Taipei, TAIWAN, Oct. 5th --- Prof. Eric Isaacs, a prominent University of Chicago physicist and President of UChicago Argonne, LLC, as well as Director of Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) - one of the USA leading federally funded research and development centers, and Academician Michael Ming-Chiao Lai (賴明詔), President of National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), together signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Oct 5th at The Howard Plaza Hotel, Taipei. This is a great opportunity for NCKU to sign MOU with ANL, one of the greatest research institutions in the world. Both institutes will together make great efforts in promoting joint researches and developments in energy technology and nanotechnology.

“It is the great honor for me to welcome our distinguished guests from ANL to Taiwan to sign this MOU. This is a great opportunity to both institutions to pull out resources together to energy research, particularly green energy, as the most important and scientific assets for industry all over the world. Last year American President Barack Obama particularly mentioned green energy is the most important area of the United States indeed to be focused on in the future. Also alternative energy is very important. I am very proud to say that NCKU is very good with a ranking at the 19th worldwide in alternative energy research recently. By signing this MOU, we can pull out the resources and researches together in the future. In addition, another research, nanotechnology is a new technology in the future with potential benefit. Moreover, to sign this MOU is to exchange the knowledge of researchers and students. I hope this is the beginning of collaboration between both institutions,” said President Lai.

“I will thank President Lai for the interests and inviting us to join here to sign this agreement. Today for the people what we have, the people what NCKU which is one of the outstanding universities in the world has, is the great opportunity to sign MOU here to solve the problem in the world. Particularly we are going to solve the energy problem. My hope is today we standing here and we signing this agreement no less ambitious but to change the world. We do have the exciting collaborating chance very small but working together between ANL and NCKU in the future. I hope to grow the opportunity of exchange such as scientific exchange to explore the solution for energy as the popular issue of the world. Moreover, the climate issue such as global warming needs to be solved in the future with more researchers coming in and the young people involved together due to the agreement we sign today,” said Prof. Eric Isaacs, the Director of Argonne National Laboratory (ANL).

Prof. Yon-Hua Tzeng (曾永華) as Dean of College of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science commented that ANL is very active in promoting international academic cooperation with the mission to invite the best scientists all over the world to ANL for the exchange and research. NCKU and ANL have been established the real cooperative relationship through the exchange and visits of researchers. Signing the MOU is to accelerate related research in alternative energy and nanotechnology, and expand and strengthen both relations of cooperation and personnel exchanges.

ANL and NCKU cooperated on the Nanodiamond for many years as ANL is the most prominent Nanodiamond research laboratory in United States. Both have established a Diamond Micro Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) Research Platform. NCKU, ANL, Industrial Technology Research Institute of Taiwan, R.O.C (ITRI) and German industry jointly build a RF Diamond Transistor now, and with the expectations of Nanodiamond in NCKU and MEMS in ITRI to build a world-class Nano MEMS platform. ANL and NCKU both hope to have the collaboration projects with extension of the international industry-academia area including collaboration with industry and the establishment of application-oriented laboratories.

NCKU and ANL committed to cooperate in fields of mutual interest, including the areas of renewable energy and nanotechnology. This collaborative effort involves the Center for Nanoscale Materials (CNM) and the Advanced Photon Source (APS) at ANL and NCKU. ANL and NCKU will jointly seek the development of research programs in the general area of renewable energy, nanofabrication, nanobiomedicine, nanoscale materials, nanodevices, X-ray microscopy/scattering and nanoprobe characterization of novel nano structures and materials.

The goal is to establish a framework for collaboration in both fundamental research and advanced technology development in areas critical to the development of world-leading programs particularly focusing on applications to energy, advanced materials, and medicine. In addition, both of us will build academic exchange relationships includes being the principal investigator in the cooperated project with each other and the universities may exchange faculty members, staff, and students.

National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) leads globally in the emerging field of alternative energy research. According to the latest academic ranking of research institutions conducted by Elsevier, the world's major publisher of science and medicine literature, NCKU ranks the 19th worldwide in alternative energy research papers of distinctive competency, which is the only Taiwanese institution among the global top 25 list. NCKU's outstanding accomplishment in alternative energy research has contributed significantly to the development of this field.

About Argonne National Laboratory (ANL)
Argonne National Laboratory, one of the U.S. Department of Energy's oldest and largest national laboratories for science and engineering research, situated on 1,500 beautiful, wooded acres and surrounded by the Waterfall Glen Forest Preserve, employs roughly 2,900 employees, including about 1,000 scientists and engineers, three-quarters of whom hold doctoral degrees. Argonne's annual operating budget of around $630 million supports upwards of 200 research projects, which are broadly described below. Since 1990, Argonne has worked with more than 600 companies and numerous federal agencies and other organizations.

Argonne's mission is to apply a unique mix of world-class science, engineering and user facilities to deliver innovative research and technologies. They create new knowledge that addresses the most important scientific and societal needs of our nation. Now they actively seek opportunities to work with industry to transfer their technologies to the marketplace through licensing, joint research and many other collaborative relationships.

Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC, for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science. Argonne is located on 1,500 acres (6.9 sq. km) in southwest DuPage County, Ill., 25 miles (40 km) southwest of Chicago, just off Interstate 55; the site is completely encircled by the Waterfall Glen Forest Preserve.
Argonne National Laboratory's Quality Management System is ISO 9001:2000 certified. The Research at Argonne centers around three principal areas: Energy, Biological and Environmental Systems, and National Security.