With the International Women’s Day coming up, the Beijing Women’s Federation, Beijing Federation of Trade Unions, and Beijing Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau have jointly awarded three female faculty members from BUCEA the March 8th Red-Banner Holder Award. The recipients are Professor OUYANG Wen and Professor GAO Xiaolu from the School of Architecture and Urban Planning, and Professor LI Haiyan from the School of Environment and Energy Engineering.
The Beijing March 8th Red-Banner Holder Award is given every five years to honor outstanding women who set examples for others and inspire women in the capital to be self-confident, independent, and empowered, as they strive for progress in the new era.
In recent years, the female faculty and staff at BUCEA have exemplified female strength and responsibility through their concrete actions.
OUYANG Wen is a nonpartisan professor and Ph.D supervisor at BUCEA and Vice President of the Beijing Society of Women Architects. She is recognized as a distinguished teacher in Beijing universities and a recipient of BUCEA’s Dedicated Educator Award—Excellence Award. She has also been awarded 1 First Prize in the National Teaching Achievement Award, 5 First Prizes and 2 Second Prizes in the Beijing Higher Education Teaching Achievement Award. Additionally, she has received an Outstanding Teaching Plan Award from the National Supervision Board of Architectural Education and recognized as an Outstanding Instructor in the Beijing University Young Teachers Teaching Basic Skills Competition (Engineering Group B), an Outstanding Instructor in the UIA International Student Design Competition, and an Outstanding Instructor for Beijing Outstanding Graduation Projects from 2021 to 2023.
Professor OUYANG leads the discipline of architecture and has remained dedicated to teaching for 30 years, constantly exploring new ideas and models for talent development while strengthening disciplinary development and team building. Her program was among the first to be recognized as a national first-class undergraduate major and has consistently received excellent rating in evaluations. She has led or participated in over 20 provincial and ministerial-level or above research projects, including those funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and more than 30 technological service projects. She has authored 8 academic books (including translations), published over 50 research papers, and received more than 10 science and technology awards. She has also been repeatedly recognized as an Outstanding Responsible Planner and a leader of outstanding social practice teams.
Professor OUYANG also serves as a committee member of the National Supervision Board of Architectural Education, a director of the Beijing Society of Women Architects, and an executive member of the Residential Architecture Committee of the Architectural Society of China, actively engaging in consulting services and domestic and international academic exchanges. In 2024, she successfully led her team in organizing the Beijing Society of Women Architects Annual Academic Conference, showcasing the professional expertise and outstanding talent of female architects while highlighting their significant contributions to education.
GAO Xiaolu, a member of the China Association for Promoting Democracy, is a professor and Ph.D supervisor at BUCEA, where she leads the discipline of urban and rural planning. She has long been dedicated to research on China’s population and urbanization, housing and community development, urban safety and resilience, as well as aging and elderly care services. She has published over 140 papers and supervised 28 master’s and doctoral students. She has led 4 projects funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and a major decision-making consulting project under the Beijing Social Science Fund. She has twice received the Second Prize of the Huaxia Construction Science and Technology Award, and her monograph was recognized among China’s Top 10 advancements in geographical sciences. In the past two years, her graduate students have won 1 international award, 2 national awards, and 1 provincial and ministerial-level award. Over the past five years, she has submitted 59 advisory reports and policy recommendations, 28 of which have been adopted by national, provincial, and ministerial-level authorities.
Professor GAO leads faculty and students in providing elderly care services for retired senior scientists and the local community. After a devastating flood, she actively participated in post-disaster reconstruction in the mountainous areas of Mentougou District in Beijing, offering crucial support for recovery.
LI Haiyan, a member of the Communist Party of China, is a professor and Ph.D Supervisor at BUCEA, Dean of the School of Environment and Energy Engineering, and Director of the Human Resources Department. She has led multiple projects that have earned awards such as the Beijing Science and Technology Progress Award (Second Prize), the Huaxia Construction Science and Technology Award (First Prize), and the Mao Yisheng Beijing Youth Science and Technology Award. She has also received First and Second Prizes for Beijing Higher Education Teaching Achievements.
Professor LI has instructed students to win 6 awards including Second Prize in the “Challenge Cup” National College Student Competition. She has mentored over 60 master’s and doctoral students, many of whom have won national scholarships and honors such as Beijing Outstanding Graduates. She has completed a Ministry of Education (MOE) themed case study project, with 4 cases included in the MOE’s case database. She has led her team to win 13 teaching and research awards in urban rainwater ecological safety and utilization. She has led over 50 national, provincial, and ministerial-level key projects and social service projects, published more than 100 academic papers, and holds 23 international and domestic invention patents as the primary inventor (8 of which have been successfully implemented). Under her leadership, the National Water Environment Experimental Teaching Demonstration Center has been recognized as an outstanding teaching laboratory among Beijing universities and has received excellent rating in its five-year review and recognition as a national exemplary case.
Professor LI has developed a specialized educational resource library and published 2 popular science books, one of which won the Outstanding Popular Science Work Award from the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development. She also produced and performed an outstanding science play in Beijing. Her team actively engages in urban environment and rainwater-related educational outreach activities in communities and schools, delivering a course on “Green Technology in the Winter Olympics” to inspire Winter Olympics volunteers, reaching over 20,000 people.