The Department of Chemistry has kicked off their series of keynote speeches with guest speakers, Professor Yoshinori Askawa, the Dean of Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tokushima Bunri University, Japan; and Professor Dr. Konig from the Institut fur Organische Chemie, Universitat Hamburg, Germany. They are here for a week of exchange programs to hold several lectures.

Professor Yoshinori Asakawa is accompanied by his wife and will give speeches on the following topics: “Phytochemistry of bryopytes-isoltion and structures of pharmacologically active terpenoids and aromatic compounds,” “Biotransformation of plant secondary metabolites by microalgae and fungi,” and “Biologically active substances from inedible mushrooms and Kava.” All three lectures will be held in the Chung-cheng Lecture Hall in the Chunglin Chemistry Building. Professor Dr. Konig will lecture on Strategies for the identification of known and unknown volatile plant constituents' during his week stay here.

The department takes its German connection seriously. One of the departmental staff, Professor Wu Chia-li, who is also a member of the Examination Yuan, has already conducted a significant academic and research exchange with Universitat Hamburg. The one-week visit of Professor Dr. Konig is a result of such kind of cooperation. Furthermore, some graduate students from the department have visited Hamburg University three times, and there will be German graduate students to come to TKU for a visit in November to further advance the close ties between these two institutions.