Aerosol Science Research Center is committed to the development of teaching material innovation and talent cultivation. It takes root from education and brings about logical thinking and behavioral changes to the educated students through the systematically designed curriculum and activities. As a result, PM2.5 is no longer a difficult scientific knowledge but an issue that the general public can understand and improve from basic behavior changes, to protect the living condition and public health. The center unites professors from the School of Science, the College of Engineering, the College of Marine Science, and the Academy of Social Sciences and experts, scholars, and divisions in various fields related to aerosol science and environmental education. Closely related to government agencies and the local industry, we combine and construct a global, cross-disciplinary, issue-oriented learning environment. The results of the Center's talent cultivation in 2018 can be divided into three major categories, including the university program, the K-12 learning stage, and the community to promote the aerosol science and air quality environmental education:
1.University Program: Taiwan's First "PM2.5 Aerosol, Environment, and Life Program":
The Center is committed to teaching material innovation and talents cultivation. Therefore, it has developed new aerosol courses and other integration courses in the second semester of the 106th school year. In addition, it has established the first "PM2.5 Aerosol, Environment, and Life Co-Learning Program." At the same time, it also opened the "PM2.5 Aerosol, Environment and Life Program." This program comprises professors from the aerosol-related fields, such as Colleges of Science, Engineering, Marine Science, and Social Sciences, and invites experts and scholars from outside the campus to give lectures about the theoretical foundation, hands-on, and problem-solving skills. At the same time, the program strengthens the connection with the local industry in the process.
2.Globalization and Improve International Competitiveness:
ASRC and this program are dedicated to globalizing our courses; not only did we have courses teaches in English, but we also invite internationally renowned aerosol experts and scholars to give lectures and to join international seminars. Hence, providing students with international perspectives, academic expertise, and international competitiveness of aerosol science. The globalization result of the 107 semester include:
(I) UCSD-NSYSU Bilateral Symposium, held on March 3, 2018, at NSYSU, opens the first aerosol science topic discussion for global concern on PM2.5 and environmental chemistry. We invited Prof. Robert Continetti from UCSD, Center for Aerosol Impacts on Chemistry of the Environment (CAICE), and Prof. Wei Xiong to have academic exchange with members of ASRC.
(II) ASRC held “The 1st International Symposium on Aerosol Chemistry and Related Reaction Dynamics”(1st iSACRED), which is the first aerosol topic seminar worldwide. Invited world-renowned aerosol chemical and molecular science experts and scholars from more than 7 countries, including the United States, Canada, Switzerland, Germany, Japan, and Malaysia. And for the first time, the international academic exchange on the PM2.5 aerosol generation machine and related chemistry. In addition to the academic speech exchange, the conference also hosted a round-table discussion for the first time. ASRC led the current challenging research and the future focus of aerosol science research in this symposium by exchanging opinions with scholars from all over the world and gathering the global scholars to work together.
3.Strengthen the Industry-university Link and Industry-university Cooperation:
This program is established to strengthen the link and cooperation between industry and university. On the one hand, ASRC uses this innovative program to integrate the interaction with the local industry for students to understand the industrial ecology and current technology and cultivate students' employability. On the other hand, through industry-university cooperation, new technologies and knowledge are developed to break through the current technological bottlenecks and assist the traditional industries in upgrading to low-pollution or zero-pollution green industries. In the future, newly developed technologies will have the opportunity to create new businesses, build an environment for innovation entrepreneurship, reduce environmental pollution, and create employment opportunities and win-win situations.
ASRC established the "PM2.5 Aerosol, Environment and Life Program" in 107 semester and visited numerous industries and factories. For example, Prof. Chung-Shin Yuan led students to visit China Steel Corporation in the "Air Pollution Engineering" class. In the "Air Pollution Prevention and Control" course, Prof. Yuan-Chung Lin led students to visit the large-scale company in the southern Kaohsiung industry chain, Fu Likang Technology Co., Ltd. and Yanlong Recycling Technology Co., Ltd. The ceramic filter tubes, produced on-site, are used in many industrial high-temperature processes, and the latest technology can use purified gas for energy recovery. Students can learn from its good integrity of development and experiment. The waste of Yanlong Recycling Technology Co., Ltd. is the only waste battery treatment facility in this country. It combines forward-looking and applied technologies to establish the most advanced resource regeneration technology. Through this curriculum, students and staff can exchange, help students adjust the teaching content, and shorten the gap between academic and industry. In the "Environmental Decision-Making and Management" course, Prof. Wei-Hsiang Chen also led students to visit the large-scale technology and traditional industrial company factories in the important industrial zones of Southern Taiwan: Nanzi Industrial Zone ASE and Li Changrong Chemical Industry Environmental Safety Management Department. The course discusses with students the feasible, sustainable development strategy or program.
In 2018, the professor of this program had cooperated with the important industry of Southern Taiwan, many industry-university cooperation projects with China Iron and Steel Corporation, including quantification of water mist suppression technology and efficiency(Prof. Chung-Shin Yuan), quantitative comparison of the health impact potential of the media material pile and the combustion smoke PM2.5 (Prof. Wei-Hsiang Chen), and the particle size and composition analysis of the off-line sintering flue gas PM2.5(Prof. Chia C. Wang), which will be launched in 2019. These are expected to assist China Iron and Steel Corporation in developing new PM2.5 monitoring technology and reducing dust emissions. Furthermore, during the project process, it enables students to understand the industry's field and technical problems.
1"PM2.5 Aerosol, Environment and Life" Program
Aerosol Science Research Center devotes itself positively to the development of teaching innovation. The talented person cultivates, takes root downward from the education, the penetration has the system teaching curriculum design and the teaching activity, brings in the logical ponder and the behavior change for listening to reason, promotes all the people collective environmental protection consciousness, causes PM2.5 to be but the aerosol no longer is the abstruse scientific knowledge is the common populace all can understand and prevent and control the improvement from the basic behavior change the life subject, causes the life quality and the public health can protect.
Aerosol Science Research Center built up the conformity this to proof the institute, School of Science, Engineering, Marine Science and Social Sciences, as well as the cross-school with was respectively the aerosol science and of experts and the former teacher the environment education correlation professional field, simultaneously with the government correlation unit and in the place industry close union, constructed globalization, the cross-domain, take the subject of the learning environment as the guidance.
2"Aerosol, Atmosphere and Ocean" Micro-Program
This program introduces the basic theory of aerosol science, experimental technology, aerosol influences on atmospheric environmental and human health, and solution-based interventions. The 'Aerosol, Atmosphere and Ocean' microprogram arranges students to have hands-on experience in PM2.5 detection, visit industrial sites, and carry experiments in the communities. This experiential learning hopes to foster and promote environmental education, interdisciplinary thinking, and problem-solving.
With the industry-university partnership, students can see firsthand the ecology and technology used by major industries in Taiwan. These experiences hope to increase the employability of the students once they graduate.
3"Aerosol Science Environmental Education" Micro-Program
'Aerosol Science Environmental Education' microprogram is established to enrich aerosol science environmental education. The program will help students gain a comprehensive understanding of both the local and international environmental protection law and management. Furthermore, the program emphasizes interdisciplinary and collaborative teaching and learning pedagogy of environmental education. There are many opportunities to listen and talk to experts in specialized fields to gain more knowledge and perspectives. Students are encouraged to express and share their thoughts in strengthening communication and collaboration skills.