The list of National Science Council's (NSC) Outstanding Research Award winners in 2012 was recently announced and eight of the 74 recipients are faculty members of NTHU. They are: Prof. Andy Kung of the Institute of Photonics Technologies, Prof. Jeng-Gong Duh of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Professors Che-Wun Hong and Cheng-Hsien Liu of the Department of Power Mechanical Engineering, Prof. Hsuan-Yi Huang of the Department of Chemistry, Prof. Chang-Ming Liaw of the Department of Electrical Engineering, Prof. Chen-Fu Chien of the Department of Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management, and Prof. Shih-Chang Hung of the Institute of Technology Management.

The followings are brief descriptions of their award-winning accomplishments:

Prof. Andy Kung is a specialist in nonlinear optics, photonic physics and ultra fast optics. His most prominent research accomplishment in recent years is the demonstration of the integration of optics arbitrary waves. About eight years ago, Prof. Kung's laboratory started the research on Raman Frequency. It is not difficult to produce Raman Frequency but Prof. Kung's team had their priority set at effectively controlling the related phase positions of the sparse frequency. After four years of hard work, the difficulty of stabilizing the related phase positions was overcome in 2008. Subsequently, Prof. Kung's laboratory developed the techniques to further control these phases by the method of producing harmonic optics frequency in 2009. Finally, by manipulating and controlling the margin and phase positions of the first to fifth harmonic waves in optics frequency, Prof. Kung was able to form many electromagnetic waves in angstrom seconds and femto seconds. This is the first electromagnetic wave formed in optics frequency as in radio range, and it is a milestone of comprehensive spectrum integration. In the future, this arbitrary wave light source can be used to coordinate the electrons, oscillation, and turning simultaneously for applying in nano-material, ultrafast electronic and inductive chemical reaction researches. It can also be used to develop optics communication with the transmission signal up to 10-100 MHz, which is tens of thousands more than what current technology allows.

For thirty years, Prof. Jeng-Gong Duh has concentrated his research effort on the modification of material surface via process control, material system, morphology and architecture control. The highpoint of his long term project is the establishment of the diversity core technology, including process, material and electroscope microanalysis. Combined with microstructure, he explored deeply into the measurements of the physics, chemical, optics, electronic, magnetic, and mechanical characteristics of various materials. Furthermore, he has framed up the integrated technology in the development and application of different coating, electronic package, energy and electromagnetic materials.

Prof. Che-Wun Hong joined the Department of Power Mechanical Engineering in 1987 when he returned to Taiwan. That was exactly the time when the industry, government, universities and research institutes in Taiwan jointly come to the realization that Taiwan should develop its own combustion engine. He was invited by the Ministry of Economic Affairs to assist Industrial Technology Research Institute and the automobile industry to design engines and to take charge of research and development. With his efforts, NTHU has established a transparent engine laser optics test platform, a three-dimensional cylinder combustion/intake and exhaust pipe flow field calculation. Prof. Hong also designed vehicle dynamic performance test platform, an online dynamic forecast, and real time control software. Prof. Hong believes that the future dynamic mechanism development has to be sensitive to the issues of energy sustainability and green environment. Thus, future mechanism has to elevate energy transmission and increase energy efficiency as well as effectively address the pollution issue. With these issues in mind, Prof. Hong's researches, since 1998, has been primarily focused on multi-scale simulation and design from quantum mechanics, molecular dynamic, Boltzmann mesoscopic to traditional macroscopic thermal flow, optics chemistry, system dynamic, and nonlinear system intelligence control. In terms of product applications, he has also been focused on optics chemistry solar battery, OLED, bio-enzyme battery, micro-direct ethanol battery, proton exchange membrane fuel cell, and thermal solid oxide fuel generator, thermal chip, hybrid electronic vehicle systems.

After finishing his doctoral degree in Mechanics Engineering at Stanford University, Prof. Cheng-Hsien Liu worked in Silicon Valley for one short year. In 2000, he returned to Taiwan and joined the Department of Power Mechanical Engineering at NTHU. Due to the cooperative research programs between the bio-medical scientists in NTHU and National Chiao Tung University, and the fact that one of his relatives was suffering from the growth of tumor, he then extended his research on micro electro-mechanism system, micro bio-medical system, micro bio-medical fluid chip, bio-medical optics control, and bio-medical instruments development. At the same time, he expanded the close corporation with physicians from Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Mackay Memorial Hospital and National Taiwan University Hospital, as well as Biomedical Institute of ITRI to integrate electro-mechanism into research projects of life science. The bio-medical liver tissue chips that he and Prof. Hwan-You Chang of the Department of Medical Science developed was the first in the bio-medical laboratory. Their team is the first team in the world to present this optics control technique of performing simulating cell arrangement. Many of his bio-medical lab chip related thesis were selected as the cover story of prestigious journals or highlighted in various reports. Prof. Liu is thankful for the corporation of his team and graduate students, NSC and NTHU for their support, as well as the assistances and encouragement from his colleagues in the Department of Power Mechanical Engineering. In addition, he is thankful to his wife for her loving care and sacrifices. He further emphasizes that if he has any achievement in his research, the glory belongs to Jesus Christ.

