COAA
COAA Colorado Chapter Lunch Social
The Colorado front range, including Boulder and Ft. Collins, has the largest population of atmospheric and oceanic scientists and engineers in the United States outside the Washington D.C. area. Many Chinese American scientists and engineers work at NCAR, UCAR, NOAA Laboratories, CU-Boulder, and Colorado State University conducting atmospheric and oceanic research.
Taking advantage of the presence of Dr. Jin Huang, COAA President, and Dr. Chungu Lu, COAA President-Elect, Drs. Bill Kuo and Laura Pan, both from NCAR, organized a special COAA Lunch Social Event at the Lee Yuan Chinese Cuisine in Boulder on 16th April 2015. The event was attended by fifty two Chinese American scientists and engineers, almost exceeded the capability of the restaurant.
Dr. Jin Huang and Dr. Chungu Lu gave a very nice introduction of COAA, including its missions, histories, activities, and planned future workshops. In particular, the goal of COAA - To foster a culture to connect individual Chinese Americans in ocean and atmosphere fields to help each other in advancing our scientific careers - strongly resonate with the participants. As a result, 24 new COAA members have signed up at the event. Bill Kuo then proposed to establish a Colorado Chapter, which would organize future local COAA activities to promote networking and connections among Chinese American scientists and engineers. Bill's proposal received enthusiastic responses. More than 10 participants volunteer to work for COAA Colorado Chapter in various functions.
Clearly, the local Chinese American scientists are very interested in having such a COAA Colorado Chapter to help organize social and networking activities, and to help each other advancing our scientific careers. NCAR's Debbie Mao and Cindy Zhang volunteered to work on the event registration and new membership registration throughout the lunch hour. Dr. Li Zhang, who used to be the Chief Financial Officer at COAA South California Chapter, volunteered to help with financial matters for COAA Colorado Chapter. Dr. Wenqing Han, Dr. Lixin Lu, and Dr. Yuanfu Xie agreed to serve as the point of contact for CU-Boulder, Colorado State University, and NOAA Boulder Laboratories, respectively. Bill Kuo and colleagues in Boulder are taking steps to get the COAA Colorado Chapter established. This is expected to take place in the next few months.