Representatives from Nanchang University and Fudan University in central China included a visit to Virginia Tech on their U.S. tour to learn about research on watershed ecology and the organization of research institutions as well as to pursue opportunities for collaboration on research at China’s Poyang Lake. The group met with faculty members from the departments of Fish and Wildlife Conservation and Biological Systems Engineering and toured the college’s mussel research laboratory.

They traveled to the Eastern Shore to attend the dedication of a new seawater laboratory at the Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences and to visit U.Va.’s Anheuser-Busch Coastal Research Center as well as shorebird habitats on the Barrier Islands. Their U.S. trip also included stops at the University of Wisconsin, the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, Wis., and wildlife refuges in the upper Midwest.

“We very much enjoyed the exchange of ideas with these scientists with whom we share a strong interest in conservation and in the sustainability of the earth,” said Professor Jim Fraser, who accompanied the group to the Eastern Shore along with Research Specialist Shannon Ritter. “I hope to visit them again in China this year or next, and we hope to initiate collaborative work in the near future.”

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