Thomas Wong
Illinois Institute of Technology
Chicago，Illinois 60616
U.S.A.
In recent years，Professor Lin visited the campus of the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago twice，once in June of 1996 and another time in May of 2003.Both of these visits have given me much enlightenment and deep impression。In this article，I will try to recollect the highlights of Prof。Lin’s activities in these visits。Because the invitation of these two visits were initiated by me，I believe it would be meaningful to first offer a brief account of the path I took to become acquainted with Prof。Lin personally。
I first came to know Prof。Lin’s name when I was about to complete my doctoral thesis in 1980，the year Prof。Lin published two papers in the IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques，one on waveguides containing inhomogenous dielectric and one on wave scattering of dielectric cylinders。The rigorous analysis and the lucid discussion in the papers certainly captured my admiration，but I was also excited to find out from the author biography that Prof。Lin was born in Guangzhou，meaning that he speaks Cantonese，my native dialect。From the article，I came to know about the Chengdu Institute of Radio Engineering，which was obviously very strong in electromagnetics。Since that time，I have been much impressed by the leadership he has provided to the Institute，hoping that one day I could meet with someone from that school。
When I saw an application from a UESTC graduate applying to the Ph。D。program at IIT，I immediately took action to communicate with him and recommended to the department for his admission，which marked the beginning of a very fruitful academic exchange relationship between UESTC and IIT。My interaction with Keli Han，the first UESTC graduate joining my laboratory at IIT，has given me a first hand appreciation of the rigorous educational experience that UESTC provides to its graduates。Keli helped me solved a number of challenging research problems while attending to the everyday routine in the laboratory。Some of our research outcomes in the late 1980s are still very useful in my current research。
In 1990 I had the opportunity to meet Prof。Lin in person at the IEEE MTT and APS symposia in Dallas。His scholarly style and his care for young people have since that time stayed firmly on my mind。In 1993 we met again in Chengdu on the occasion of the International Conference on Education in Electronics and Prof。Lin introduced me to many outstanding colleagues and students。
When I heard that Prof。Lin would attend the MTT International Symposium in San Francisco in June 1996，I sent an invitation for him to visit Chicago and he graciously accepted。Besides visiting the campus of IIT and delivered a seminar entitled“Characteristics of High Power Waveguides Based on the Theory of Degenerate Hyperelliptic Integrals”，he visited the Motorola Museum and the Art Institute of Chicago。At that time，Dr。Xuegang Zeng was a visiting scholar in my laboratory。We spent four very happy days together with Prof。Lin and many UESTC alumni in Chicago。I can still remember sitting with him at the gate at O’Hare Airport waiting for his flight from Chicago to Canada in the morning of June 30，1996.The following are a picture we took on the IIT campus and one taken at the entrance to the Art Institute。
After 1996，there was a period of time when Prof。Lin did not travel overseas because of an injury，but he allowed me to meet with him each time I visited UESTC and I was relieved to see him in good spirits although his movement was affected。When I heard in the winter of 2002 that Prof。Lin had plans to travel to the United States the next summer，I invited him to visit Chicago and nominated him to be awarded an honorary doctoral degree from IIT。The degree awarding committee at IIT quickly gathered information about Prof。Lin’s accomplishments and obtained approval from the IIT Board of Trustees to confer the degree to Prof。Lin in the commencement ceremony on May 18，2003.In the spring of 2003，there was the SARS incident。We were very concern that visas to travel to the United States might be difficult to obtain。Fortunately，Prof。and Mrs。Lin’s visas were granted in the first application。They were accompanied in that travel by Prof。Jianyu Yang and Prof。Youxin Lv，both of the School of EE at UESTC。We are grateful for their attention to every aspect of Prof。and Mrs。Lin’s travel。
At the entrance of the Art Institute of Chicago
With the help and support of a group of UESTC alumni，a delightful social program for our honored guests was developed，in addition to the highly festive receptions and ceremony organized by IIT。Activities included tour of Chicago downtown，sightseeing in the suburbs，B。B。Q。party，and dinner at Chinatown。Consul General Mr。Xu Jinzong kindly held a dinner reception for Prof。Lin at the Szechuan Palace restaurant in the evening of May 14，2003.On May 16，2003，Prof。Lin delivered a seminar titled“Theory of cn Waveguide”at IIT，which was followed by a reception held in his honor by IIT provost Prof。Allan Myerson。At the reception the distinguished guests from Chengdu met with numerous Chinese students and faculty，among them were quite a number of UESTC alumni。On the day of the commencement on May 18，2003，President Lew Collens of IIT hosted a breakfast at the Renaissance Chicago Hotel to honor Prof。Lin and Senator Richard Durbin，both being honorary degree recipients。They received a warm welcome from Mr。Robert Pritzker，chairman of the Board of Trustees of IIT。At the commencement，Prof。Lin gave a speech which was both succinct and enlightening。Many people in the audience were deeply moved by his dedication to education and research，while responding to his humorous words with a heartfelt smile。Two photographs taken on the day of the 2003 commencement held at the Chicago Theatre are shown here。The bestowing of the honorary degree to Prof。Lin represented a milestone on IIT’s path of promoting international collaboration in higher education，for this was the first honorary degree awarded by IIT to a scholar from China，in recognition not only of his significant impact on academic research，but also his effort to actively cultivate institutional crosslink by introducing a substantial number of outstanding Chinese students and faculty to pursue research or study for advanced degrees at IIT。
In the afternoon following the commencement ceremony，friends and alumni of UESTC were blessed with the opportunity to enjoy the happy moments of Prof。Lin’s visit to the Windy City and accompanied him for more sightseeing。In the morning of May 19，we travel with our distinguished guest to the airport，where we were greeted by Mr。Bo Jiang and Ms。Cuiying Xu，both from the Education Section of the Chinese Consulate in Chicago，to see our friends from UESTC board the flight to return to China。
The two visits by Prof。Lin to IIT not only fortified the bonding between our two institutions，but also rekindled the sense of attachment of many overseas UESTC alumni to their Alma Mater。I am quite certain that Prof。Lin also has a good impression about Chicago and IIT，whose motto“Transforming Lives，Inventing the Future”was mentioned in the article“Persistent Learning”which he wrote for the book on educator’s ethics and conduct，published by the Education Administration Office of UESTC in September 2004.Prof。Lin was kind enough to send me a copy of the book，which has been a source of inspiration and resoluteness for me。