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Chairman of Tsinghua University Council, Madame Chen, visits the GIX Steve Ballmer Building

Date: October 30, 2018

Madame Chen (left) and UW President, Ana Marie Cauce (right), at the UW Homecoming football game.

On Saturday Oct 20th, Madame Chen, Chairman of the Tsinghua University Council, visited GIX’s Steve Ballmer Building for the first time since it was completed and officially launched in September 2017.

What’s now the three-story, state-of-the-art Ballmer Building – home to one of the largest and most comprehensively equipped makerspaces in the region and populated by two student cohorts – was just a parking lot last time Chen came to visit.

“I visited this area three years ago, but nothing was around at that time,” said Chen, while sharing a few words about GIX during her visit. “Now that I’m revisiting three years later, it’s amazing to see that we already have our own building filled with so many students and faculty. It’s truly valuable. I look forward to continuing to work collaboratively to make GIX distinguished worldwide.”

In honor of the noteworthy occasion, Madame Chen received a tour of the Building, which included a viewing of the Tsinghua University Suite, presentations from a selection of GIX graduate students, and student project demonstrations in the makerspace on the second floor.

Chen also watered the Dawn Redwood Tree, a native Chinese tree thought to be extinct until its rediscovery in 1944. It was gifted to GIX by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2015.

Madame Chen finished the day by attending the UW Homecoming football game, hosted by UW President, Ana Marie Cauce.

Madame Chen waters the Dawn Redwood Tree at GIX.
Madame Chen (left) and UW President, Ana Marie Cauce (right), at the UW Homecoming football game.