Nie Rongzhen
On 18 March 1952, as part of the development of the first five-year plan, Acting-Chief-of-Staff Nie Rongzhen and Deputy-Chief-of-Staff Su Yu presented the "Report on the Establishment of the Military Engineering Academy" to the Chairman Mao Zedong and Central Military Commission. Mao officially approved the review on March 26, establishing the project as one of the 156 national projects started under the CPC Central Committee's 1st five year plan.