CAMPUS ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION

The morning featured a campus ecological education tour, where NPUST guides led attending faculty and student representatives to visit the renowned Pingtung Rescue Center, which plays a vital role in both education and research activities.

Since its establishment in 1992, the center has provided care for over 5,000 animals and currently houses nearly a thousand individuals and approximately 100 species of protected wildlife. Covering an area of about 2.5 hectares, the Rescue Center boasts comprehensive medical and animal care facilities which are used to assist the government in handling endangered and controlled wildlife. It stands as a crucial wildlife conservation base in Taiwan, disseminating knowledge about wildlife protection and proper animal husbandry through activities such as public visits, volunteer training, and summer camps.

SHARED GOVERNANCE AND COLLABORATION

The afternoon agenda focused on two major themes: “Thematic Sharing” and “Working Group Reports.” During the thematic sharing session, Director Yao-Ming Hong of the NDHU Sustainable Development Center and Director Yun-Tzu Chang of the NTUST Construction and Maintenance Division shared their universities’ practical experiences in energy conservation, discussing concrete measures for campus energy management and sustainable facility improvements.

Covering the topic of biodiversity, Hsiao-Lang Wang of the NTU Office of Sustainability and Director Hsin-Yi Wu of the NCU Office of Sustainable Development and Social Responsibility discussed strategies for safeguarding ecological diversity, sharing their approaches and achievements in campus ecological maintenance and ecological diversity promotion.

During the “Working Group Reports”, NTOU led the session on Sustainable Curriculum with Director Wen-Jer Chang of their Center for Social Responsibility Practice and Sustainable Development presenting on the topic. In his presentation, he shared on the university’s practical experiences and outcomes in sustainable curriculum design and teaching innovation. Looking at the topic of Campus Greenhouse Gas Inventory, Administrative Specialist Cheng-Che Lee of NTNU’s Sustainable Development Center reported on the progress and experiences of member universities in conducting campus-wide greenhouse gas inventories.

The annual meeting helps foster communication among members and gives participants an opportunity to explore different pathway for implementing sustainable university campus governance together.

ABOUT THE ALLIANCE

The Taiwan University Alliance for Sustainable Governance was established in 2022, jointly initiated by nine national universities: NPUST, NTU, NTNU, NTUST, NTOU, NCU, NCHU, NSYSU, and NDHU. The Alliance aims to build a network for exchange among higher education institutions, enabling them to shoulder the responsibility for university sustainable development and social commitment. Through continuous experience sharing and collaborative dialogue, the Alliance seeks to expand the influence of Taiwan’s higher education in the field of sustainable development and create a solid foundation for Taiwan’s sustainable future.

NPUST’s president, Chin-Lung Chang, attended the press conference to announce the success of the National Practical Project Competition. He said that “technical and vocational education is an important driver of Taiwan’s industrial and economic development. In order for students to put what they have learned into practice and verify market trends and needs, NPUST continues to encourage them to participate in the national technical and vocational school practical production competitions. Through the current competition, the students were able to closely connect with the industry and put into practice the concept of ‘pragmatic and useful’ technical and vocational education”.

The project which won the first place in the “Energy and Environmental Protection Group” was entitled “TuckiTuck – Recycling and Reuse of Wooden Furniture Waste”. For this project, under the joint guidance of Professor Ming-Feng Wang and Professor Way Long of the Department of Wood Science and Design, students used fiberboard materials from discarded furniture to increase fiberboard recycling rates, achieve multiple cycles of recycling, reduce the use of new materials, reduce resource waste, and promote a sustainable circular economy model.

The “PIÉTON – Research on the Development of Biomimetic Leather Film Using Bacterial Cellulose” project won second place in the “Energy and Environmental Protection Group”. In this project, which was supervised by Professor Tung-Lin Wu from the Department of Wood Science and Design, the student team developed a bio-fiber material from renewable resources as a substitute leather. After market research, it was found that although the product still has different properties from commercially available leather, the plasticity, touch, and other properties of the material hold potential in the faux-leather market.

