China Science and Technology Network | The 4th Summer School of Environmental Systems Engineering in the AI Era is now open

On August 5th, the 4th Environmental Systems Engineering Summer School, jointly organized by the Ecological Environment Artificial Intelligence Professional Committee of the Chinese Society of Environmental Sciences, the Water Environment and Water Ecology Branch of the Chinese Urban Science Research Association, and the Industrial Ecology Professional Committee of the Chinese Society of Ecology, and jointly hosted by the School of Environment at Tsinghua University, the Department of Environmental Science and Engineering at Fudan University, and China Water Environment Group, opened at the Nanxiang Submerged Reclaimed Water Plant in Jiading, Shanghai, China Water Environment Group. After layers of screening, 50 students from universities such as Tsinghua University, Fudan University, and Nanjing University were selected to participate in this summer school.

In the activity, Qu Jiuhui, an academician of the CAE Member, a professor of the School of Environment of Tsinghua University, and a researcher of the Ecological Environment Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, shared with the students the three levels of scientific research and the principles of environmental science. He reminded the students to do well in academia, use technology, and ignore skills. He proposed that the way of learning lies in reason, while the way of seeking reason in environmental disciplines lies in maintaining creativity and insight, and must also possess sensitivity and logic. It is necessary to discover special phenomena, identify existing problems, raise scientific questions, and reveal unknown mechanisms from scientific phenomena, known unknowns, theoretical deductions, and practical engineering.

Qu Jiuhui also revealed the qualities that excellent scientific researchers should possess from the difficulties encountered in starting scientific research, which are challenging scientific imagination, mastery of concise scientific methods, and cultivation of habitual scientific interaction. He believes that it is particularly important to understand that balance theory is the scientific foundation and collaborative principle for achieving zero pollution. It is necessary to establish a balance and regulation system for all materials, all factors, all processes, and all cycles, and to construct a digital decision support system that dynamically identifies and regulates multiple balances. He emphasized that AI technology will focus on environmental issues, systematically analyze and integrate knowledge from various disciplines, and form a new system that promotes theoretical innovation, technological breakthroughs, and industrial applications.

Xu Ming, the initiator of the summer school and vice dean of the School of Environment at Tsinghua University, stated that environmental systems engineering is an emerging interdisciplinary field that studies complex environmental problems from a systems perspective. Essentially, it involves understanding from a holistic perspective of the system and using systematic scientific methods to solve complex environmental problems at the system level.

“The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has pointed out that addressing global challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and environmental pollution requires interdisciplinary and systematic approaches to explore ways for humans and nature to coexist harmoniously. Cultivating students' professional abilities in environmental systems engineering and providing scientific support for achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals is also the original intention of the Environmental Systems Engineering Summer School, "said Wang Yutao, a professor at Fudan University and co-founder of the summer school.

In the afternoon of the opening ceremony, the students visited and studied at the Nanxiang Underground Reclaimed Water Plant of China Water Environment Group. This water plant adopts the design mode of upper parkandlower plant, with a beautiful water ecological park on the ground. The water system in the park uses high-quality recycled water that has been treated by a sewage treatment plant and meets the standards. It is known as the most beautiful water plant in China.

It is reported that since the first summer school was held in 2021, the cumulative number of participants in this public welfare activity has exceeded 500. This summer school has received 308 valid applications, and 50 people were finally selected based on merit, with an admission rate of only 16%.