The staff at Tamkang University submitted 427 research proposals to the 2003 National Science Council Research Projects, and 237 out of the total were already approved, which makes Tamkang's acceptance rate 55.5%, earning NT$1,490,000 grant. Both application and approval rates were high amongst the proposals submitted by the College of Sciences, College of Engineering and College of Education; all the proposals submitted by the College of Technology were approved.
The College of Education and College of Sciences rank the highest in terms of application rates, which demonstrates their dedication to research. The College of Technology, on the other hand, submitted fewer proposals in relation to other colleges as there are fewer people in this institute. Nonetheless, all of those proposals submitted were accepted. The College of Liberal Arts and the Division of General Education and Core Curriculum in the Education Development Center have also received a 50% approval rate.
Our university has always been dedicated to research and development, and through the untiring efforts of our founder, Dr. Clement C.P. Chang and Dr. Horng-jinh Chang, the President of the university, the approval rates of our proposals have improved year by year. In particular, the number of staff having two proposals approved simultaneously has noticeably increased this year. Our President and the Vice President for Administrative Affairs, Dr. Flora C. I. Chang, are two of those in that category.
Those teachers from the College of Engineering that have two proposals approved this years are Cheng Chi-ming from the Civil Engineering Department, Yeh Ho-ming and Cheng Liao-ping from the Chemical Engineering Department, Chang Chih-yung from the Computer Science and Information Engineering, Wong Ching-chang, Cheng Kuo-hsing from the Electrical Engineering Department, Hong Zu-chang from the Mechanical and Electro-Mechanical Engineering Department. There are also Lee Shih-chung from the Department of Educational Technology of the College of Education, and Wang San-lang from the Life Science Development Center, Lee Ming-hsien, Lin Yu-nan, Hsueh Hung-chung from the Department of Physics of the College of Sciences. Finally, there are Huang Wen-tao from the Department of Management Sciences and Decision Making and Ou-Yang Liang-yu from the Department of Management Sciences of the College of Management.
Professor Cheng Chi-ming from the Civil Engineering Department has won 7,635,700 NT dollars grant for his research budget. He maintains that the high amount of grant won this year is due to a fair number of people collaborating in numerous 3-year research projects. These people included researchers both from inside and outside of the university. He is personally involved in several on-going 3-year collaborative projects that have already progressed to the second stage of their development, and their budget has exceeded several million of NT dollars. His recent approved research project is a study of the “wind tunnel” phenomenon that is extremely useful for the technical improvement of structures such as high-rise buildings and bridges.
Professor Hsueh Hung-chung from the Department of Physics agrees that large-scale collaborative research projects have better chances to win higher amounts of grant in the present climate of limited research funding. He has won more than NT$1,800,000 in total this year for his project. His project deals with the theory of nano-particles and their chemical nature. He uses computer-simulated models to monitor an experimental environment, which will not only enhance the power of predictability but also reduce experimental budget. As the interest in nanotechnology has increased in recent years, he believes that his project is one of the many of this kind approved by National Science Council; however, he is certain that his project is the only one that deals with pure theory.
On the contrary, the research project proposed by Ou-yang Liang-yu from the Department of Management Sciences and Decision Making is a solo project; therefore, the grant is less than those of the collaborative projects mentioned above. He has won NT$783,100, and his project tries to resolve issues in business management and distribution of fresh products, such as fish, meat, vegetables and fruits. He considers the optimization of the economic value of these products as they are subjected to a time factor. They are very vulnerable to the pressure of time; therefore such a factor is decisive in maintaining the relationship between consumers and suppliers. In other words, the question of how to retain customers when supply is in shortage is crucial to optimization.
