COAA
First COAA AMS annual meeting reception
Jan, 2012
On January 24, 2012, COAA held its first Reception Party at the American Meteorological Society (AMS) Annual Meeting in Hilton Riverside Hotel, New Orleans, Louisiana. The event attracted more than 100 scholars from the U.S., China and several other countries. The event started with a warm welcome from the COAA president, Dr. Fuzhong Weng, introducing COAA's mission and major activities in the past. It was followed by warm remarks from several honored guests, including Dr. Simon Chang, Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) Superintendent and one of the first board members of COAA, Dr. Al Powell, Director of Satellite Applications and Research, NOAA/NESDIS, and Dr. Wenjian Zhang, Director of WMO Observing and Information Systems Department. They appraised the great success of the event and COAA's important role in promoting both social and professional connections among Chinese-American scientists in oceanic and atmospheric sciences. COAA's president-elect, Dr. Kunghwa Wang, then briefly introduced COAA's coming activities in 2012 and called for continuous support of COAA from the community. After two memorable hours, the reception ended with a toast of great "Mou Tai" brought by Dr. Wenjian Zhang from China. What a great start for the Chinese New Year of Dragon!
Throughout the reception, we have received great feedbacks from the attendants, as many of them believed that the event became one of their highlights during the AMS annual meeting. In addition, quite a few people expressed their interest in establishing the regional chapters of COAA and sponsoring COAA's social events in the future. With such a great success, COAA plans to continue hosting formal receptions with more scientific activities during the AMS Annual Meeting in the coming years.
