By Li Han

Staff Writer of the Tsinghua News Center

Professor Gavriel Salvendy, Chair Professor and Head of the Department of Industrial Engineering, Tsinghua University, received the Friendship Award on September 29 at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

Vice Premier Hui Liangyu attended and addressed the meeting.

The Friendship Award, which was set up in 1991, is the highest award the government confers on foreign experts who have made outstanding contributions to China's economic and social progress.

Forty nine foreign experts from 19 countries were honored with Friendship Awards in 2006 for their outstanding contributions to the country.

Professor Salvendy is also a member of the National Academy of Engineering in the United States and a professor at Purdue University. He became Chair Professor and Head of the Department of Industrial Engineering, Tsinghua University in 2001. Thanks to his efforts, Tsinghua University is now the nation's leading academic institution in the field of industrial engineering.

Professor Andrew Chi-chih Yao, the Turing Award Winner and a professor of the Center for Advanced Study, received the Friendship Award in 2005.