NYCU presidential delegation visit
KEMi's second international visit brought NYCU's presidential delegation, led by President Chi-Hung Lin, to campus on August 17–18, 2026. The two-day convening gathered faculty and leadership from six UW schools and colleges in the Interdisciplinary Engineering Building, closing with a reception on the Terrace of the Hans Rosling Center.
Event details
NYCU × UW presidential visit
Convened by KEMi - 14 NYCU Delegates
Dates: August 17–18, 2026
Time: 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Venues: Interdisciplinary Engineering Building (IEB) and Terrace of the Hans Rosling Center (Reception)
Location: University of Washington, Seattle
Day one opened with a welcome from Ahmad Ezzeddine, Vice Provost for Global Affairs, alongside NYCU President Chi-Hung Lin and Tueng T. Shen, Associate Dean for Medical Technology and Innovation, who introduced the six collaboration areas framing the visit.
Peter Rabinowitz, Director of the UW Center for One Health Research, moderated a session on an English-medium One Health curriculum, a regional hub for East Asia, epidemic prevention, and graduate student co-advising. Iman Majd, Director of the Osher Center for Integrative Health, moderated a session on Traditional Chinese Medicine covering integrative medicine and acupuncture, evidence-based TCM, antiviral natural products, herbal pharmacokinetics, and East Asian medical humanities. Jürgen Unützer, Professor and Chair of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, moderated a discussion spanning child and adolescent mental health, global mental health, addiction, the SMART Center, and neuropsychiatric AI. Simon Hay, Director of Research Strategy at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, led a session on global health metrics, comparative health systems, and health policy. Tong Sun, Executive Director of the Institute of Translational Health Sciences, moderated a discussion of clinical AI and data science, taking in federated learning, explainable AI, clinical informatics, and privacy-enhancing technologies.
Delegates traveled to the Northwest Genomics Center, hosted by Director Chia-Lin Wei, an NYCU alumna, for a look at multi-omics and 3D epigenome mapping, genomic risk allele studies, and a framework for exchange and joint grant work. Heather McPhillips, Vice Dean and Chief Academic Officer for the School of Medicine, and Tueng Shen met with NYCU colleagues on a student and faculty exchange MOU. The day closed with a dinner reception on the Hans Rosling Center terrace, with remarks from UW Provost Tricia Serio and Vice Provost Ahmad Ezzeddine, and from NYCU President Chi-Hung Lin and Shuu-Jiun Wang, Dean of the NYCU College of Medicine.
On day 2, Dean Nancy Allbritton and Vice Dean Jihui Yang hosted a strategic partnership discussion on AI, robotics, and smart healthcare, the engineering–medicine interface, and student and faculty exchange. Tueng Shen then moderated a KEMi session on medical technology and innovation, with presentations from Quansan Yang of Materials Science and Engineering, Ruikang Wang, Kren Endowed Chair in Ophthalmology Research, and Jenq-Neng Hwang of Electrical and Computer Engineering, covering precision medicine, wearables and digital health, bioresorbable microchips and neural interfaces, and a joint MD/PhD and MD/MS mentorship pipeline.
A small leadership group joined President Robert Jones at the UW President's Office for a discussion around partnership, while the remaining delegates toured the UW Seattle campus with two students from the College of Engineering.
Agenda
| Time | Session | Focus | Lead |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9:00–9:30 | Welcome & Institutional Introduction | Overview of the NYCU delegation and the six collaboration areas | Vice Provost Ahmad Ezzeddine, President Chi-Hung Lin, Associate Dean Tueng T. Shen |
| 9:30–11:00 | One Health | English-medium One Health curriculum, regional hub for East Asia, epidemic prevention, graduate co-advising | Director Peter Rabinowitz, UW Center for One Health Research |
| 9:30–11:00 | Traditional Chinese Medicine | Integrative medicine and acupuncture, evidence-based TCM, antiviral natural products, herbal PK/PD, East Asian medical humanities | Director Iman Majd, Osher Center for Integrative Health |
| 11:15–12:30 | Psychiatry & Behavioral Health | Child and adolescent mental health, global mental health, addiction, SMART Center, neuropsychiatric AI | Professor and Chair Jürgen Unützer, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences |
| 11:15–12:30 | Health Metrics & Systems (IHME) | Global health metrics, comparative health systems, health policy and planning | Director of Research Strategy Simon Hay, IHME |
| 12:30–1:30 | Working Lunch | Cross-group networking across all collaboration areas | — |
| 1:30–2:30 | Clinical AI & Data Science (ITHS) | Federated learning, explainable AI, clinical informatics, privacy-enhancing technologies | Executive Director Tong Sun, ITHS |
| 2:45–4:45 | Genomics — Northwest Genomics Center | Multi-omics and 3D epigenome mapping, genomic risk allele studies, joint grant framework | Director Chia-Lin Wei, Northwest Genomics Center |
| 2:45–3:45 | School of Medicine — MOU | Student and faculty exchange, education and research collaboration framework | Vice Dean Heather McPhillips, Associate Dean Tueng T. Shen |
| 5:00–8:30 | Dinner Reception — Hans Rosling Center Terrace | Remarks by Provost Tricia Serio and Vice Provost Ahmad Ezzeddine of UW, and President Chi-Hung Lin and Dean Shuu-Jiun Wang of NYCU | — |
| Time | Session | Focus | Lead |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9:00–9:45 | College of Engineering — Strategic Partnership | AI, robotics and smart healthcare, the engineering–medicine interface, student and faculty exchange | Dean Nancy Allbritton, Vice Dean Jihui Yang |
| 10:00–11:30 | KEMi — Medical Technology & Innovation | Precision medicine, wearables and digital health, bioresorbable microchips and neural interfaces, MD/PhD and MD/MS mentorship pipeline | Moderator: Associate Dean Tueng T. Shen. Presenters: Quansan Yang, PhD, Assistant Professor, Materials Science & Engineering; Ruikang (Ricky) Wang, PhD, Professor of Bioengineering and Ophthalmology, George and Martina Kren Endowed Chair in Ophthalmology Research; Jenq-Neng Hwang, PhD, Professor, Electrical & Computer Engineering |
| 11:30–12:45 | Farewell Lunch | — | — |
| 1:00 | Meeting with President Robert Jones | A discussion around partnership, with President Chi-Hung Lin, Dean Shuu-Jiun Wang, and Associate Dean Tueng T. Shen | President Robert Jones |
| 1:00 | UW Campus Tour | Guided tour of the Seattle campus led by College of Engineering students, concurrent with the leadership meeting | — |
Event photos
