Premier-designate Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) yesterday announced his second wave of Cabinet member appointees, naming current National Central University (NCU) chancellor Lee Lou-chuang (李羅權) as the new National Science Council (NSC) minister.
Liu yesterday also named National Tsinghua University professor of engineering and system science Tsai Chuen-horng (蔡春鴻) as the new Atomic Energy Council (AEC) minister.
Reacting to his appointment, Lee said: “Education and advanced technology are the two most important fields that will provide Taiwan with momentum to go forward.”
“In research as well as in leading a team, you need to gather your resources, set a goal and formulate a plan to achieve that goal — in both [research and leadership], you can [only succeed by] being the first, and I will build Taiwan’s research foundation upon this spirit,” he said.
Lee, an academic inducted into the Academia Sinica for his achievements in space physics, is a well-rounded leader who had propelled NCU into the ranks of elite higher education institutes, NCU vice-chancellor Ip Wing-huen (葉永烜) said.
“In addition to good leadership, Lee’s experience as the former director of the National Applied Research Laboratories [under the NSC], where he grasped technological developmental trends and was open to opinions from all sides, makes him a very good candidate for the [NSC] position,” Ip said.
Other than scientific developments, at NCU Lee had also been keenly developing the humanities fields, an experience that would help with his development of the nation’s social sciences as NSC minister, Ip said.
Addressing emerging global environmental problems, Lee said that “promoting environmental sustainability is the inescapable responsibility of scientists.”
“In the future, I plan to consolidate resources and place more emphasis on research in the fields of the environment as well as clean energies,” he said.
In related news, AEC minister-designate Tsai was described by his colleagues as an accomplished nuclear expert competently fit to lead the council.
Taiwanese scientists have engineered plants that can capture about 50 percent more carbon dioxide and produce more than twice as many seeds as unmodified plants, a breakthrough they hope could one day help mitigate global warming and grow more food staples such as rice. If applied to major food crops, the new system could cut carbon emissions and raise yields “without additional equipment or labor costs,” Academia Sinica researcher and lead author the study Lu Kuan-jen (呂冠箴) said. Academia Sinica president James Liao (廖俊智) said that as humans emit 9.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide compared with the 220 billion tonnes absorbed
The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Wanda-Zhonghe Line is 81.7 percent complete, with public opening targeted for the end of 2027, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said today. Surrounding roads are to be open to the public by the end of next year, Hou said during an inspection of construction progress. The 9.5km line, featuring nine underground stations and one depot, is expected to connect Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall Station to Chukuang Station in New Taipei City’s Jhonghe District (中和). All 18 tunnels for the line are complete, while the main structures of the stations and depot are mostly finished, he
Taipei is to implement widespread road closures around Taipei 101 on Friday to make way for large crowds during the Double Ten National Day celebration, the Taipei Department of Transportation said. A four-minute fireworks display is to be launched from the skyscraper, along with a performance by 500 drones flying in formation above the nearby Nanshan A21 site, starting at 10pm. Vehicle restrictions would occur in phases, they said. From 5pm to 9pm, inner lanes of Songshou Road between Taipei City Hall and Taipei 101 are to be closed, with only the outer lanes remaining open. Between 9pm and 9:40pm, the section is
China’s plan to deploy a new hypersonic ballistic missile at a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLARF) base near Taiwan likely targets US airbases and ships in the western Pacific, but it would also present new threats to Taiwan, defense experts said. The New York Times — citing a US Department of Defense report from last year on China’s military power — on Monday reported in an article titled “The missiles threatening Taiwan” that China has stockpiled 3,500 missiles, 1.5 times more than four years earlier. Although it is unclear how many of those missiles were targeting Taiwan, the newspaper reported
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