The “Birds Arrive Home – Establishing an Ecologically Restorative and Mutually Beneficial Economic Model”, which won the second place in the “Business Group”, was developed under the guidance of Professor Zaou-Jun Deng of the Department of Wood Science and Design. This project brings science to the public by providing people with an understanding of mountain sparrows and getting them involved in conservation by instructing them how to make and set up nest boxes, then participate in subsequent observations. A webpage also provides the public with instant notifications about the arrival of the birds, thereby heightening awareness and the experience of active participation. Thanks to the training provided by NPUST’s higher education project for innovation and entrepreneurship and the Ministry of Education’s innovation and entrepreneurship education project, the team’s work is now highly mature, and by raising funds through short videos on educational platforms, they have successfully demonstrated the ability to integrate wood science and business models.

Professor Tai-Sheng Su from the Department of Industrial Management oversaw the team which developed a “Solar-Powered Smart Beehive” with monitoring and identification capabilities. For their work, the team was awarded third place in the “Business Group”. By collecting research data on bee ecology and allowing for real-time monitoring of bee colony conditions with precise management and controls, the team’s work is able to make significant contributions to the beekeeping industry.

Finally, a team led by Professor Hsu-Yang Kung and Professor Jian-Liang Pan from the Department of Information Management won the Excellence Award in the “Information Engineering and Communications Group” for a multimodal AI system that they developed to detect and warn against pests and diseases in agriculture. By combining imaging, acoustics and other environmental sensors, the system uses AI to analyze the number pests and their behavior and provide real-time monitoring and prevention recommendations. This way they are able to reducing the impact of pests and diseases and contribute to the transition to smart agriculture and sustainable development.

Professor Chin-Lung Chang, who is also the president of NPUST, said that “this program originated from the 2017 Taiwan-KMUTT Internship Program (TKIP). In that year, under a Ministry of Education pilot program to send excellent young students to study abroad at renowned organizations, Taiwan University of Science and Technology Alliance members, including NPUST, NTUST and CSU jointly sent 18 students to Thailand for short-term summer internships at businesses in Thailand. The program allowed for enhanced mutual understanding between the young people on both sides and helped promote citizen diplomacy. In the following years, with the efforts of schools from both countries, more than 100 students from the alliance have been sent to Thailand for internships and training. After graduation, these students entered the workforce to become outstanding contributors to international industries in different fields”.

Professor Tien-Chien Chen, Dean of the College of Engineering, said that “internationalization is one of the development priorities of the College of Engineering. Through such overseas internship programs, the academic ties between the two schools can be strengthened. It will help expand students’ international perspectives and lay the foundation for their future development in the global field of engineering”.

President Chin-Lung Chang expressed his pleasure in receiving the visiting delegation, pointing out that the relationship between NPUST and Malaysia dates back to 1963, when the university first established the Overseas Youth Vocational Training School in accordance with the overseas Chinese education policy. Over the years, the school cultivated many classes of Malaysian students and currently there are 26 students from Malaysia enrolled in NPUST’s Department of Plant Industry and Department of Tropical Agriculture Department. After graduation, they can choose to continue their studies or return home to apply their knowledge and strengths in the field and build bridges for agricultural development between the two countries, and even the rest of the world. Our Malaysian alumni have done very well in various sectors. For example, Mr. Cheong-Beng Lai, the former president of the NPUST Malaysian Alumni Association, has gone on to become the managing director of an agriculture trading company and Mr. Siew Tick Chai, the current president of the NPUST Malaysian Alumni Association, won the 2023 Overseas Community Affairs Council ‘s Global Outstanding Overseas Chinese Alumni Award. We are proud to say that Mr. Twang Fui Boo, who is president of the Batu Pahat Alumni Association in Taiwan and Ching-Zeng Lo, who is known as the Malaysian Prince of Dried Fruits, are also alumni of NPUST.

The president of the Federation of Alumni, King Hoe Pang, praised NPUST for its high-quality education and for being a leader in Taiwan’s agriculture sector—and he thanked the school for its efforts in cultivating Malaysian students. During the meeting, in addition to learning about the school’s achievements in Smart agriculture and cross-disciplinary research and development, the guests were interested in discussing the continuation of the Overseas Youth Vocational Training School, the holding of overseas master’s courses and the acquisition of veterinary certifications. They expressed their hopes to see more Malaysian students benefit from NPUST’s high-quality education, to which the school’s teachers also expressed support. After the meeting, the delegation visited the Department of Wood Science and Design, Smart Agriculture Center, and the Staff and Student Consumer Cooperative. Within the limited time of exchange, the leaders and members of the Alumni Association gained a lot and were left with very positive impression about the school.

