News on February 3, 2023

On Feb. 3, NARLabs held a ceremony welcoming the new Director General of the Taiwan Instrument Research Institute (TIRI), Dr. Peter Cheng-Tang Pan, Distinguished Professor in Department of Mechanical and Electro-Mechanical Engineering at National Sun Yat-sen University. At the ceremony, NARLabs President Faa-Jeng Lin thanked former Director General Yao-Joe Joseph Yang for his hard work over the past six years and encouraged Director Pan to continue to provide excellent platforms and services for domestic instrumentation technology, refine core and key technologies, and provide the custom instrumentation R&D services required for cutting-edge scientific research. President Lin also encouraged the R&D of forward-looking key instruments and equipment that will be the first to be developed in Taiwan and will lead worldwide to promote the effective use and sustainable operation of national scientific and technological resources.

Dr. Peter Cheng-Tang Pan received his B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from Tamkang University and his M.S. and Ph.D. in Power Mechanical Engineering from National Tsing Hua University. In 1997, he worked as a research fellow at the Institute of Machine Tools and Factory Management at the Technical University of Berlin in Germany. After receiving his Ph.D. in 1998, Dr. Pan joined the Mechanical and Mechatronics Systems Research Laboratories of the Industrial Technology Research Institute as a research fellow. He has held a teaching position at National Sun Yat-sen University since 2003. Dr. Pan has served as the Associate Vice President for Research & Development, Director of the Energy Research Center, Director of the Institute of Medical Science and Technology, and head of the Institute of Advanced Semiconductor Packaging and Testing at National Sun Yat-sen University; Visiting Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley; and Director of the Science and Technology Division of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Canada.

Dr. Pan's expertise lies in mechanical design, medical aids, precision manufacturing, semiconductor packaging and testing, micro-nano sensor manufacturing, and display solar panel optical design. He is a recipient of the Sun Yat-sen University Excellence in Teaching Award, Outstanding Academic Research Award, and Outstanding Industrial Research Award; the We, Innovators Award; and the National Industrial Innovation Award. Dr. Pan is also a Fellow of the International Association of Advanced Materials (IAAM) and has been selected as one of the World's Top 2% Scientists.

Director Pan stated that under the guidance of the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC), TIRI has become Taiwan's only institute with the capability to develop and implement custom-made special instruments and equipment necessary for various fields of frontier research. TIRI has a deep understanding of the unique technological demands of the industrial, academic, and research sectors and has long been devoted to the development and application of instrumentation technology platforms. Looking ahead, TIRI will continue to put focus on the areas of advanced vacuum technology, cutting-edge optics, and intelligent biotechnology, refining core and key technologies which can potentially expand to local and global industry and academia.

Director General Pan specially thanked his TIRI predecessors, Yao-Joe Joseph Yang and J. Andrew Yeh, for the foundation they had built in the past. He also stated that the rapid development of technological research and industry in the future will cause the complexity and accuracy of instruments to increase as their demand continues to grow. TIRI will continue to enhance its research environment, support academic research and high-tech industry development, construct instrumentation technology platforms, provide frontier instrumentation technology and equipment for research, produce world-class research achievements, and increase Taiwan's academic research and high-tech industry instrumentation capabilities and competitiveness.

Director General Handover and Inauguration Ceremony for TIRI (Left to right: Prof. Yao-Joe Joseph Yang(former DG), Prof. Faa-Jeng Lin(President of NARLabs), Prof. Peter Cheng-Tang Pan(New DG))

Group photo with honorable guests during the ceremony