Amongst the winners of the 2016 Wu Ta-you Memorial Award are six Associate Professor at NTHU: Yun-wei Chiang of the Department of Chemistry; Yeong-luh Ueng of the Department of Electrical Engineering; Hui-chun Yang of the Department of English; Chung-Shou Liao of the Department of Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management; Tzu-chien Wei of the Department of Chemical Engineering; and Kean-fung Guan of the Department of Chinese Literature.

 

 

Associate Professor Chiang received his Ph.D. from Cornell University in 2006 and began teaching at NTHU’s Department of Chemistry the following year. His research interests include physical chemistry and biophysical chemistry. His research is focused on development of magnetic resonance spectroscopy, especially the use of unpaired electrons as probes to analyze the behavior of bio-macromolecules.

 

Mainly engaged in spectroscopy and biomedical experiments, Chiang's laboratory has developed a number of unique electronic spin resonance (ESR) technologies for analyzing the behavior of molecules during the apoptosis process, so as to understand how the mechanism of programmed cell death is, in some cases, shut down in cancer cells. His research has been mentioned in the well-known journal Structure. In recent years, in addition to numerous invitations to present papers at large international conferences, Chiang has received a number of academic accolades, including NTHU’s New Faculty Research Award, the Shuimu Foundation’s Outstanding Young Scholars Award, the Biophysical Society of the ROC’s Outstanding Young Scholars Award, and the Young Chemists Award of the Chemical Society Located in Taipei.

 

In his acceptance speech for the 2016 Wu Ta-you Memorial Award, Chiang thanked all his colleagues at NTHU for their support, as well as his family for their love and encouragement. He also thanked the students in his research team for helping to create a congenial and positive atmosphere in the lab, adding that lively discussions with his students has been an important driving force behind his continuous breakthroughs.

 

 

Associate Professor Ueng earned his Ph.D. from the Department of Electrical Engineering at National Taiwan University in 2001. After working in the industrial sector for four years, he began teaching at NTHU’s Department of Electrical Engineering and Institute of Communications Engineering. Ueng's research interests are channel coding, digital communications, and communication integrated circuit design. The lab he heads has made a number of significant contributions in the areas of error-correction codes, communication and storage system applications, and hardware design. He is the holder of seven patents in the United States and seven patents in Taiwan, and during the past five years he has published 18 academic papers in world-class journals. Last year he received the Distinguished Young Scholars Award of the Taiwan IC Design Society.

 

In addition to its academic value, Ueng's research has been adapted to a wide array of industrial applications. His laboratory has successfully developed error correction coding technologies for such applications as Wi-Fi, 10Gbps Ethernet, SRAM, and flash memory. In addition, in cooperation with the Industrial Technology Research Institute, Ueng has made 18 technical proposals relating to IEEE 802.16 standards. A number of these technologies have been developed and successfully transferred to leading domestic manufacturers.

 

Upon receiving the 2016 Wu Ta-you Memorial Award, Ueng thanked his dissertation advisor, Mao-chao Lin, for his expert guidance and for helping him develop professionally. He also expressed his appreciation for the excellent research environment and resources provided by the Department of Electrical Engineering and Institute of Communications Engineering, for the support and assistance of his senior colleagues, and for the financial support provided by the Ministry of Science and Technology. He further acknowledged that his achievements would not have been possible without the help of his colleagues and graduate students. Ueng also thanked his family for their unstinting support, which has allowed him to fully concentrate on his work. Finally, he said that he plans to further develop his expertise and to continue striving forward, so as to make further contributions to academic research and collaboration with industry.

 

 

After earning her Ph.D. in Foreign Language Education from the University of Texas at Austin in 2009, Associate Professor Yang first taught at Chung Shan Medical University and later at National Hsinchu University of Education in 2012. Her interest in language assessment research began during her doctoral studies when she participated in designing the local and international language assessment items and tasks at Educational Testing Service (ETS) in the United States. This experience advances her knowledge of various aspects of the nature of language assessment, and she thus recognizes how the construction and use of assessment tools may dominate the planning and operation of language curriculums.

 

Yang's research focuses on the theoretical frameworks, standards, and the development of assessment tools of high-stakes standardized English tests and classroom assessments. Her research areas include construct validity, authenticity, and fairness of various types of academic English writing assessments. She also investigates the impact of test types on the discourse-pragmatic features of the production of learners of different proficiency levels. She further expands to combine the information technology area to develop learning-oriented adaptive language assessment systems in order to elevate the effectiveness of differentiated learning and instruction. She aims to apply fundamental assessment research findings to the practice of English teaching in the hope to improve teaching mechanism.

 

Yang said that receiving this award is a great encouragement and affirmation to her. She feels very grateful for the funding and research resources provided by the Ministry of Science and Technology, as well as the supportive research environment and academic freedom provided by the Department of English Instruction. Yang also gratefully acknowledges all honorable Applied Linguistics researchers who have inspired her via their articles and presentations. Most importantly, she would like to express her gratitude to her kind and encouraging mentors and colleagues. A special thanks must go to her research associates for their selfless cooperation, and her family for their love and support. Nothing would have been possible without them. In the future, she will keep her end goals in mind while striving to research what is meaningful and practical.

 

 

Associate Professor Chung-Shou Liao joined NTHU in 2010. His research focuses on the design and analysis of combinatorial optimization algorithms that can be used to solve difficult optimization problems, especially in interdisciplinary applications, including: global alignment of multiple biological networks, real-time algorithms for large-scale route planning, dynamic scheduling, and smart grids. In all the areas he has applied the theoretical analysis of combinatorial optimization to making significant improvements and breakthroughs.

 

With the graduate students working in his lab, Liao emphasizes the importance of theoretical research and analysis, and he always believes that a solid mathematical basis is essential for a variety of research applications. As a result, many of his lab students have gone on to receive considerable international recognition. He said, "These students with great potential are the cornerstone of my lab’s achievements; they are the driving force behind my motivation to explore the wonderful world of research."

 

In recent years, Liao’s research has been published in top-tier journals such as Bioinformatics and Transportation Research Part B: Methodological. He has also received a number of prestigious awards, including the CIIE Outstanding Young Industrial Engineer Award; the K.T. Li Young Researcher Award of the IICM; and the Sayling Wen Award for Outstanding Young Researchers in Service Science.

 

Professor Liao has a great passion for teaching, and has twice received the College of Engineering’s Outstanding Teaching Award. Upon receiving the Wu Ta-you Memorial Award Liao thanked the Department of Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management for providing an excellent research environment, as well as his colleagues for all their support and encouragement. He also thanked his family, especially his wife for all her understanding and sacrifices while raising their two daughters.

 

daughters.

 

 

After receiving his Ph.D. degree in Chemical Engineering from NTHU in 2007, Associate Professor Tzu-chien Wei worked in the industrial sector, and in 2012 he began teaching at NTHU. His research interests include dye sensitized solar cells and perovskite solar cells, nanoparticle synthesis and application, and electrochemical metallization processes.

 

In his teaching Wei emphasizes both engineering and research, and gives particular importance to imparting basic implementation skills, presentation skills, time management, and work attitude—all essential for success in the workplace. His future plans include gradually adapting his research results to commercial applications.

 

In accepting this award, Wei expressed his thanks to all his students, both past and present. He also thanked his family for their steadfast support, as well as Professors Wan Chi-chao and Wang Yung-yun for their guidance during his student days.

 

 

After earning his Ph.D. in Chinese Literature at National Chengchi University, Associate Professor Guan Kean-fung began teaching at NTHU’s Department of Chinese Literature.

 

Guan specializes in modern Chinese literature, especially late Qing novels, investigating such questions as: How did late Qing novelists use their writing as a way of reflecting on their own position within the turbulent society of 19^th-century China? How did the highly conservative and traditional Chinese literary tradition begin to engage in a dialogue with the new intellectual trends appearing on the scene during the late Qing? and What was the nature of the paradigm shift in literature brought about by these intellectual trends? His numerous works include “From the Body to the World: A Map of the New Concepts Found in Late Qing Novels” and Revolution, Awakening, and Expression: Research in Modern Chinese Literature and Culture. His papers have been published in leading journals, and this year he received the Academia Sinica Junior Scholars Award.

 

An avid traveler, Guan’s investigations of such themes in late Qing novels as utopia, the world, adventure, and Africa have led him to conclude that they are a kind of response to the deep-seated urge to travel. During his own travels he has stayed at innumerable backpacker hostels, the creaky beds of which he has found to provide abundant creative inspiration. He teaches a course titled Travel and Literature, which brings together literature, research, and his own travel experience; this is one of the ways by which he encourages his students to pick up their backpacks and head off into the distant unknown.

 

In his acceptance speech Guan thanked NTHU for providing a research environment which emphasizes quality over quantity, where he has sufficient time to investigate topics which have previously received but scant attention. For Guan, in-depth research on fundamental issues in literature is always an exacting procedure that takes shape over an extended period of time, rather like a constructing a building.