In the 2010 Spring meeting of the American Physical Society (APS), two of NTU's distinguished professors were elected to its elite fellowship. One of these two professors is Dr. Ching-Ray Chang of the Department of Physics (who also serves as the Director of the Department of International Cooperation of the National Science Council), and the other is Dr. Ray-Nien Kwo, who is the incumbent Director of the Center for Condensed Matter Sciences (who is on a loan from the Department of Physics, Tsing-Hua University). This year Taiwan has three professors elected to APS fellowship. In addition to the two professors from National Taiwan University winning this honor, Professor Ci-Ling Pang from the Department of Physics of Tsing-hua University was also awarded APS fellowship.

Founded in 1899, the American Physical Society has a history of more than one hundred years. It is a non-profit educational organization , dedicated to promoting long term physics-related teaching and research, promoting science and technology and organizing academic seminars. APS is a professional organization with more than 46,000 members. Election to APS Fellowship is limited to no more than one half of one percent of its total membership in a given year, and election for this honor indicates recognition by scientific peers for outstanding and innovative contributions to physics. APS Fellowship is considered as one of the world's top honors in physics. So far, only 10 people from Taiwan have been nominated and elected to APS Fellowship, so the importance of this honor is clearly evident.

Professor Ching-Ray Chang was among a list of candidates recommended by the Forum of International Physics, but he finally came to the fore after a rigorous selection process. He is well known for his research in magnetism theory and the computational model of spin transport, where he received wide attention from international magnetic physicists. In addition, Professor Chang is very adept at academic administration. While he served as the Head of Department of Physics at NTU, his performance both at home and abroad was for everyone to see. He sought actively to participate in international organizations and took up important positions in many committees, such as the CEO for the Asian Physics Society, the permanent trustee for the Magnetic Association of IEEE, the trustee for the magnetic association of IUPAP, etc. Every organization in which he participated increased its functionality due to his involvement. Because of his participation, Taiwan's reputation and visibility in the international arena was greatly enhanced. Professor Chang now serves as the Director of the Department of International Cooperation at National Science Council where he is in charge of several large scale international cooperation projects, including the European Seventh Framework Program, the Lung-men Nuclear Power Scheme, etc., which not only enhanced the R&D power of Taiwan's academia , but also pushed Taiwan's strengths in academic research onto the international stage and received wide acclaim. Consequently, the American Physical Society elected him to its fellowship to recognize his outstanding research contribution, and also to commend his leadership position in international cooperation and physics education.

Professor Ray-Nien Kwo was nominated for the fellowship by the Division of Material Physics of the APS, primarily in citation for her outstanding work in developing novel electronic materials using innovative fabrication techniques, especially her pioneering work that laid the foundation for the field of artificial magnetic superlattices.. In the past she conducted basic research for 22 years at the Bell Laboratory, and in her early years she produced magnetic superlattices by using metal molecular epitaxy, and observed the effects of magnetic control from the samples of magnetic superlattices. Around 1987, when high temperature superconductors were very popular, she successfully used the atomic molecular epitaxy of oxides to produce high temperature superconducting epitaxial single crystal thin film. Then, she got involved in the production of novel high dielectric thin films, and successfully developed Ga203 Gd203 high k thin films, which could be applied to the application of III & V semiconductor field effect transistors and the application of nano-electronics and nano-optoelectronics.

In 2003 Professor Kwo returned to Taiwan with her husband Professor Ming-Hwei Hung and taught at the Department of Physics of National Tsing-hua Univeristy. where she reinstalled the MBE　system donated by the Bell Lab in the Nanotechnology Research Center of the Industrial Technology Research Institute. She led research teams in the research and development of cutting edge semiconducting components, and over the years she has had outstanding reputation in the international physics circle, and has received many awards, including the TSMC Endowed Chair Professorship Award, the Outstanding Scholar Award from the Foundation for the Advancement of Outstanding Scholarship, the Natural Science Award from Tsing-hua University, the Special Appointment Professorship Award from Tsing-hua University, National Taiwan University Chair Professorship Award, The Physical Society of the Republic of China Fellow, the American Physical Society Fellow, etc. In short, Professor Kwo can be said to be a paragon of virtue for women who served in the academic circle and high tech industries. She was the former President of the Physical Society of the Republic of China. Starting from January of this year, she took over as Director of the Center for Condensed Matters Science, where she led her staff to scale new heights with her outstanding academic research.

Additionally, on the strength of the recommendations from Professor Ray-Nien Kwo and Professor Ching-Ray Chang, for the first time the APS Spring meeting held a special event called "Taiwan Night", which gathered together all the ethnic Chinese physicists of APS under the same roof. The venue for the event was the Hilton hotel, where nearly 130 people attended, , of whom fifty some people were from Taiwan, and the rest were ethnic Chinese people teaching or studying in the United States. Professor Chao-Ming Fu of the Physics Department, who is also the Secretary General of the Physical Society of the Republic of China, served as the master of ceremony. The event was initiated by Professor Ray-Nien Kwo briefly describing the significance of the "Taiwan Night" event, followed by speeches given by foreign and domestic dignitaries and a report about the status quo of the Chinese Physical Society by its President Professor Jung-Chun Huang of National Cheng-kung University. Then, Professor Ching-Ray Chang gave an introduction to the implementation of the international cooperation projects at the National Science Council, and expressed welcome to related science and technology personnel to come back to Taiwan to serve. With the participation and promotion of several NTU professors, The Taiwan Night event not only provided a chance for acquaintance and interchange among Chinese physicists from both home and abroad, but also unleashed the energy for international cooperation, catalyzing NTU's interaction with American scholars. In essence, The Taiwan Night created added values to what was originally intended to be a pure academic activity of the American Physical Society. All the attendees were very much satisfied with the Taiwan Night event and gave it positive affirmation, and looked forward to seeing it happen again in the years to come.