At 2:00pm on the afternoon of March 5, 2009, the Lecture Hall was filled with people, who came to attend the symposium of “Dialog with Masters—Computer Science Today and Tomorrow”. This Symposium aimed at academic communication between Prof. Yao from ITCS and Prof. Sanjeev Arora from Princeton University. This symposium was hosted by ITCS of Tshinghua University. Prof. Wang, Prof. Sun, foreign postdoctoral researchers and ITCS students, including the Yao Class students, took part in this symposium, and students from Tsinghua and other universities have also come to attend this symposium.

the symposium venue was filled with people

 During the dialog, two masters exchanged their academic ideas and discussed the present and future development of computer science, such as the connections between theoretical computer science and other subjects, and financial support from National Science Fund of Prof. Sanjeev Arora’s theoretical computer science research, etc. Two masters discussed with emphasis the issue of education on undergraduate students, including the arrangement of students’ curriculum, the differences of educational systems and methodologies between America, Europe and India. These two masters’ concerns for the education of college students indicate their confidence and hope for the cultivation of computer talents in the future.

communication between two masters

 This conference was not only the communication of thoughts between these two masters, but also a precious opportunity for the students to have a face-to-face communication with masters. Students posed questions to the masters one after another.

Hongyu Liang, a first-year Ph.D. candidate, told

Prof. Sanjeev Arora his opinions about the connections between theoretical computer science and economITCS.

ITCS students are enlightened by such dialog between masters and they realize the important role played by theoretical computer science research in the field of computing, which strengthens their wishes to make contributions to this field and their confidence with bright future of ITCS. They would like to attend such symposiums held by ITCS and learn from elite. The symposium ended with highly appraisement.