The Chinese Society of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (CSTAM, Since 1957)

The Chinese Society of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (CSTAM) was founded in 1957. Among its founders and early organizers are well-known leading scientists Qian Xuesen (Tsien HS), Zhou Peiyuan(Chou Peiyuan), Qian Weichang (Chien WZ) and Guo Yonghuai (Kuo YH).

CSTAM is a non-governmental organization (NGO) affiliated to the China Association of Science and Technology (CAST). During the last 50 years, it has made significant contributions to the advancement of mechanics progress by bring together scientists in the mechanics community to participate in various conferences, congresses and symposia, providing them with forums for discussion of major issues in science and technology relevant to mechanics, promoting non-official academic cooperation, publishing learned journals, disseminating mechanics knowledge and bringing up junior scientists. Applications of mechanics have been broadly widened through maintaining close link between researchers and engineers from industries. Sometimes, they even may propose to decision-makers strategic and foresighted suggestions which are beneficial to economic and social development on a more scientific basis.

CSTAM currently possesses 40 member institutions and more than 20,000 members consisting of academicians of CAS/CAE, scientists, engineers, teachers and students. The membership of eligible bodies and persons can be obtained by delivery of an application. Provided with all kinds of services at different level, the members may receive newsletters/journals and get easy access to website of the society (http://www.cstam.org.cn). They are also entitled to take part in academic activities and subscribe journals of CSTAM at a preferential rate

The authority of CSTAM is the General Assembly (GA), which meets every four years and decides major affairs with Executive Board (EB) as its standing administrative organization.

The Society’s resolutions and day-to-day affairs are implemented by the secretariat and office of the Society.

Under the Society, there are 22 working parties such as fluid mechanics, solid mechanics and dynamics/control etc. in charge of academic activities in the corresponding fields together with 6 working committees coping with matters of knowledge dissemination, mechanics education, young scientists’ activities and others. On the other hand, CSTAM collaborates closely with local societies of mechanics in provinces and municipalities in China.

CSTAM is the publisher of 16 periodicals and magazines with 3 in English version, 6 indexed by EI and 3 by SCI, respectively. The Society also prints several issues of <<News Letter of CSTAM>> and conference/symposia proceedings each year. The monograph or booklets, such as <<Modern Mechanics and Progress of Science and Technology>>, <<Mechanics in Everyday Life>>, <<Mechanics Meets Challenges from the 21st Century>>, <<Profiles of Chinese Scientists in Science and Technology (Volume of Engineering, Section of Mechanics)>>, <<The Developments of Mechanics>>, <<Chinese Science and Technology in 2020 (Section of Mechanics)>> were published by the Society as well.

The Society sponsors various domestic academic conferences and seminars every year. The Chinese Congress of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics sponsored by the Society is regularly held every two years. The academic Salon for Young Scientists has been organized by CSTAM each month, which has already been served as a platform for young scientists and students to access to frontiers in mechanics. The Society organizes all kinds of national competitions on mechanics knowledge for college and high school students, for students of minorities as well. The China Mechanics Competition in Honor of Zhou Peiyuan (Chou Peiyuan) is held every two years, which is co-sponsored by Chinese Ministry of Education (ME) and CSTAM. The summer camp on mechanics science for high school students on both sides of the Taiwan Strait is organized every year to enhance their mutual understanding and accumulating scientific knowledge. 

CSTAM became an adhering national organization of International Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (IUTAM) since 1980. CSTAM also is the member organization of the International Association for Computational Mechanics (IACM), the Asian Fluid Mechanics Committee (AFMC, as one of its founding members), and the International Congress on Fracture (ICF). CSTAM organizes various IUTAM seminars and summer courses as well as international conferences of its own series. Up to now, CSTAM has sponsored about one hundred international conferences on various topics in China, including the Sixth World Conference on Computational Mechanics (WCCM VI) in conjunction with the Second Asian Pacific Conference on Computational Mechanics (APCOM’ 04), with 1249 participants from 53 countries and regions. 

CSTAM issues a number of awards related to mechanics, including CSTAM award of science and technology for young scientists, rheology award for young scientists, the award for outstanding teachers of mechanics, and the award for outstanding students. The award of “Zhou Peiyuan (Chou Peiyuan) for mechanics” is conferred every two years.

From http://old.cstam.org.cn/history.asp?unid=8