Prof. Yunn-shiuan Liao of the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Prof. Tsung-tsong Wu of the Institute of Applied Mechanics were named recipients of the 2011 Cho-chang Tsung Chair Award. Prof. Wu also received this award in 2010.

The Cho-chang Tsung Foundation of Education established this annual chair award in order to promote advances in all fields of engineering at the NTU College of Engineering. Each year, the award is presented to no more than two NTU engineering professors who make high level contributions in their fields of research or who achieve exceptional success in the promotion of industry-academia cooperation. The award includes an NT$400,000 prize. Those who claim the award twice receive a lifetime honor and are no longer eligible.

Prof. Liao is an NTU distinguished professor and past recipient of the National Science Council Outstanding Research Award. He graduated from the NTU Department of Mechanical Engineering in 1973 and received his doctorate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1980. Dedicated to education, Prof. Liao has cultivated countless engineering professionals in Taiwan in his 30 years as an NTU educator. He conducts innovative research, specializing in the areas of metal cutting principles, non-traditional machining process, machine tool dynamics and control, and quality control and reliability. Prof. Liao’s articles have appeared repeatedly in prestigious domestic and international journals and he has published 110 Science Citation Index and Engineering Index papers during his career. He holds nearly 20 domestic and international patents.

In addition to his academic research, Prof. Liao is concerned about the development of domestic industries and works to improve industrial technologies and boost international competitiveness. The many local manufacturers he has helped include Chi Mei Corp., Kinik Co., CHMER EDM and Lien Sheng Mechanical and Electrical Co.

Prof. Wu is also an NTU distinguished professor and former recipient of the National Science Council Outstanding Research Award. He graduated from NTU in 1977 and, after earning his PhD from Cornell University in 1987, returned to Taiwan to teach at the Institute of Applied Mechanics. He has achieved great success in theoretical analysis, research and engineering applications involving wave mechanics. His research interests include wave mechanics, RF ultrasonic sensing systems, phononic crystal and frequency filters and nondestructive evaluation.

Besides teaching and research, Prof. Wu has served as an education administrator and strives to improve Taiwan’s technology research environment. He also served as director of the Institute of Applied Mechanics, president of Taiwan’s Society of Mechanics and as a high-level technology consultant to the government. In 2009, Prof. Wu organized the IUTAM Symposium on Recent Advances of Acoustic Waves in Solids for the first time in Taiwan. He also helped organize the Phononics 2011 symposium, which was held in the United States in May. Recently, he served as the associate editor of the international journal Ultrasonics.