Professor Li Changsheng from the Complex Systems Research Center for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space, University of New Hampshire, visited Shanghai Jiao Tong University on April 7, and was appointed as Director of SJTU Low-carbon Agricultural Research Center. It is a key project of the Ministry of Education to invite foreign professors, and Prof. Li came at the invitation of SJTU Prof. Zhou Pei, Director of the Urban Agriculture (South) Open Laboratory of the Ministry of Agriculture, and Prof. Wang Wenhua of the School of Environmental Science and Engineering. SJTU Managing Vice President, Prof. Lin Zhongqin extended the letter of appointment to Prof. Li Changsheng.

An international renowned specialist in Biogeochemistry, Prof. Li Changsheng developed the DNDC Model which is recognized as excellent in the study of Biogeochemistry and the decision making of ecosystem and low-carbon economic management. In the United States, the DNDC Model has been connected with the AGRICOLA, formed the US Agricultural decision supporting system, and widely used in forecasting crop yield, soil carbon model, chemical fertilizer pollution of water, and farmland green house gas emission. In Europe and some Asian agricultural countries (such as China, India, Japan and Thailand, etc) it has been applied to improve the circulation of carbon and nitrogen in forests, grasslands and farmlands, and to reduce green house gas emission in paddy fields.

During his visit to SJTU, Prof. Li delivered a speech on the “modeling impacts of agricultural production on regional and global environments”, in which he vividly introduced the theories of biogeochemical abundance, coupling, flow, and field on the basis of which the DNDC Model has been set up. Then he illustrated with worldwide application cases the effects and practicality of the model on the simulation of the terrestrial ecosystem processes, quantitative simulation of the interaction and feedback among the climate change, human activities and agriculture, forestry, and animal husbandry. His wonderful address attracted crowds of the teachers and students, some of whom exchanged ideas with him after the speech on the applications of the DNDC Model in China, especially in the Yangtze River Delta, as well as the academic exchange and cooperation programs of low-carbon trading and agricultural management. Together with the staff from School of Agriculture and Biology, and School of Environmental Science and Engineering, he made schedules for the planning of SJTU Low-carbon Agricultural Research Center and the framework of the project operation. With Prof. Li Changsheng as the director of SJTU Low-carbon Agricultural Research Center, it will move fast toward an international advanced platform for low-carbon agricultural theoretical research and technology development.