Mr. Chung Hsin Yung, a 1971 graduate of the Department of Chemistry, donated NT$ 2,600,000 earlier this year and plans to repeat such a donation every year for students of distinguished academic performances. He wishes to help future scientists in the fields of organic, molecular, and applied chemistry. Mr. Chung, who is a successful entrepreneur, owning a company that is known as AGI Corporation, is one of the honorees of this year’s Golden Elite Awards.

His scholarship can be applied every semester and first time winners have been announced already that include three Ph.D. students, three Master’s students, and four undergraduates from the department.

The success story of Mr. Chung sprung from his drive and business acumen. He went straight into chemical materials business immediately upon graduation, selling fiber-reinforced plastics with his classmates. To cut cost and increase profit margin, he developed his own materials, such as unsaturated polyester, to replace more expensive imported ones for the low-end industries in Taiwan. These materials allowed manufacturers to build products such as bathtubs to luxurious yachts at a more competitive price. When these low-end industries were about to wither in Taiwan, he quickly switched to high-end materials such UV (Ultra Violet Light) curing polyurethane (PU) for high-end industries. He does not stop here, either. With more recent R & D, he has developed materials for cutting edge technologies such as optoelectronics and biomedicine.

His experience has also reminded him the importance of R & D, and the difficulty of spotting and retaining talents. Out of this concern, he established this scholarship at his old department to encourage scientific spirit and entrepreneurship among young and bright students. Of course, he would like to ensure that there would be enough ingenious people he has helped working for or with him one day.

Dr. Chen Kan-nan, the Vice President for the Academic Affairs, who is also a graduate of Chemistry Department, knows Mr. Chung quite well. He admires Mr. Chung’s dedication to his work and to his alma mater. He thanked him for the generous donation. ( ~Ying-hsueh Hu )