A high-level delegation from the China Agricultural University in Beijing will visit UC Riverside this week for tours, dinners and talks. The end result is expected to be an agreement to enlarge a partnership between the two universities to operate a CAU/UCR Center for Biological Sciences, to be located on the premises of CAU, and to focus on plant sciences.

"Our agreement will establish a partnership to develop collaborative programs and research in the areas of biological sciences and biotechnology," said Charles Louis, UCR's vice chancellor for research. "It will lead to the establishment of international research groups, facilitating the exchange of faculty, postdoctoral scholars and graduate students between CAU and UCR to collaborate on research and training efforts under the auspices of the Center."

This is not the first connection, however. Chancellor France Córdova gave a keynote speech in the fall at CAU. Also, several UCR faculty members already have collaborative research relationships with CAU, including professors Jian-Kang Zhu, Zhenbiao Yang, Brian Federici, Robert Krieger, and others.

"Many of these relationships were born out of a CAU-UCR conference held here in Riverside in September 2000, organized by Professor Federici," said Jack Azzaretto, UCR's vice chancellor for public service and international programs.

The visiting delegation includes CAU President Chen Zhangliang, Vice President Sun Qixin and Dean Gong Zhizhong, from the College of Biological Sciences. They will tour the campus, and meet with Chancellor Córdova and individual faculty members during a two-day visit April 11 and 12.

A memorandum of understanding that outlines the agreement is scheduled to be signed at the beginning of a dinner at 6 p.m. Wednesday, April 12.