (i.e., burden of disease) of both chemical and microbiological pollution of the Yangtze River and other source waters in China.

During their visit, Cheng and Ford also visited environmental microbiology colleagues at Harvard University. In addition, Cheng toured UNE's Marine Science Center and discussed land-sea interactions with Phil Yund, center director. Following his seminar, Cheng spoke briefly with UNE Provost Jacque Carter about the importance of water and health and its economic burden.

Cheng was accompanied by his wife, Yunzhong Shi, associate professor, English, Nanjing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

About the University of New England

The University of New England is Maine’s largest independent university, with two beautiful coastal campuses in Maine, a one-of-a-kind study abroad campus in Tangier, Morocco, and an array of flexible, accredited online degrees. In an uncommonly welcoming and supportive community, we offer hands-on learning, empowering students to make a positive impact in a world full of challenges. The state’s top provider of health professionals, we are home to Maine’s only medical college, Maine’s only dental college, a variety of other interprofessionally aligned health care degree programs, as well as nationally recognized programs for marine science degrees, natural and social sciences degrees, arts and humanities degrees, and business degrees.