In 1999, Dr. FU Hongguang was a member of AIMP (Advanced Information Management Program) at SBU. Sponsored by Charles B. Wang, then of Computer Associates, with the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and SBU's College of Engineering (CEAS), it brought 100 of China's best and brightest in IT to the US for advanced management training. After his return to China, Hongguang rose to the position of Director of CAS's Chengdu Institute of Computer Applications and became a professor in the School of Computer Science and Technology at the highly regarded University of Electronic Science and Technology of China in Sichuan, one of China's world class universities.

In 2007, Stony Brook's CEAS graduated Dr. TANG Bin from its Computer Sciences Department. A graduate of Beida (Peking University), Bin had been elected President of the Graduate Student Organization (GSO) while at SBU and was involved in the planning of the Grand Opening of the Charles B. Wang Asian American Center. In 2006 he was the first graduate student to get married in the Center. His photography covering different events was featured in the AA E-Zine. After graduation he became a faculty member in the Computer Science Department at Wichita State University.

This past December Bin went to visit his parents in Sichuan and to renew his visa. Little did he know that US government policies were changing. Rather than the few weeks it normally takes, Bin was told it would take at least 6 weeks. On April 3rd, after 12 weeks, he finally got it. Even an appeal from his Congressman in Kansas did not make things move more quickly. It has become so bad there is even a website set up now for people to keep track of everyone's slow progress, http://www.checkee.info/. In Bin's case, those who paid the real price were the American students at Wichita who were screwed by their own government when their professor could not teach.

We suggested Bin check out the SBU China Alumni Chapter and contact Dr. FU to make an alumni to alumni connection. A few weeks ago they had dinner together and Hongguang invited Bin to give a talk, which he will do on April 9th. They had a delightful conversation and Hongguang knew all about Wichita. Why? His Ph.D. advisor had been a visiting faculty member there.

This is another article where we write about "it's a small world" connections between Stony Brook and China. We have a special connection, made by YANG Chen Ning and enhanced by WANG Jia Lian, but it is our alumni who have begun reaching out to each other who give that connection a more valuable meaning.

In the next issue, Bin will write about about his visit to Hongguang's department and labs.