EAST ASIA BIOPRODUCTION ENGINEERING FORUM

In recent years, at ASAE annual international meetings, we have enjoyed increasing interactions with a large number of participants from East Asia. We have also seen many informal gatherings, throughout the duration of the conference, with people delightfully exchanging information and views on the development of agricultural/biological engineer-ing with East Asian perspectives. While the interactions at the personal levels should always be encouraged, many of us feel that the 2001 ASAE meeting in Sacramento, California will be an opportune time for a gathering on a larger scale with a structured format. Therefore, the idea of having a one-day pre-ASAE meeting forum dedicated to the presentation and discussion of bioproduction engineering activities in East Asia regions was perceived.

The participants from East Asia have been making contributions to the ASAE meetings largely by presenting technical information at various technical sessions. They also bring with them a tremendous amount of knowledge on the unique challenges facing the bio-production sector in their regions and the innovative engineering methods used in solving the problems. This knowledge is of great interest to many attendees at ASAE meetings. To date, there has not been an organized effort at ASAE meetings to facilitate the dissemina-tion of this knowledge in a systematic fashion. California is well-known for being an excit-ing place where East meets West. The meeting in Sacramento is expected to attract even more participants from East Asia. The East Asia Bioproduction Engineering (EABE) Forum will be a great way to begin the 2001 ASAE meeting for many attendees.

Four topics will be addressed in this EABE Forum including past contributions of engi-neering to bioproduction, future needs of bioproduction engineering, and current status of bioproduction engineering research and education in East Asia. Experts who are highly qualified to address these issues will be invited to make presentations and lead panel discussions. There will be ample opportunities for questions/answers and comments through-out the forum. Active participation and interaction among all participants will be encouraged.

A group of dedicated agricultural/biological engineers have been hard at work to bring this exciting idea into a reality. Almost all of these volunteers are ASAE members and many of them also represent a number of ag/bio engineering related societies in East Asia. The current plan is to hold this forum from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, July 29, 2001. At the conclusion of this forum, participants will be invited to attend the annual ASAE International Attendees Welcome Reception.

Your participation is essential to the success of this forum. Please pay special attention to the 2001 ASAE Annual International Meeting program for registration information. Please put the forum on you calendar and plan to start your 2001 ASAE meeting one-day earlier. Meanwhile, for more information, please contact Dr. Peter Ling at ling.23@osu.edu .
See you at the forum in Sacramento!