On April 22nd, 2007, The Chinese Association for Science and Technology in Connecticut (CAST-CT) held its 06-07 annual meeting in Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.

Dozens of Chinese representatives from universities and companies all over Connecticut, as well as Ms. Felicia Zimmerman and Mr. Irving Stolberg, advisors of CAST-CT, and Drs. Zhanggui Tang and Yiping Hu, honorary board director of CAST-CT, attended this three-hour meeting. 

Led by Drs. Yiqiang Cai and Xinghua Pan, the president of CAST-CT and chairman of the Board of Directors for 2006, the meeting primarily reviewed the activities in 2006 and early 2007, especially the ground success of the ¡°US-China Forum 2007¡± held in Yale University on March 23. Intensive discussions focused on the role of CAST-CT in serving the Chinese community in Connecticut in the future. 

Awards were awarded to Dr. Hongmei Wen (Outstanding Leadership), Dr. Tony Ma, and Dr. Jieming Shen (Outstanding Contribution) for their great enthusiasm and service in the past year. New executive staff and director board members were also constructed (see web: http://www.castct.org/organization1.php). 

Drs. Cai and Pan were re-elected as the CAST-CT executive president and board chair for 2007-08. Dr. Jin Hu, an Engineer from Pratt & Whitney located in Hartford, together with Huaping Tang (President of ACSSY) and ShuiQing Wu (Architect in Stamford) were elected as Vice President. All the representatives agreed that the new executive staff and director board will continue working on the issues such as the action plan for 2007-08, the bylaw /regulations. Next meeting will work on the new plan in details in order to improve the service for Chinese community in their career development, and communication between Chinese community and the American society.

With the establishment of the new leader team, ten invited advisors happily accepted the appointments and promised to support CAST-CT in the future. The advisors are those who have achieved great success in science and business and management in Connecticut. They are Dr. Haifan Lin, director of the Yale Stem Cell Center, Dr. Zhong Shao, professor of Computer Science at Yale University, Dr. Xiangzhong (Jerry) Yang, director of the Center for Generative Biology at the University of Connecticut, Dr. Xiusheng (Harrison) Yang, director of the Connecticut State Climate Center (CSCC), and Dr. Ren He, director of the Human Embryonic Stem Cell Facility at the University of Connecticut.  In addition, Ms. Fawn Wang, the Assistant Secretary for International Affairs of Yale University, Ms. Felicia Zimmerman, Principal of Zimmerman Advisory Inc., Mr. Irving Stolberg, President of the United Nations Association of Connecticut, former Speaker and Minority Leader of the Connecticut House of Representative, and Prof. Jianmin Shen, Attorney at Law from New York also promised to continue their support for Chinese community as well as the 7 honorary board members appointed. Certificate of Advisor and Certificate of Honorary Board Director were presented to the advisors and honorary board members. With such strong support, the new leader team is confident that the CAST-CT would serve the Chinese community in Connecticut better in 07-08 academic year. (By Feng Wei)