welcome to National Central University

The pandemic has made international movement inconvenient. The Office of International Affairs (OIA) at NCU held the “International Cultural Day and Study-Abroad Fair” at the square of the Teaching and Research Building on Nov. 26 to broaden students’ international vision even when traveling abroad has been restricted. Native students who had joined the exchange program in France, Germany, Sweden, as well as international students from India, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Pakistan were invited to this event to set up exhibition stalls. The students at each stall introduced the distinctive culture of their countries and shared the customs of their local daily life. They moved their hometowns to NCU, allowing visitors to experience the culture and customs of eight countries without traveling abroad.

The alphabet “A” stands for Auditorium, the newly-built NCU auditorium in pine-cone shape, and “C” stands for Cabin Waffles, the waffle shop that students are deeply fond of. The English picture book ABC Book of NCU, co-edited by Lecturer Liu Ai-Ping at the Language Center of NCU and NCU students, shows every feature of NCU with 26 alphabets.

The “2021 NCU Photo Contest for Ten Campus Scenes” held by the Office of Secretariat and the Art Center at NCU attracted 106 contestants including faculty members, staff members, students, and alumni of NCU. A total of 226 works were submitted to the contest. After fierce competition and evaluation, the photo titled “There’s No Distance Between the Lake and Me” taken by Lee, Cahng-Wang, a master’s student at the Department of Business Administration, stood out and won the first place.

How would penguins in the Antarctic meet polar bears in the Arctic? The College of Earth Sciences at NCU gathered two speakers to give speeches at the college’s weekly meeting. The speakers were Assistant Professor Cissi Ying-tsen Lin at the Department of Space Science and Engineering, the first Taiwanese female scientist that conducted research, winter-overed, and stayed consecutive 54 weeks in the Antarctic, and Professor Hao Kuo-Chen at the Department of Earth Sciences, who led the first Taiwanese expedition team of earth sciences that set up our national flag in the Arctic. Through their splendid and immersive sharing of experiences, the two speakers led the audience to the adventures of Taiwanese earth sciences teams into the polar circles.

Southeast Asia is one of the major biomass-burning (BB) source regions in the world, and the BB-derived emissions are the main air pollution issue in Southeast Asia. Our research results indicate that effective management strategies are needed to reduce Equivalent BC (EBC) emissions in Chiang Mai, and it is necessary for public health authorities to give proper health advice during haze events to safeguard the vulnerable groups within the population. The reduction of open vegetation burning activities in northern peninsular Southeast Asia (PSEA) will bring considerable climate and health co-benefits to Southeast Asia and downwind regions (such as Taiwan).