Burmese Delegation Visits Institute
By Anna Lynn Spitzer
Irvine, Ca, May 17th, 2013 -- A group of government officials and professors from Myanmar stopped by Calit2 this week during a visit to UC Irvine.
The delegation, which included the country’s union minister and an advisor from its Ministry of Science and Technology, as well as two professors from Yangon Technological University, visited several campus science and technology centers.
The government officials and professors are seeking to rebuild their country’s science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. Their goal in visiting UCI was to better understand how American universities create partnerships that integrate science and technology with the business sector.
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At Calit2, they met briefly with division director G.P. Li before touring the California Plug Load Research Center (CalPlug) and the eHealth Collaboratory. At CalPlug, home to energy efficiency research, the delegation viewed the “Wall of Power,” a real-time physical/virtual demonstration of energy usage and cost associated with common electronic devices. They also received a brief overview of the 1 Kilowatt Hour Challenge, a series of tasks that brings to life energy usage associated with a kilowatt hour.
The group’s next Calit2 stop was the eHealth Collaboratory, a lab that creates electronic healthcare solutions that empower patients and medical providers. They tried out the MusicGlove, a hand rehabilitation tool, and experienced an exercise-powered video game.
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Other UCI stops included 3D manufacturing center RapidTech, the Edwards Lifesciences Center for Advanced Cardiovascular Technology, the Intel Center for Social Computing, and the Institute for Genomics and Bioinformatics.
The delegation’s visit was sponsored by the Kay Family Foundation, a local philanthropy that supports entrepreneurship and educational initiatives.