Vice President Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁, right) / CNA file photo
Taipei, Jan. 9 (CNA) Vice President Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) presented National Chair Professorships to four winners at a ceremony Wednesday and encouraged them to contribute to nurturing top talent to work with Southeast Asia in the future.
During the ceremony, three people also received the first National Awards for Distinguished Contribution to Industry-Academia Cooperation and 12 received the Academic Awards, which are sponsored by the Ministry of Education.
National Chair Professorships are awarded to full-time university professors who are still engaged in research and teaching, play a leading role in shaping the direction of academic thought and have a record of outstanding achievement.
Chen said he hoped winners of the awards will be able to use their expertise to help nurture talented people who can help companies develop in Southeast Asia and take advantage of the New Southbound Policy.
The policy, Chen said, is establishing industry-academia collaboration programs and cultural, economic and trade links in the region.
This year, the National Chair Professorships all went to professors at National Taiwan University, including new NTU Vice President Chen Ming-syan (陳銘憲), who specializes in data mining and database systems.
Chen said it was the second time he has won the award.
The other winners were Shen Chuan-chou (沈川洲), a professor in NTU's Department of Geosciences; Tien Hwei-fang (田蕙芬), a professor of internal medicine at NTU's College of Medicine; and Liu Jin-tan (劉錦添), a professor in NTU's Department of Economics.
Winners of the National Forum Awards were given a cash prize of NT$1 million (US$32,452) a year for three years.
The three winners of the national industry-academia cooperation awards were Lin Bor-tsuen (林栢村), a professor at National Kaohsiung First University of Science and Technology; Huang Rong-fung (黃榮芳), a professor at National Taiwan University of Science and Technology; and Hsieh Pao-chuan (謝寶全), a professor at National Pingtung University of Science and Technology.
Each of the winners in this category was awarded NT$900,000, while winners of the Academic Awards were given NT$600,000 each.
(By Chen Chih-chung and Evelyn Kao)
Enditem/ls