Introduction

Academia Sinica has established the Taiwan International Graduate Program (TIGP) in collaboration with a consortium of the key national research universities in Taiwan. The purpose of the program is to develop the research manpower pool in those modern multidisciplinary fields that are important in the future economical and social development of Taiwan, and to enhance the innovative potential and academic standards of research in these and related fields.

TIGP will offer Ph.D. programs in only selected disciplines to be agreed upon between Academia Sinica and the National Research Universities. It is the intent of the Program to offer Ph.D. degree programs only in inter-disciplinary areas in the physical sciences, applied sciences, engineering, biological and agricultural sciences, health and medical sciences, and humanities and social sciences.

Academia Sinica will assume principal oversight of the academic options of the Program. It will provide the intellectual leadership, the research resources, and the research and physical facilities. Qualified and interested faculty members of the participating national research universities are invited to join the various programs as affiliated faculty of the Program, and participate in the teaching of courses, supervision of research, and mentoring of the international graduate students.

The TIGP Program on "Nano Science and Technology"

The Taiwan International Graduate Program has been established to attract high-quality young researchers from abroad in order to help jump-start the development of several frontier areas that are important to the future economical and social development of Taiwan and Asia Pacific regions. Specific graduate programs have been developed to enhance the innovative potential and academic standards of research in these and related fields. Within this context, the graduate program on “Nano Science and Technology” is designed to offer specific training and research opportunities to Ph.D. students who are interested in the following areas: Characterization of Nanomaterials and Nanostructures, New Nanomaterials and Structures, Theoretical Modeling, Nanodevices Engineering, and Nano-biotechnology. This option is a collaborative effort among the Academia Sinica, National Taiwan University and National Tsing Hua University.

The number of students admitted to “Nano Science and Technology” Program will be twenty every year. In addition to the ten students recruited by Department of Physics and Department of Chemistry, National Taiwan University, Department of Engineering and System Science, National Tsing Hua University will enroll ten students. The bulk of these students will be international students with reasonable proficiency in the use of the English language. Highly qualified Taiwan students (up to 50% of the total number) with adequate English proficiency will also be considered. These students may ultimately elect to do their thesis research with affiliated faculty whose principal appointments are associated with the participating research universities.

A whole array of laboratory equipment and facility for teaching and research in the four thrust areas are presently available within the participating units. The following is a sample of such laboratory resources: electron beam lithography, reactive ion etching machines, SEM, STM, AFM, NSOM, DCOM, MFM, microwave measurement system, nanoparticle spray system, ESCA/XPS/Auger spectroscopy, automatic SPR biosensor system, high resolution transmission electron microscope (HR-TEM), micro-Raman/ photoluminescence system, surface characterization instruments such as XPS and AES, ultra-fast laser spectroscopy, ion milling system, etc.

With the above facilities and diverse expertise available, together with the close collaboration among scientists and engineers of all participating units, the present graduate program should provide young scientists and engineers with an excellent educational opportunity to cultivate their research interest in the five thrust areas, and to develop their creativity and skills in problem definition and problem solving in studies of complex systems.

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