In a move widely seen as a major boost to scholarship in Taiwan, world-renowned scientist Frank Shu (徐遐生) will take over as the president of National Tsinghua University in Hsinchu today.
Shu left the University of California at Berkeley for Taiwan on Jan. 26 to prepare for his new position. He will take over from retiring president Liu Chung-laung (
"His coming to Taiwan is quite a coup for the academic community here," Science magazine quoted Fred Lo (魯國鏞), director of Academia Sinica's Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, as saying in its Jan. 18 issue.
Shu, 59, is a former president of the American Astronomical Society. He is also a member of Academia Sinica and convener of the consultant group for its astronomy institute.
Shu was born in Kunming City in China and moved to the US with his family in his first year of elementary school.
Even though he has never been a long-term resident of Taiwan, his father, Shu Shien-siu (徐賢修), served as Tsinghua university's president in the early 1970s and was one of the founders of the Hsinchu Science-based Industrial Park, the bastion of Taiwan's semiconductor industry.
Shu's appointment at Tsinghua could lead to another influx of world-class scientists to Taiwan, like the one brought about by Lee Yuan-tseh (李遠哲), the 1986 Nobel laureate in chemistry who also left Berkeley, and returned to Taiwan in 1994 to head Academia Sinica.
"I realized I can make a bigger difference in Taiwan than by remaining in the US," Shu told Science magazine when asked about his reasons for crossing the Pacific.
The new university president hoped more people would "come home and help," Shu said in an interview with the local Chinese-language media.
To elevate the international standing of the nation's higher education, Taiwan needs universities with a strong research focus, Shu said.
The new Tsinghua president added that the school he heads has the potential to become one of the world's top universities.
Shu also outlined the areas in which he feels Tsinghua should focus: materials, biological and theoretical sciences.
The first two areas are the foundations for the semiconductor and biotechnology industries, respectively.
Shu also stressed the importance of humanities and social sciences, saying he would work to strengthen research in those areas.
Shu is best known for his theoretical work on the structure of spiral galaxies and star formation.
In 1964, he and another scientist, C.C. Lin, jointly proposed the spiral density wave theory, which became the first model for understanding the formation of spiral galaxies, according to Nature magazine.
Speaking to the local Chinese-language media, the university president said he plans to change Taiwan's academic culture from one in which financial resources are shared equally to one in which resources are handed out based on academic potential.
"There is a growing understanding [among government officials] that science at the forefront is an elitist affair," Shu told the Science magazine.
Shu also said he hopes to make Tsinghua bilingual, offering courses in both English and Chinese.
He added that his Chinese is not good and said he would ask the university's students to teach him the language.
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