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.
TRAGEDY: An expert said that the incident was uncommon as the chance of a ground crew member being sucked into an IDF engine was ‘minuscule’ A master sergeant yesterday morning died after she was sucked into an engine during a routine inspection of a fighter jet at an air base in Taichung, the Air Force Command Headquarters said. The officer, surnamed Hu (胡), was conducting final landing checks at Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base when she was pulled into the jet’s engine for unknown reasons, the air force said in a news release. She was transported to a hospital for emergency treatment, but could not be revived, it said. The air force expressed its deepest sympathies over the incident, and vowed to work with authorities as they
A tourist who was struck and injured by a train in a scenic area of New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪) on Monday might be fined for trespassing on the tracks, the Railway Police Bureau said yesterday. The New Taipei City Fire Department said it received a call at 4:37pm on Monday about an incident in Shifen (十分), a tourist destination on the Pingsi Railway Line. After arriving on the scene, paramedics treated a woman in her 30s for a 3cm to 5cm laceration on her head, the department said. She was taken to a hospital in Keelung, it said. Surveillance footage from a
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow