From March 30th through April 3rd, 2014, Professors Chen Guangming and Zheng Jiao of the NIT School of Mechanical and Energy Engineering traveled to the United States to attend the 2014 International Absorptive Heat Pump Conference, which was hosted by the University of Maryland. During the international conference, Professor Chen served as chairman of the two parallel sessions. Scholars from 14 countries shared their research achievements in this specialized field with peers, and 128 academic papers were submitted for review.

The first in this series of annual conferences on absorptive heat pump technology was held in 1982 in Berlin, Germany. Over the last fourteen years, the conference has served to promote knowledge exchange about this useful technology and to provide a platform for communication between international researchers. As a result, it has become a highly-regarded event in this scientific field.