The KIAA Governing Board held the first board meeting on January 16, 2016 at KIAA. In attendance were the chair of the governing board Jie Wang (Peking University), co-chair Robert E. Williams (Space Telescope Science Institute), Luis C. Ho (KIAA, Peking University), Anthony N. Lasenby (Kavli Institute for Cosmology, University of Cambridge), Simon D. M. White (Max Plank Institute for Astrophysics), Xiaolin Chen (Peking University). Executive Vice President of Science Programs of the Kavli Foundation Miyoung Chun and Associate Director of KIAA Xuebing Wu also attended the meeting.
Vice President of PKU Jie Wang gave opening remarks to explain the goals and responsibilities of the Governing Board, and to express his expectation for the important role it will play in KIAA’s future development. Luis C. Ho, Director of KIAA, gave comprehensive reports on the status of astronomy in China, the structure and composition of KIAA, recent developments, and new initiatives and challenges of the institute. Xuebing Wu, Associate Director of KIAA, gave a financial report of the institute. The Governing Board members had an extensive discussion on the reports. They spoke highly of the progress KIAA has made, and discussed the practical measures to tackle the challenges.
At the same time, two Science Program Officers from the Kavli Foundation, Christopher Martin and Sharif Taha, had closed-door meetings and separate lunch talks with KIAA faculty, postdocs and graduate students, to assess the performance of the institute and the management style of the current leadership.
