The second Sino-US Vision, Learning and Pattern Recognition (SU-VLPR) summer school, hosted by the US National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Science Foundation of China (NSFC), Institute of Automation Chinese Academy of Sciences and Xi'an Jiaotong University, organized by Xi'an Jiaotong University, was held during 18th Jul. to 26th Jul. in Xi'an.
The summer school invited many well know scholars in the field of computer vision, machine learning and pattern recognition both in US and China, to give talks about some basic theory and technology as well as some latest research topics. The summer school, presented as a platform for science and culture exchange, attracted many students and researchers at home and abroad.
Prof. LIU Chengliu, Deputy Director of National Laboratory of Pattern Recognition (NLPR), Prof. Jim Rehg from Georgia Institute of Technology, Associate Prof. WU Ying from Northwestern University and Prof. XUE Jianru from Xi'an Jiaotong University hosted the summer school. Prof. TAN Tieniu, Vice Secretaries-General of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Director of NLPR, and Prof. JI Qiang from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Project Director of NSF, gave opening speeches for the summer school. They noted that the first summer school held in Peking University was a big success and held strong confidence in bringing another success for this summer school. Prof. ZHEN Nanning, Academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering, President of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Prof. LU Tianjian, Deputy President of Xi'an Jiaotong University and Prof. GUAN Xiaohong, Director of School of Electronic & Information Engineering held talks with lecturers of the summer school and gave speeches to the students.
The topic of this summer school is "Motion Analysis". The schedule of 19th Jul. to 24th Jul. is contented with eight hours of lectures on special topics everyday. Presentations given by these well known scholars are splendid. 90 students (including 9 US students) of this summer school were divided into 9 groups so that they could hold thinking, discussions and brain stormings together about questions and project prepared by lecturers. After discussion, a representative of each group would make a brief presentation of their conclusions or project plan. In the period of discussion, group members exchanged their ideas and all got a chance to give a presentation publicly. This kind of activity gives more than knowledge, but good training for students in the aspects of communication, cooperation and presentation.
The last part of this summer school, industry workshop and invited talks, was held on 25th Jul.. Researchers from Google, IBM, Nokia, MSRA, etc. sit together and held a thorough discussions about questions based on their life experiences. Students could see different views, from academia and industry, about one question. This would be of help when these students need an unbiased opinion in the future.
This event is more a platform for Chinese and US culture exchange than a grand meeting of technical disussion and learning. Besides lectures, organizers prepared a visit for all attendants at Xi'an, a city of thousands of years of history, to see the Terra-cotta Warriors and Horses Museum and the Huaqing Pool, which helps foreign friends to know more about Xi'an and China.