Professor Hsuan-Yi Huang studies controlled synthesis of inorganic nanostructures such as gold, Cu₂O and Ag₂O nano-particles. When processing the electronic measurement of single Cu₂O, he discovered that Cu₂O and gold cuprous oxide core-shell cubit with {100} crystal is hardly concluctive, but the Cu₂O octahedron with {111} crystal is excellent for semi-conductor, and the conductivity of gold cuprous oxide core-shell octahedron is even better. This is an important and significant finding in nano material characteristic. Professor Huang's lab also researches and develops a method of using crystal planting from gold nano cubic to octahedron and diamond dodecahedron. In the research of the crystal form translation, he found that the nano crystal can be controlled by the speed of reduction or crystallization, but not the action of the surface activity. These nano materials with different forms can enhance many innovative researches in crystal and character relationship. For example, electronic, organic catalytic activity, molecule absorption etc.

Prof. Chang-Ming Liaw has been teaching in the Department of Electrical Engineering in NTHU since 1988. His specialties are motors, electronic electrons, and electro mechanism control. He has made contributions in green energy system, work transmission system, generator system in electronic mechanism and motors. Prof. Liaw is not only a frequent winner of Research Awards offered by NSC, but also a winner of the Excellent Teaching Award at NTHU. He indicated that NTHU provides an excellent research environment for his research in motors, electronic electron, and electro mechanism control. He further indicated that the research results of the academics are yet to dovetail with the needs of industry. Prof. Liaw hopes his researches can better serve the industries and satisfied their needs, and provide practical performance while satisfying the academic purpose. Prof. Liaw indicated that there are many great researches conducted in this field, and he is thankful to NSC for honoring him with this award.

Professor Chen-Fu Chien acquired double degrees in the Department of Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management and the Department of Electrical Engineering in 1990. He is also an honorable member of the Phi Tau Phi Scholastic Honor Society of the Republic of China. In 1996 when he got the doctoral degree in Strategic Science and Operational Research in the University of Wisconsin-Madison, he returned to Taiwan to teach at NTHU. In 2005 to 2008, he was transferred to TSMC for sabbatical research, and now he is a professor in the Department of Industrial Engineering and the EMBA Program. The strategic analysis team led by Prof. Chien used Enabling A+ Decision as the core to propose UNISON Decision Framework and developed vertical integrative industrial strategy and operation, and strategic model. The team also developed PDCCCR (Pricing-Demand-Capacity-CapEx-Cost-Return) system to solve the operational problems such as high risk and uncertainty, and mass amount of mingled data in high tech industry. Moreover, Prof. Chien and his research team also promote industrial financial sources of TRM. To increase operational performance, they use Taiwanese high tech industry as their research targets to combine theory and practice, and established cooperative projects between university and industries such as TSMC, Macronix, Media Tek, Motech, Ubilux, and VisEra. Prof. Chien received many international patents and technical transfer. Besides obtaining Outstanding Research Award of NSC for the second time, Prof. Chien also received the First Class Project Holder Award of NSC, Industry-Academic Cooperation Research Award from the Ministry of Education, University Industry Contribution Award from the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Outstanding Engineering Professor Award, and Industrial Engineering Medal. He has published more than 100 articles and books such as "Strategic Analysis and Management," "Semi-Conductor Manufacturing Technique," and many Harvard Business School management case studies.

Prof. Shih-Chang Hung's fields of study include strategy management and technology management. He is deeply influenced by the debates of human action vs. social structure in Organizational Sociology. Using the developmental history of high-tech industries in Taiwan as his basic data and institutional theory and structural theory as his major theoretical framework, he has completed many case studies and published more than 50 scholarly articles since 1995. Recently, he has devoted much of his time and energy toward policy research and the organization of technology policy forums such as the National Technology Conference etc. During 2006 to 2008, Prof. Hung served as the Convener of the Management Science Section at NSC. He was also voted, by the students in the EMBA Program as the Best Teacher of the Year in 2005, 2006 and 2007 consecutively. In 2008, he was elected as a Fellow of the Taiwan Academy of Management and won the election to become the President of the same Academy in 2009. His recent research effort is centered on the innovation model of the counterfeit cell phone and hopes to actively promote the theory of the Strategy-as-Practice School.