2016 is the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Mechanical Engineering institute of Southeast University. At 10:00 on May 22, the School of Mechanical Engineering held a grand and simple theme conference of the “Hundred Years Machinery Development Forum” at the Jiaotingbiao hall of the Southeast University Jiulonghu Campus. Hong Yi, Secretary of Party Committee of Southeast University, Pinghua Lin, Vice President of Southeast University, leaders of party, government departments and fraternal schools at all levels of the school, the college’s main party and government leaders, retired teacher representatives, local alumni association leaders, alumni representatives, guests from all walks of life and a total of more than 3,000 teachers and students from the School of Mechanical Engineering attended the conference.

The School of Mechanical Engineering can be traced back to the predecessor of Southeast University-- Nanjing Institute of Technology in 1916.In 1921, when National Southeast University was established, there was only one engineering department in mechanical engineering. At that time, the director of the engineering department was Mr. Yisheng Mao.In 1928, the National Central University was established. The Department of Mechanical Engineering had rich professional courses and elective courses in teaching; it combined preparatory courses and undergraduate courses in training methods.In 1935, the earliest postgraduate course in mechanical engineering was opened in China, and it became one of the largest departments in the school.

During the period of the Anti-Japanese War, the mechanical department still ranked among the top universities in China in terms of enrollment scale, faculty strength, and teaching quality after the school moved to the west. It also created many experts and scholars for the Chinese machinery industry front, including Xuejun Chen, Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Minggao Yan, a well-known professor.In the 1950s and 1960s, during the Nanjing Institute of Technology, Liu Shaoqi, then state leader, visited our department.

In the new era of reform and opening up, the Department of Mechanical Engineering continued to improve the personnel training model, focused on teaching, scientific research, and social services, actively explored international exchanges and cooperation, rapidly expanded scientific research capabilities, produced fruitful results in discipline construction, and continuously improved the quality of teaching.

In early 2006, the Mechanical Engineering Department merged with the Industrial Development and Training Center, and the School of Mechanical Engineering of Southeast University was established and relocated to the Jiulonghu Campus to open a new chapter for future development.

The college now has mechanical manufacturing and automation department, mechanical and electronic department, design engineering department, industrial engineering department, industrial design department, vehicle engineering department, national experimental teaching demonstration center Southeast University electromechanical comprehensive engineering training center and eight departments of the New Light Source Technology and Equipment Center of the Ministry of Education. The Mechanical Engineering institute of Southeast University has more than 20 experimental research centers, such as the Key Laboratory of Micro-nano Biomedical Device Design and Manufacturing in Jiangsu Province and the Electromagnetic Compatibility Specialized Testing Center in Jiangsu Province.

In his welcome speech, President Ni introduced the development history of the Mechanical Engineering institute and Mechanical Engineering of Southeast University.He said: “After a hundred years of history, our homeland has a brilliant history and a rich background.Nanjing Normal University School of Technology was founded in 1916. Based on this, the Department of Engineering and Mechanical Engineering of National Southeast University was established in 1921.”He also said that in the next 30 years, the college will surely become a first-rate college leading the development of certain areas of the discipline of mechanics, and will contribute to Southeast University's goal of achieving a world-class university and first-rate discipline.

Professor Hong Yi, Party Secretary of Southeast University, Professor Jiawen Cao, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Central University of Taiwan, Professor Binglin Zhong, 77th Alumni, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Southeast University, Academician Wei Bingbo, 86th Alumni of Southeast University, Mr. Quansheng Cai, 94th Alumni of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, and Chen Luo, a teacher representative and student representative Haitao Hua also delivered speeches at the conference.

In the afternoon of the same day, the School of Mechanical Engineering also organized a series of activities such as academic conferences, a forum for alumni and robotics, alumni sharing forums and sub-topic forums.