At the awards, President Chin-Lung Chang said: “NPUST has never been absent from the USR competition since it began in 2020. This year, our school’s work stood out once again among many outstanding projects, winning three awards, including a First Prize Award, Model Award and Performance Award. These results testify to the fact that NPUST’s long term and deep engagement with educational research, industry-university cooperation, innovative development, and social responsibility practices are being recognized by the outside world. The awards also offer affirmation and encouragement to the teachers and students who are implementing USR projects at our school. It takes time to cultivate role models— and NPUST has been accumulating expertise and honing technology for a hundred years, working to create a “replicable learning model” and share its successful experiences with counties and cities across Taiwan, and even in the international community. We are very grateful for the affirmation of the committee members, and in the future, NPUST will continue to work hard at making contributions to social progress”.

Professor Mei-Hui Chen, who won first prize in the “Industry Co-Creation Group”, has spent many years working with remote tribes and mountain communities in Taiwan, devoting herself to research on community forestry and sustainable development. Her project, which focuses on “under forest economies, ecotourism alliance development, and agricultural & forestry carbon sequestration talent cultivation”, aims to develop economic models that allow for mountain residents to coexist with the forests. In her work, she is creating technology and developing systems for beekeeping and shiitake mushroom cultivation and is equipping young people with professional capabilities to measure carbon sinks in agricultural and forested lands. At the same time, Professor Chen has connected international and Taiwanese ecotourism resources to give birth to the “Taiwan Ecotourism and Local Revitalization Alliance”, linking 65 local community tribes, 44 ecotourism organizations, and 10 professional counseling teams. Together they are promoting the sustainable development of ecotourism DMOs (Destination Marketing Organizations) and building a bridge for the international community to gain access to the profound beauty of Taiwan’s natural mountain and coastal areas.

In the “Ecological Coexistence Group”, Assistant Professor Shiao-Yu Hong of the NPUST Institute of Wildlife Conservation won the Model Award with his endangered bird conservation project. His project, which builds on the work of Professor Yuan-Hsun Sun of the same institute, is focused on the conservation of endangered wild birds in Taiwan, such as the eastern grass owl. Perches are erected in farmlands to attract birds of prey to come hunt for mice in the fields. As an ecologically friendly alternative to poison, the method is enjoying support from community farmers, the Ministry of Agriculture, and various governments agencies. In recent years they have organized corporate ESG collaborations to promote raptor friendly agriculture products, including several with Farglory Life Insurance, PX Mart, and Taiwan Sugar Corporation.

In the “Sustainable Course Group”, which was a new addition this year, Assistant Professor Fangyi Liu of the Department of Agribusiness Management won the Performance Award for her “Net Zero Carbon Inventory Cross-Domain Micro-Learning Program”. Her course was designed to cultivate professional talent in carbon inventory and carbon management with attention given to academic and industrial needs. The theoretical and practical teaching approach used in the course has already helped students obtain a total of 259 professional carbon management and sustainability-related certificates. Professor Liu and her students also formed a carbon inventory seed team to offer guidance to students who were working on the 2023 greenhouse gas inventory report for the NPUST campus and Baoli and Daren Forest Farms. On top of this, they helped another 18 companies to complete carbon inventory projects and reports. Plans are to introduce Assistant Professor Fangyi Liu’s course to National Experimental High School at Pingtung Science Park so that the sustainable curriculum can take root earlier on. Hopes are that once the students have graduated, the will not only apply the knowledge they have learned to the industrial sector, but will also work to enhance the public’s awareness of climate action and social responsibility, and help achieve a state of coexistence between people and nature.

After the unveiling ceremony, Mark Liao, Director of the Academia Sinica’s Institute of Information Science, gave a speech on the development of “YOLOv9”—providing valuable insights and encouragement for students to develop the potential of AI. Congratulating the school, Liao said: “I am very honored to see National Pingtung University of Science and Technology’s investment in the field of AI computing. This is a very visionary and wise decision which will allow NPUST’s students to keep up with the times and connect with new developments whether in academia or in emerging fields”.

