Sangeetha Thangavel, an assistant professor and bioenergy researcher at National Taipei University of Technology (NTUT), has been granted a Plum Blossom Card by the National Immigration Agency.
The agency yesterday said that Thangavel, who is from India, had been awarded the special Alien Permanent Resident Certificate (APRC) for her efforts in cultivating biochemistry engineering talent in Taiwan and for her contributions to the research of bioelectrochemical systems for use in clean energy production.
Thangavel’s work on microbial fuel cells, microbial electrolysis cells, and bioenergy production methods related to methane and wastewater aligned closely with the nation’s renewable energy and environmental goals, the agency said.
Photo provided by National Immigration Agency via CNA
Thangavel’s research has been used in a wide variety of agricultural applications, such as removing heavy metal ions from soil and creating diluted seawater, it added.
Thangavel, who received her doctorate from Bharathiar University in Coimbatore, India, in January 2013, has worked at NTUT’s Department of Energy and Refrigerating Air-conditioning Engineering since 2017.
The agency said that it had issued a total of 244 Plum Blossom Cards since the program began in 2009, including 169 to specialized professionals, 48 for outstanding contributions and 27 for significant investments in Taiwan.
Plum Blossom cardholders can apply for citizenship in Taiwan without renouncing their original passports.
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
Foreign travelers entering Taiwan on a short layover via Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport are receiving NT$600 gift vouchers from yesterday, the Tourism Administration said, adding that it hopes the incentive would boost tourism consumption at the airport. The program, which allows travelers holding non-Taiwan passports who enter the country during a layover of up to 24 hours to claim a voucher, aims to promote attractions at the airport, the agency said in a statement on Friday. To participate, travelers must sign up on the campaign Web site, the agency said. They can then present their passport and boarding pass for their connecting international
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
Tropical Storm Fung-Wong would likely strengthen into a typhoon later today as it continues moving westward across the Pacific before heading in Taiwan’s direction next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Fung-Wong was about 2,190km east-southeast of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving westward at 25kph and possibly accelerating to 31kph, CWA data showed. The tropical storm is currently over waters east of the Philippines and still far from Taiwan, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said, adding that it could likely strengthen into a typhoon later in the day. It is forecast to reach the South China Sea
RSS