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Asia University (AU) President, Jeffrey J. P. Tsai, was elected recently as a winner of the 2018 Annual Scientific Award (ASA) by the International Engineering and Technology Institute (IETI). Every year the IETI Election Committee elects scientists who have contributed on technological innovations in the world. The committee announced that the winners of 2018 IETI Annual Scientific Award are: AU President, Jeffrey J. P. Tsai, Prof. Dr. James C. Crabbe from Oxford University, and Prof. Dr. Phillip Hans Franses from Erasmus University at Rotterdam from Holland. The IETI Election Committee affirmed President Tsai’s contributions on researches of information technology and artificial intelligence (AI), as well as his dedications to science and education fields.

President Tsai has been devoted for a long time to research fields of AI and software engineering. By AI, he developed the first automatic system for communication software transformation in the world. According to the contributions, he received the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Technical Achievement Award from the IEEE Computer Society in 1997.

Under the leadership of President Tsai, AU has obtained, from the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), various integrated research projects which are related to the AI and big data fields in recently years, including the projects of “Precision Medicine Research for Cancer Treatments Based on Biomedical Big Data Analysis,” “Artificial Intelligence Block-chain for Precision Medicine,” “Development of Big Data Lake and System Architecture for Artificial Intelligence-Based Institutional Research.” Now, AU focuses on projects which combine all research fields with AI.

In addition, in 2018 AU was approved to set up the first “AI college” in Taiwan by the Ministry of Education (MOE). In response to future technology trends, AU attempts to promote the “AI+X” interdisciplinary courses. The goal is to increase the AI knowledge of students from different learning backgrounds; it is hoped that even students who study the subjects of human science and creative design are able to apply AI in their professions. It is anticipated that this can help them face future careers. The IETI ASA affirmed not only the academic contributions of President Tsai, but also their positive influences on scientific education for all students.

As a young university which was founded for only 18 years, AU has earned recognitions by a number of international institutions. Specifically, in recent years AU has been ranked as a top-100 university on four world-famous university rankings, including the UK Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings, the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), the UK QS Global University Rankings, and the Global University Ranking of the US News and World Report Magazine. This outstanding performance of AU makes it hard to believe that only 18 years ago, the site of AU was watermelon and sugar cane fields. During that time, President Tsai proposed a clear prospect of AU: the urgent need in the education circle in Taiwan is not just a new university but an international university. After the recent establishments of the AU Museum of Modern Art, the AU Hospital, the Centers of AI, 3D Printing, and Big Data, AU is getting closer to the outlook set by President Tsai 18 years ago, and the quick transformation of AU into a high-quality school is obvious to everyone!

President Tsai received the Ph. D. degree in computer science from Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA. His specialties are software engineering, bioinformatics, AI, and distributed real-time systems. Previously, President Tsai was a professor of computer science at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He was also a visiting professor at Stanford University, and an adjunct professor at Tulane University. He is currently a chair professor of bioinformatics and medical engineering at AU, an honorary professor of the University of Illinois at Chicago, and a senior research fellow of IC2 at the University of Texas at Austin. In fact, he has received a faculty research award from the University of Illinois at Chicago, a research award from the U. S. Engineering Foundation Society, an IEEE technical achievement award, an IEEE meritorious service award, and an ATLAS transdisciplinary distinguished achievement award. In addition, he is also elected as fellows of the IEEE, the American Association for Advancement of Science (AAAS), and the Society for Design and Process Science (SDPS). He is really a scholar!