NPUST President Chin-Lung Chang also made a speech at the event, stating that: “AI is rising rapidly around the world and driving major innovations in various fields. Meanwhile, NPUST has set IA (Intelligence Agriculture) as an important development goal. In the future, we will continue to combine the school’s agriculture-focused science, technology, and research with AI computing, and through courses and various projects we will strengthen research and cooperation, and use our core capabilities, such as information technology, parallel computing and model training, to enhance the country’s agricultural technology.”

As a comprehensive university with a 100-year history, National Pingtung University of Science and Technology has long been committed to cultivating industrial talent. With the new AI-enabled Smart Computing Classroom equipped with 71 super chip servers, students now have an excellent resource to cultivate AI-based programing skills and develop deeper understandings of AI ​​model training processes. In conjunction with the establishment of the new classroom, the school will also be offering a new cross-domain micro course in Artificial Intelligence Internet of Things (AIoT) Programming. In the future, NPUST will continue to enrich its AI course design and expand cross-field cooperation in order to cultivate AI professionals with international competitiveness and help Taiwan’s industrial and agricultural technology reach new milestones in development.

Professor Huang was joined at the expo by three master’s students from his department. Huang hoped to give them an opportunity to witness some of the latest machines and tools, while also gaining experience communicating with and learning from some of the major machine tool manufacturers. During the exhibition, the students helped introduce Huang’s patented technology to the visitors.

Huang’s vibration-assisted technology for cutting tools is able to successfully improve processing efficiency when turning special carbide materials. Efficiency improvements are important for the manufacturing industry, as they are essential for achieving carbon reduction and carbon neutrality goals.

The organizers of the expo also invited Professor Huang to give a special presentation on his technology on March 13, asking him to introduce the technical principles, design background, industry trends, application models and other advantages of the award-winning patent. Professor Huang used an easy-to-understand approach to share the science behind his work, and provided an in-depth analysis of the patent’s feasibility and broad range of its applications. The presentation was well received by the audience, who also recognized the potential value of the new technology. In an atmosphere where academia and industry go hand in hand, TIMTOS has become an important stage for National Pingtung University of Science and Technology to showcase its innovative strengths and talent cultivate capabilities.

National Pingtung University of Science and Technology (NPUST) was represented at the expo by the Department of Mechanical Engineering, with Professor Chi-Feng Lin and Research Fellow Chen Yi-Ling setting up a booth to showcase an industrial-grade collaborative robotic arm developed by the school in cooperation with Lichi Technology. Visitors to the booth were welcomed to try their hand in operating the robotic equipment, which the university uses for teaching purposes. Collaborative robot arms have been widely adopted in the manufacturing industry in recent years. Compared with general industrial robot arms that require safety fences to keep operators out of harm’s way, collaborative robot arms have built in detection functions, so that they will not injure people or damage property. Thanks to this feature, the visitors could experience mechanical operations for themselves without any worries.

Lichi Technology’s general manager, Ming Yi Lu and one of their engineers, Hsu-Hua Chen (an alumnus of NPUST’s Mechanical Engineering master’s program), were also present at the booth to help explain the applications of robotic arms in the industry. When Chen was studying his master’s degree, he chose to focus on a combination of robotic arms and machine vision for his thesis research topic, so he was able to provide the visiting students with quality insight. After experiencing the robotic arm for themselves, the junior high and high school students were able to get a better feel for the operating principles and the future applications of AI artificial intelligence. They also had a chance see how robotic arms are replacing human labor, and consider how they might plan their future studies and careers in light of current trends.

The unveiling ceremony coincided with an achievements exhibition and trial sale for several innovative products. Among them included a Chinese goldthread essential oil jointly developed by NPUST, the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency, and Canjune using environmentally friendly technology. Another, dubbed the “Six Consorts”, is an essential oil created by the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency and Yuo Tzy to highlight the local features of the Liugui while harnessing the natural antioxidants and skin care properties its local Neolitsea parvigemma tree. The products were developed based on environmentally friendly principles, and adopt essential oil extraction technology and methods which are non-harmful to trees. Through the project, and the cooperation between industry, government, and academia, the parties are helping to injecting new impetus into the local green economy. A representative from NPUST stated that the cooperative’s goal is to implement the concept of “local connection and sustainable development” while exploring new opportunities for local specialty industries in Liugui. They will also work to innovate new products and discover new biological resources which can be used to expand local development. Hopes are to market Liugui’s products in such a way that people will be inspired to visit the forests of Liugui, and allow green industries in the area to flourish.