1. Automation department head and Dean’s forum. A group of heads and deans of the department of Automation of top Chinese universities have been meeting annually for several years now to discuss the future and trend of automation and control and common problem faced by them. This year they were meeting in Xi’an with the Northwest Industrial University as host. I was invited to give a short talk of my own views. The only news worthy thing to report in my talk is the second hand reported statement by the program director for automation and control of the US National Science Foundation that “Control is dead!”. By this he meant that “control” is a mature subject and that his office will no longer support research in traditional theoretical areas such “robust control, H-infinity, linear matrix inequalities, etc unless extraordinary evidences of breakthrough are provided. This may not be welcome news for many academics but represents the reality of competitive research. It is appropriate that Chinese leaders of academia take note.