From: Jian Lin
E-Mail: JRS_Jian_Lin@ODP.TAMU.EDU
Subject: Huang PeiHua Earth Sciences Funds
I post Jian Lins's email here at his request for he is now on a research ship in the Southeast China Sea. John Chen John, Thanks for your emails about the "Huang PeiHua Earth Sciences Funds". I am very pleased to see that Zhao LianShe has pledged $200 to this fund. And I will also donate $200 to it. If successful, this will be the first special USTC alumni fund from 7th department. In comparison, last year 776 alone has donated more than $10,000 to the USTC Alumni Foundation (USTCAF) under a 776 special fund. The investment returns from the Huang PeiHua funds can be sent to the 7th Department for academic purposes, including subscription to Earth Sci journals, scholarships for 7th Department students, etc. One way to manage the fund is through the USTCAF. There are already quite a few "special funds" within USTCAF that are designated for special purposes, such as the "883 class funds", "Hua Lou-Geng Scholarship", "776 funds", etc. I think adding a "Huang Peihua Earth Science Funds" will be a fantastic thing to do. If you are a donor, this is how it works: (a) You write a check, say $30, or $100, or $1,000, to the USTCAF under the special "Huang Peihua Earth Sciences Funds". Then your donation is automatically for both USTCAF and the Huang Peihua funds. Since USTCAF is a tax-exempt organization, your will receive a receipt from USTCAF, and your donation is tax deductable in the US. (b) USTCAF invests its funds (total of about $100,000) in various ways, including mutual funds, stocks, and bank CDs. As you can image in the last couple of years, the return has been excellent. The USTCAF investment is managed by the USTCAF governing board (GB), for which I was a member in 1998 but not in 1999. The new 1999 GB has a fantastic membership with alot of enthusiastic volunteers and experience. (c) The use of the investment interests earned from the "Huang Peihua Earth Sciences Funds" will be governed by a small board constitutes of 7th dept. alumni, USTC professors such as Fu Rongshan, and a liason from the USTCAF governing board. This small board will consult all donors to the Huang PeiHua funds and decide how the money will be spent in the 7th dept. (e.g., library purchases, or student scholarships, teacher awards, lectureships, etc.) In summary, I think set up a goal of $2000 for the "Huang Peihua Earth Sciences Funds" is realistic, and can bring the 7th dept. alumni much closer. An option is to manage the funds through USTCAF so that our donation is tax exempt, the investment return is good, and the effort for managing the fund is minimized. A small governing board from both 7th dept. alumni and current USTC professors will manage the use of the funds with inputs from all the donors. I am here in the South China Sea for 10 more days before landing in Hong Kong. So far our cruise on the R/V JOIDES Resolution has broken the ODP record with more than 96% sediment core recovery! It looks like most sediments in Nan2 Sa1 Islands came from the MeiKong River in Vietham, carrying Himalaya sources. The ages of the sediments have been dated on the ship using nanno fossils and forams under microscopes. Isotope O18 analysis will be performed on shore to identify the effects of ice age cycles on the South China Sea and East Asia. All the best, Jian JRS_Jian_Lin@ODP.TAMU.EDU (This email workable unitl April 9.) P.S. John, could you place this email on the 777 web site for me, since the ship has no access to the web?