Academicians Maw-Kuen Wu and Chien-Jen Chen were recently awarded the Science and Engineering Achievement Award by the Taiwanese-American Foundation (TAF). The TAF awards are given every other year to recognize those "who, regardless of their ethnic origin, love Taiwan, identify with Taiwan as their homeland, and have achieved outstanding accomplishment in their selected field." Dr. Wu and Dr. Chen received the awards at the 2009 TAF Award Ceremony in Taipei on November 28.

The Taiwanese-American Foundation (TAF) is a non-profit organization founded in 1982 by Mr. and Mrs. Kenjohn Wang of Long Beach, California who are originally from Taiwan. Every other year the foundation gives awards in three categories: Science and Engineering Achievement, Humanities Achievement, and the Social Services Achievement.

Dr. Wu is a Distinguished Research Fellow and Director of the Institute of Physics. He specializes in superconductivity and magnetism. In addition to his posts at Academia Sinica, he has been a faculty member of the Department of Physics at National Tsing Hua University since 1994. Dr. Wu has also held several governmental posts.

Since 2006, he has served as the director general of the Taiwan National Science and Technology Program for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology. He was the Minister of the ROC National Science Council between 2004 and 2006, subsequent to his appointment as the council's deputy minister from 2000 to 2002. Dr. Wu is a member of the US National Academy of Science and the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (TWAS).

Dr. Chen is a Distinguished Research Fellow of the Genomics Research Center who specializes in epidemiology, human genetics, public health and preventive medicine. He also concurrently holds a position as Professor at the Graduate Institute of Epidemiology, National Taiwan University College of Public Health. Among the many accomplished positions he has held throughout his career, Dr. Chen served as Minister of the National Science Council from 2006 to 2008, and Dean of the National Taiwan University College of Public Health between 1999 and 2002. He was ROC Minister of Health between 2003 and 2005. He has received numerous awards, the latest being the French Order of Academic Palms in 2009.

Other recipients of the 2009 TAF awards were Dr. Chih-Yuan Kuo, a professor at Providence University, who received the Humanities Achievement Award Social Services and incumbent lawmaker Dr. Trong Chai, who received the Social Service Achievement Award. 

Related Websites: http://www.phys.sinica.edu.tw/people/user.php?id_key=1 
http://www.genomics.sinica.edu.tw/ch/index.php?article_id=248&t=5