Taiwan to support Rice research

Yang Hung-duen, the Taiwan minister for science and technology, informed Rice President David Leebron that Rice University has been nominated for federal funding in collaborations with Taiwanese institutions during a recent meeting in Taipei, Taiwan, one of Houston’s sister cities. The Ministry of Science and Technology in Taiwan has similar functions as the National Science Foundation and administers almost 80 percent of funding for basic research in Taiwan, including the Dragon Gate Programme, also known as the New Partnership Program for Connection to the Top Labs in the World. Among those on the highly selective list of institutions eligible for funding are the National Institutes of Health, Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, California Institute of Technology, UCLA, Stanford University, Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Pictured (from left) are Jennifer Hu, program director, and Wang Ting-An, counselor, both from the Ministry of Science and Technology in Taiwan; Yang; Leebron; Rice University Representative Y. Ping Sun; and Sonny Lim, Rice special assistant for international collaborations.