To tell China’s stories well and share China’s experience, 27 officials from Antigua and Barbuda participating in the “Workshop on Road Construction and Maintenance for Antigua and Barbuda” – a national foreign aid training program hosted by the Ministry of Commerce and undertaken by Fujian Provincial Foreign Economic Cooperation Center – visited the College of Civil Engineering, Fuzhou University for an exchange on the afternoon of May 13, accompanied by leaders and staff from Fujian Provincial Foreign Economic Cooperation Center.
Tangfeng Wu, Secretary of the Party Committee of the College, Professor Ming Huang, Vice Dean, Researcher Huihui Yuan, Assistant to the Dean, as well as teachers and students from related majors, warmly welcomed the visiting participants in the college hall. Professor Huang Ming first gave a brief introduction to the college’s historical evolution, faculty strength, and talent cultivation system. Subsequently, Researcher Yuan Huihui outlined the college’s international cooperation and exchange initiatives and laboratory construction. The participants spoke highly of the college’s achievements in construction and development over the past 67 years.
In the Traffic Engineering Laboratory, Postdoctoral Fellow Wei Lin introduced the independently developed scientific and technological products targeting the research field of “human-vehicle-road-environment” in road traffic. These products integrate a driving simulation cockpit system, NE wireless electroencephalogram (EEG) system, Dikablis Pro glasses-type eye tracker, and a fatigue driving monitoring and active intervention system. They can collect parameters such as steering wheel angle, brake pedal depth, accelerator pedal depth, vehicle speed, acceleration, and trajectory deviation, supporting experimental research on the impact of traffic safety facilities on drivers, the influence of road alignment on drivers, and the effects of road environment and landscape on drivers. Among them, the fatigue driving monitoring and active intervention system innovatively adopts AI voice interaction and multimodal data analysis, constructs a dynamic intervention mechanism based on the SOR theory, and effectively warns of fatigue states through real-time physiological monitoring and odor stimulation. It provides important technical support for fields such as intelligent cockpits and autonomous driving.
Subsequently, the visiting group toured the Road Construction Materials Laboratory of the Advanced Civil Engineering Materials Research Center, with a particular focus on the Asphalt Material Preparation and Performance Testing Laboratory. Researcher Xu Song introduced the laboratory’s comprehensive asphalt material research and development equipment, including valuable instruments such as dynamic shear rheometers, bending beam rheometers, pressure aging vessels, gel permeation chromatographs, and 30kN universal testing machines (UTM). These instruments enable the evaluation of asphalt material performance in accordance with both national standards and the American SHRP system. The participants of the training program showed great interest in the laboratory’s research content. Under supervision and with proper safety protection, they conducted simple experimental operations. They commended the standardization of the laboratory’s management and operations as well as the cutting-edge nature of its research, and expressed their hope to receive guidance in future development.
Subsequently, led by Researcher Huihui Yuan, the participants of the training program also visited the National Experimental Teaching Demonstration Center for Civil Engineering. Established in 1998, the center currently has a total laboratory area of over 17,000 square meters and is equipped with advanced large-scale instruments and equipment such as a three-array seismic simulation shaking table (SVT) system, MTS electro-hydraulic servo loading system, and light gas gun system. The total value of its experimental instruments and equipment reaches 90 million yuan, making it a comprehensive civil engineering experimental teaching center with the widest disciplinary coverage, the most complete and advanced equipment, and the strongest technical capacity in Fujian Province and even the surrounding regions. Researcher Huihui Yuan, Senior Experimental Engineer Qu Wang, Experimental Engineer Yilun Yang, and PhD student Yanbo Wen respectively provided detailed introductions to the equipment performance, technical parameters, and some typical scientific research experiments of the MTS system, SVT system, testing machine system, and light gas gun system. At the experimental site, the participants conducted in-depth discussions on topics such as advanced experimental technologies, structural mechanical properties, and practical promotion and application.
After the visit to the Experimental Center, the members of the visiting group moved to the academic conference room for a discussion and exchange, where they conducted in-depth discussions on topics such as future academic exchanges, technical cooperation, and study-abroad applications. Both the College of Civil Engineering and the training program participants expressed a sincere vision of further deepening cooperation to achieve mutual benefit.
This exchange activity not only strengthened the friendship and cooperation between the College of Civil Engineering of Fuzhou University and the members from the visiting developing countries, but also enabled technical experts and officials from various countries to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the latest scientific research progress in China’s civil engineering industry and cutting-edge structural experiment technologies. It successfully built a cross-border bridge and laid a solid foundation for Sino-foreign cooperation in related fields.
