UpDate - Vol. 14, No. 5, Page 8
September 29, 1994
Jin Wu named president of Taiwan university

     Jin Wu, H. Fletcher Brown Professor of Marine Studies and Civil
Engineering, begins a three-year term this fall as president of
National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) in Tainan, Taiwan.
     Wu received the appointment after a three-month selection process
that involved a field of approximately 100 nominees that was narrowed
to 10 candidates who were asked to submit summaries of their academic
careers and their goals for National Cheng Kung University.
     A vote by that university's faculty further narrowed the group to
six candidates who were carefully reviewed by a 15-member search
committee in order to choose two finalists. The final selection was
made by a distinguished committee of five, appointed by the Ministry
of Education, Republic of China (Taiwan), and the selection was
approved by the country's cabinet in May.
     Announcing that Wu would be taking a negotiated leave of absence
from his position at the University's College of Marine Studies for
the duration of his appointment, Dean Carolyn A. Thoroughgood said,
"While we will miss Dr. Wu's regular presence with us in Lewes, this
appointment represents a tremendous opportunity for him personally and
for both the University of Delaware and National Cheng Kung
University. Dr. Wu has committed to a very demanding balance of
administration and scholarship. He will be returning quarterly to meet
with his students and work on his research at the University of
Delaware. We anticipate that the cultural and scientific exchange that
will inevitably result from Dr. Wu's position at NCKU will enrich both
of our programs."
     A native of mainland China, Wu obtained his bachelor's degree
from National Cheng Kung University in 1956.
     "At that time, they had only one college, the College of
Engineering," Wu says. "But Taiwan was receiving a lot of financial
assistance from the United States in those days, and one of the
American goals was to strengthen Taiwan's industrial base. They
focused a good deal of aid on National Cheng Kung University's
engineering program. It worked well because much of Taiwan's 'economic
miracle' has been attributed to graduates of National Cheng Kung
University."
     Today, NCKU consists of five colleges, including colleges of
sciences, liberal arts, business administration and medicine, in
addition to engineering.
     Approximately 12,000 students attend the university, including
more than 3,000 graduate students. With an operating budget of
approximately $250 million and a campus three times the size of the
University of Delaware, the university has the potential to develop
into a "world-class" institution, Wu said.
     "National Cheng Kung's strengths are its programs in engineering
and medicine," he said. "I hope to achieve more of a balance between
the five colleges. I'd also like to promote more cooperation between
the university and institutions in the United States. For example, I'd
like to host as many as 100 visiting faculty from U.S. universities to
work with the young faculty there. The resources are available to fund
visiting faculty salaries, travel and housing. In terms of growth in
education and research, the Pacific Rim is where the action is."
     Wu said he also would like to reinstitute a student exchange
program between National Cheng Kung University and the University of
Delaware that was discontinued several years ago. He has long been an
active proponent of such exchanges between the two universities. He
last led a delegation of nine faculty to Taiwan in November 1991 to
participate in a special international symposium in honor of the 60th
anniversary of the founding of NCKU.
     During his leave of absence from the University of Delaware, Wu
plans to continue his research program at the Air-Sea Interaction
Laboratory, part of Delaware's Hugh R. Sharp Campus in Lewes. The
laboratory houses the 42-meter-long Wind-Wave-Current Research
Facility, one of the largest tanks in the world for the study of
phenomena involving physical interaction between the ocean and the
atmosphere, including bubbles, ripples, breaking waves and marine
aerosols (sea spray).
     "I am fortunate to have a number of postdoctoral research fellows
working in my lab and a close association with a senior scientist from
the Naval Research Laboratory who also works with us part-time," said
Wu. "They will keep the program running very well in Delaware while
I'm away. I also hope to devote one or two hours a day to my research
while I'm in Taiwan."
     Wu joined the College of Marine Studies in 1974 as an associate
professor of oceanography. He received his master's and doctoral
degrees from the University of Iowa, where he was also a research
associate at the Institute of Hydraulic Research. Before coming to
Delaware, he conducted research at Hydronautics Inc., where he was
principal research scientist and head of the Geophysical Fluid
Dynamics Division. In 1992, Wu was one of two recipients of the Ocean
Science Educators Award presented by the Office of Naval Research to
recognize and support distinguished academic marine scientists who
have demonstrated success in educating doctoral and postdoctoral
students. He is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers,
the American Geophysical Union, the Oceanography Society and Sigma Xi.
                                                     -Elizabeth Chajes