Beauty and Calling of Taiwanese American

Ta-Chiang Liu, Ph.D.

The beauty of Taiwanese Americans(TA), known for precious value on education and the highest median income($68,8K) then any other ethnic groups in US (0.5%, with many international renown artists, professionals & scientists including Nobel laureates), is the synergism of very unique combination of native Islander adventurism and US scientific innovation leadership which propel us into various global expertise & prominence.

I would like to share my past experience and observations to explore this unique & distinct soft powers of the fusion of geopolitical and sociocultural characters of TA. Though beauty is in the eyes (think/brain) of the beholders, my US journey is a part of this living witness. The team of this well thought program should be commended for taking the right step. Many here are familiar with my repeated emphasis of the pursue of wholesome life of 4Qs in the 21st century. Our purpose of life is more than a successful professional career(IQ, Intelligence), achieved financial independence (FQ, Financial) or reach social eminence (SQ,Social). The most challenging Mental Quotient (MQ), that is having our own insight and uncover your true CALLINGS of your life, which not necessary religious, is what makes your life fulfilled & significant.

In wakes of information exploration & fake news overloads, uncovering the true history of ourselves is unwavering essential for self, society & nation. We'd have been very experienced from our past homeland era & uncovering the whole truth here should be promptly & literally. The true History of Taiwan is so much clear and vivid nowadays. With our unique standing as TA, we should follow our inner thought & uncover our Calling to fulfill your life dream. Remember the great sayings, "Never doubt that a small thoughtful & persistent citizen can change the world" and "I think, therefore I am ", You are almost there I believe!

我不懂古典音樂, 去音樂會要聽什麼？

Tzu-Ying Huang
St. Louis Symphony

我不懂古典音樂, 為什麼要去聽音樂會?去音樂會要聽什麼? 這是很多人在心中的疑問. 你知道古典音樂不只有莫札特和貝多芬嗎? 你知道作曲家腦袋裡在想什麼嗎？你知道很多音樂家其實有副業嗎？你知道音樂和政治其實息息先關嗎?

音樂不只是一門藝術, 他是我們生活中不可分割的一部份, 只是你沒有發現而已. 在這場講座裡我們將探討音樂對人生的重要性, 翻轉大部分人對古典音樂的看法, 讓你去音樂廳不再是買票去睡覺！

Can We Clear the Smoke? From Genes to the Bedside

Li-Shiun Chen, MD, MPH, ScD

Dr. Chen’s will present three areas: 1) Precision medicine and smoking cessation treatment. 2) Translating genomic findings in public health 3) Implementation of research to practice of smoking cessation treatment. First, she will demonstrate how genetic and environmental factors can inform personalized smoking cessation treatments. Second, she will show the utility of genetic markers for predicting important health outcomes such as delay in smoking cessation and acceleration in lung cancer diagnosis. Last, she will discuss the challenge and success of implementing evidence-based practices and science to close the gap from research to clinical practice.

Imaging Visual Function from Mouse to Human

Tsen-Hsuan “Abby” Lin PhD
Drs. Victor Song (Radiology) and Anne H Cross (Neurology)

Optic neuropathy or retinopathy could lead to blurred vision or irreversible blindness. They are highly associated with neurodegenerative diseases (e.g. multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s diseases, etc.), traumatic brain injury (TBI), chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), stroke, diabetes, glaucoma, and so on. Studies have documented that optic nerve pathology could represent more global damage in other parts of the central nervous system. Most current routinely assessments only focus retinal pathology or visual cortex to further infer functional deficits or pathologies in optic nerve. Herein, we will briefly introduce diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and how to assess real-time optic nerve function and pathology in MRI scanner from mouse to human. Our techniques might offer an alternative to directly assess optic nerve and serve as an outcome measure to follow functional deficits or pathology. Lastly, another example will be highlighted to demonstrate that diffusion fMRI could also holds potential to assess other brain white matter function, such as corpus callosum.

Speaker Bio

Microbial Production of Fuels and Useful Chemicals

Po-Cheng Lin
Himadri Pakrasi Lab, Department of Biology, Washington University

Fossil fuels are the primary source of energy that supports global economic development for the past century. The use of these non-renewable energies releases tremendous amount of CO2 in the atmosphere, which is the main cause of global warming. Concerns over the impact of climate change have driven research and development of renewable energies in order to reduce the reliance on fossil fuels. To reduce the use of petroleum and minimize the impact of climate change, researchers have been seeking alternative approaches to produce fuels and substances derived from fossil energies. Using microorganisms to produce chemicals offers the potential to reduce fossil fuels utilization. With recent advances in DNA manipulation techniques, researches are able to turn microbes into factories that manufacture useful chemicals that originally come from fossil fuels. Compared to petroleum-based products, chemicals made from microbes emit less CO2 and have less impact on the environment. In this talk, I will introduce how microorganisms can be engineered to produce useful products, such as fuels, medicine, and materials. In addition, I will discuss the challenges of chemical production by microorganisms.

Speaker Bio

A cyber security talk, from attacker’s view

Howard Tsui
Senior Threat and Vulnerability Assessment Engineer, TDAmeritrade

Most of us have been taught on how to protect ourselves on the internet and know their devices can be hacked. However, most of them are being taught from the defender point of view. