2025.04.16
NTHU senior vice president Nyan-Hwa Tai (戴念華) (center) with student award winners (from left): gold medalist Shao-Chi Lo (羅韶奇), silver medalist Chen-Hao Hsu (許宸豪), and bronze medalists Ruei-Jhe Chen (陳睿哲) and Jun-You Wang (王竣右).
As part of its ongoing effort to promote sustainability, National Tsing Hua University (NTHU) in Taiwan held the NTHU Sustainability Award. A total of 55 teams and more than 250 people participated in the first competition, with nine teams winning awards, including one that set up a lab for recycling rare earth elements, one that initiated a plan for cleaning up the Touqian River Basin, and one that developed an initiative promoting sustainability education.
NTHU senior vice president Nyan-Hwa Tai (戴念華) said that the concept of sustainability has already become deeply rooted in research, teaching, and administration at NTHU. The competition, themed “Sustainability as a Form of Communication,” was organized by the Sustainable Development Committee and accompanied by a joint exhibition highlighting the distinctive features of NTHU. Moreover, in 2022 NTHU received a gold rating from the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment, & Rating System (STARS), and it has received the Taiwan University Sustainability Award for three consecutive years.
Sustainability Office director Fu-Ren Lin (林福仁) said that if the nearly 4,000 students who graduate from NTHU every year are concerned about sustainability, they will go on to have a significant impact on society. He added that the main criteria for selecting the winning teams were how well their plans leveraged the existing strengths of NTHU and their potential impact beyond the campus.
Teams that made the first cut were interviewed by a committee consisting of personnel from various companies, including MediaTek, United Microelectronics Corporation, and the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). Gold, silver, and bronze awards were presented in the student, faculty, and staff categories, with a total of nine winning teams.
The gold medal for the student group was won by Shao-Chi Lo (羅韶奇), a doctoral student from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. Under the guidance of Professor Chih-Huang Lai (賴志煌) of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Lo developed a technology to recover rare earth elements from discarded home appliances and batteries, which reduces chemical use and carbon emissions.
Lo noted that although the field of sustainability may not yield immediate returns like the semiconductor industry, he remains confident in its long-term potential. In the past, he and his colleagues donated a portion of their winnings from domestic and international competitions to support interdisciplinary education at NTHU, demonstrating their commitment to sustainability.
The gold award in the teacher group was won by a team led by Professor Hsiu-Chuan Chou (周秀專) that formulated a plan for cleaning up the Touqian River Basin. The project includes fieldwork to study pollutants in the river, the use of an AI identification system, general education courses, and partnerships with local environmental groups to develop solutions for pollution prevention and environmental education.
Chou's cross-disciplinary team formulated its plan for mitigating water pollution in the Touqian from multiple perspectives, including pollution prevention, environmental education, and green finance. The members of the team include Hong-Lin Chan (詹鴻霖) of the Department of Medical Science, Ruey-An Doong (董瑞安) of the Institute of Analytical and Environmental Sciences, Nen-Fu Huang (黃能富) of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Shun-Chi Wu (吳順吉) of the Department of Engineering and System Science, Jow-Ran Chang (張焯然) of the Department of Quantitative Finance, Chun-Ming Chen (陳俊銘) of the Regional Innovation Center, and Tonny Kuo (郭孟倫) of the College of Technology Management.
The gold medal in the staff group was won by Nai-Yun Chang (張乃云), a research assistant in the Tsing Hua Interdisciplinary Program. She organized an orientation event for experimental education students in which they visited the Xinfeng Mangrove Forest, where they learned about coastal ecology, the Hukou Old Street, where they learned about Hakka culture, and an equestrian center, where they rode horses. Following the activities, students showed an 83% increase in environmental awareness and a 71% improvement in their understanding of sustainability.
Brad Peng (彭冠宇), CEO of the TSMC Charity Foundation and a member of the judging panel, praised the participating teams for developing sustainability solutions that were both cost-effective and efficient. Another judge, Shang-Hsiu Hu (胡尚秀), director of the Office of Research and Development at NTHU, commended the teams for their creativity in applying innovative technologies for sustainability across air, land, and sea.
The 2025 NTHU Sustainability Exhibition, themed “Passion to Action,” was held in conjunction with Earth Day (April 22) at the International Conference Hall. It featured award-winning projects, ambassador initiatives, and multimedia presentations.
Nyan-Hwa Tai (戴念華) said that the concept of sustainability has already become deeply rooted at NTHU.
Sustainability Office director Fu-Ren Lin (林福仁) said that NTHU graduates committed to sustainability will be a force for change in Taiwan.
Senior Vice President Nyan-Hwa Tai (戴念華) (center) with representatives of the judging panel at the first NTHU Sustainability Award ceremony. From left: Shang-Hsiu Hu (胡尚秀), Fu-Ren Lin (林福仁), Brad Peng (彭冠宇), and Tien-Chien Li (李天健).
Doctoral student Shao-Chi Lo (羅韶奇) from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering won the gold medal in the NTHU Sustainability Award's student group for his research on an electrochemical technology to recover rare earth metals from discarded home appliances and batteries.
The cross-disciplinary team that won the gold medal in the faculty category for its project addressing water pollution in the Touqian River Basin. From left to right: Shun-Chi Wu (吳順吉), Tonny Kuo (郭孟倫), Hsiu-Chuan Chou (周秀專), Jow-Ran Chang (張焯然), Chun-Ming Chen (陳俊銘), and Hong-Lin Chan (詹鴻霖).
Nai-Yun Chang (張乃云) (front row, second from left), winner of the gold medal in the staff category, leading experimental education students on a field trip to the Xinfeng Mangrove Forest.
Nyan-Hwa Tai (戴念華) (center) with the winning faculty teams of the NTHU Sustainability Award.
Nyan-Hwa Tai (戴念華) (center) with the award-winning faculty teams of the NTHU Sustainability Award.
Guests and award winners cheer for sustainability at the NTHU Sustainability Award ceremony
NTHU launched the "2025 NTHU Sustainability Exhibition" on Earth Day (April 22) to showcase sustainability achievements.
Members of Professor Hsiu-Chuan Chou's (周秀專) team collecting soil samples near the Touqian River as part of the NTHU Sustainability Award-winning project.
Professor Nen-Fu Huang's (黃能富) team utilizing an AI system to identify waste in and around the Touqian River, as part of their NTHU Sustainability Award gold medal-winning project.
