On August 14, a group of experts led by Deputy Director of the National Science Foundation of China (NSFC), Jiannian Yao (MCAS), came to XMU for on-site inspection and evaluation of application of national major plan in research and development of scientific instrument and equipment, “Tunable InfraRed Laser for Fundamentals of Energy Chemistry”. The application was organized by the iChEM Professor Shigang Sun to develop the state-of-the-art instrument with participation of the four members of the iChEM, XMU, FDU, USTC, and DICP, and was first approved by the Advisory Committee of the Chemistry Division of NSFC on May 10, 2013.

The President Chongshi Zhu and Vice President Nengming Jin of XMU, Vice President Li Jin of FDU, Vice President Changfei Zhu of USTC, and Director Zhong-Qun Tian of iChEM participated the welcome meeting. The Deputy Director Yongjun Chen of Department of Chemistry at NSFC preside the meeting.

The Deputy Director Yao highlighted that the on-site inspection and evaluation focuses on the feasibility of the project. It is hoped that potential problems of the project may be spotted out via the on-site inspection after a full discussion of innovation, feasibility, and other technical criterions of the project by the expert group.

The major principle investigator of the project, Prof. Shigang Sun presented a talk to report project details and demonstrate the feasibility of the project, as well as budget issue related to the project, and then answered the questions of the experts concerned.

After the meeting, the expert group took a field trip to the related laboratories, comprehensively reviewed the proposal, and commented on the proposal for further improvement.