For 6am session only
Martin Townsend will be joined by Prof. Liang-Jenq Leu, Professor in the Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology.
Prof. Leu joined the faculty of the Civil Engineering Department at the National Taiwan University (NTU) shortly after he obtained his PhD from Cornell University in 1994. His research interests include computational mechanics, structural optimization, sustainable design, and earthquake engineering. On top of his teaching and research, Prof. Leu led his colleagues in a major curriculum redesign during his tenure as the department head (2010-2016), to improve students’ engagement in learning as well as their ability to solve complex civil engineering problems.
Prof. Leu has been on the management team of an accreditation agency, IEET, since 2011. He is now the Secretary General and CEO. Recognizing the values of accreditation to the educational programs and their students, Prof. Leu has invested substantial amount of time and effort in his role at IEET. He leads staff in continuous tuning of the accreditation system with the student outcomes-based orientation.
Prof. Leu was elected as President of the Chinese Institute of Civil and Hydraulic Engineering (CICHE) in 2014. In that top leadership role, Prof. Leu revamped the Institute by upgrading services for members, engaging closely with public policies, and securing financial stability for the Institute. Projects that born out of his initiative was drafting of the Civil Engineering Basic Act and the White Paper of the Civil Engineering Profession.
Since August 2018, Prof. Leu has a 3-year contract transfer from his professoriate position at the NTU to be President of the Taiwan Construction Research Institute (TCRI). He works closely with staff members there not only to secure projects that are the lifeline of the Institute, but also to deliver cutting-edge models for the betterment of the construction industry.
One of his signature achievements was the establishment of the Taiwan Society for Circular Economy (TWSCE), Taiwan’s first and across-the-board society for circular economy. With pressing concerns over issues of sustainability and global development and with the world’s corporations embracing themselves in social responsibility, circular economy has gained momentum in Taiwan. However, there was few platforms for best practice promotion, research, policy engagement, and standards setting, Prof. Leu took the initiative to unite government, industry and academic resources and launched the TWSCE. His vision is to use circular economy as a contemporary and forceful engine to advance the national economy and the welfare of the citizens.
Prof. Leu’s career is marked with myriad of important positions and awards. In addition to above and on the boards of many societies/institutes, he also served as President of the Chinese Society of Structural Engineering (2016-2017) and as the editor-in-chief for Journal of Structural Engineering (Chinese) (2010-2019). Meanwhile, he received the following awards/honorary titles that highlight his achievements: Outstanding Engineering Professor Award from the Chinese Institute of Engineers (CIE) (2019); Outstanding Engineering Award for Academics from the Chinese Institute of Civil and Hydraulic Engineering (CICHE) (2019); Honorary Fellow from Myanmar Engineering Society (2018); Honorary Member and Fellow from the Chinese Society of Structural Engineering (2018); Honorary Member and Fellow from the Chinese Institute of Civil and Hydraulic Engineering (CICHE) (2018).