The National Science Council (NSC) announced the winners of the 2012 Ta-You Wu Memorial Award. Six NTHU professors received this award for their outstanding performances: Dr. Meng-Lin Li, Associate Professor of the Department of Electrical Engineering, Dr. Chieh-Yu Chang, Assistant Professor of the Department of Mathematics, Dr. Chien-Chung Fu, Associate Professor of the Institute of Nanoengineering and Microsystems, Dr. Chia-Min Yang, Associate Professor of the Department of Chemistry, Dr. Soumya Ray, Assistant Professor of the Institute of Service Science, and Dr. Ta-Jen Yen, Associate Professor of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering.

Prof. Meng-Lin Li is a researcher of biomedical ultrasounds, photoacoustic imaging, and relevant system design. He is dedicated to the development of innovative imaging techniques in biomedicine to enhance the clinical and academic value of ultrasound and photoacoustic imaging. Prof. Li's studies have won numerous thesis contests at domestic biomedical engineering technology seminars, and his relevant research findings have been reported in the Engineering and Technology Newsletter of NSC.

Prof. Li's primary research contributions are: a) the development of an imaging technique that enhances the resolution and imaging quality of photoacoustic and ultrasound imaging, b) a functional photoacoustic microscopic imaging system for the brains of small animals (his laboratory was the first research team to conduct systematic studies of transcranial functional photoacoustic imaging on small animals), c) an National Innovation Award winning imaging technique for identifying microcalcification in early breast cancer (clinical application of this technique may enhance diagnosis and biopsies of breast cancer), and d), the image-guided techniques for ultrasound thermal therapy and drug delivery.

Prof. Chieh-Yu Chang's research focuses on numerical theory, particularly the transcendence theory in the body of function. In recent years, he has been dedicated to the study of special values of the characteristic "P". He used the definition equations of algebraic groups and geometric phenomena to interpret the algebraic relationships among special values. "The special values of certain characteristic "Ps" are derived from geometric values or the values of important functions. The behaviors of the special values resemble those of the classical characteristic "0". However, the proofs of the interpretations differ significantly," explained Prof. Chang.

During his doctoral study under his dissertation adviser, Prof. Jing Yu, Prof. Chang was fascinated by the depth and scope of this domain. In recent years, with support from the National Center for Theoretical Sciences of the NSC, he conducted a joint long-term study with Prof. Papanikolas of Texas A&M University to develop innovative techniques. The results of this study are at the forefront of this field. After four years of hard work, they proved the conjecture of Brownawell-Yu (published in the Journal of the American Mathematical Society in 2012)—the algebraic independence of periods and logarithms of Drinfeld modules. This finding effectively promoted Prof. Jing Yu's linear independence theory, and was published in 1997 in the Annals of Mathematics of Princeton University. Moreover, this theory is also a functional analogy of Alan Baker's theory, which was awarded the International Medal for an Outstanding Discovery in Mathematics. These achievements are recognized as a new milestone in the development of transcendence theory for the characteristic "p".

Prof. Chien-Chung Fu graduated from the Institute of Microstructure Technology of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany, which is the origin of LIGA technology and specializes in LIGA and lithography. In recent years, Prof. Fu's primary research focus has been on lithography with various types of light sources, comprising X-ray lithography, ultraviolet lithography, and laser interference lithography. Moreover, the primary direction of his research development is nano structures and 3D functional microstructures. Using various materials, he is exploring the applications of these techniques in optics and biomedicine. Ultimately, Prof. Fu hopes to provide lithography techniques that can be applied academically and practically.

Prof. Chia-Min Yang studies the design and synthesis of porous materials and their applications in areas such as energy, green chemistry, and nano biomedicine. He has developed several innovative nano porous materials, and used synchrotron radiation X-ray to conduct on-site studies investigating the formation mechanism of porous structures. This enables the regulation of pore structure, pore size, and the morphology of materials.

In addition, Prof. Yang is developing unique selective functional paths that can cause functional groups or objects to graft or be deposited in certain positions in a nano space, and forming multi-functional nano composites. These materials have superior and special qualities and performances when applied in energy and green catalyses, molecular absorption and separation, and nano biomedicine. Prof. Yang's research findings have significantly contributed to fields such as materials chemistry and nano catalysis biomedicine.

Prof. Soumya Ray is the first foreign faculty at the Institute of Service Science. His research focused on improving the design and management of Internet service. Prof. Ray examines social psychology, technology, and economics to explore behaviors that affect Internet users, as well as the switching costs of online services and information security. He has identified the key issues and developed strategic online service management, which has received a high level of recognition. Furthermore, Prof. Ray's current research centers on social computing involved in online communities, co-creation, and micro-blogging.

Prof. Ray thanked the strong support and encouragement from the College of Technology Management, and he enjoyed the congenial academic environment created by the faculty and the students of the Institute of Service Science at NTHU.

Prof. Ta-Jen Yen started to teach at NTHU in 2005 after earning his PhD from the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department at the University of California, Los Angeles. His research specialties and interests are metamaterials, plasmonics, silicon-based nanomaterials, and the interaction between nanomaterial and bio-systems. His academic contributions and breakthroughs in recent years include artificial magnetism, which has rewritten optics textbooks, negative refractive index media, invisibility cloaks, two-handed metamaterials, ultrasensitive and calibration-free bio-sensing and bio-imaging systems, radial nano silicon-based solar cells, and stem cell differentiation induced by silicon nanowires.

Prof. Yen's studies have been published in top international journals in various fields, including Science, Advanced Materials, Biomaterials, Optics Express, and Applied Physics Letters. Moreover, he has obtained numerous domestic and international patents and technological transfers. Prof. Yen attributes this award to the favorable academic environment at NTHU and the concerted effort of his research team. He is particularly thankful to his colleagues at NTHU and other universities who have provided him with valuable opportunities and learning experiences.