A digital forum was held on July 16 to introduce "Cosmopolitan Webs and Dreams" — a cross-disciplinary exhibition nurtured by the research prowess of Taiwan's first university department dedicated to the field of Southeast Asian studies. The public exhibition addressing inequality and exploitation remains online through Aug. 15. The collaboration among 4 colleges, 11 departments, 19 professors, and 37 guest instructors from National Chi Nan University (NCNU) culminated in 24 workshops and 60 fringe events.
Highlights
NCNU promotes STEAM education with digital summer camp
In an interdisciplinary initiative to promote food and digital education in preparation for the post-pandemic era, National Chi Nan University (NCNU) and partners organized a series of online forums centered on STEAM — science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics — for junior high and high school students from all across Taiwan.
NCNU hatches cutting-edge solution for real-time interpretation
A gadget for instantaneous translation is no longer the stuff of one's dreams. Supported by the Learning and Empowerment Center for Small-business Startups of NCNU (LESSON+), four university students have developed a fuss-free way of achieving simultaneous English and Japanese interpretations of spoken Mandarin.
Community-driven solutions for curbing air pollution
At 9am, Puli's Fresh Market 3 (埔里第三市場) is already bustling with hawkers vying for attention with shouts like "30 dollars per kilo!" and "come this way for the freshest selection!" barely making a dint in the action-packed marketplace. Everyone is looking to score the best deal, and when home and dinner is ahead, why would anyone pay attention to the spluttering exhaust pipes behind one's back?
Faculty, Student & Alumni Stories
The greying society of Taiwan is a global issue. According to Ministry of the Interior statistics for January 2021, the country's senior population comprises 16.2% of the total population. As low birth rates and limited resources are sure to adversely affect the ability of families to care for elders living with chronic or debilitating conditions, research institutions like National Chi Nan University have widened their efforts to reimagine long-term care. Liang Kai-lin (梁鎧麟), an assistant professor with the NCNU Department of Social Policy and Social Work, recalls that he was fully aware of Taiwan's aging trend by junior year as a social work major.
National Chi Nan University's Department of Tourism, Leisure and Hospitality Management has been one of the university's top programs since its inception in 2010. For the past 11 years, it has been consistently nurturing new talents in the hospitality industry, gaining governmental and corporate funding along the way, in no small part thanks to department chair Dr. Dai You-de (戴有德) and his league of passionate instructors. Dai graduated from the world's third best hospitality doctoral program – Penn State's Ph.D. in Hospitality Management (HM) – and has since become a Taiwanese leader on the cutting edge of this dynamic and ever-evolving field.
Vincent K. S. Hsiao (蕭桂森), a professor with NCNU's Applied Materials and Optoelectronic Engineering Department, joined Professor Zhong Lin Wang's Nanoscience Research Group at Georgia Tech last year as a visiting scholar. The resulting paper, "Photo-carrier extraction by triboelectricity for carrier transport layer-free photodetectors," was published by Nano Energy, a science magazine with a CiteScore of 25.6 and an Impact Factor (IF) of 16.602.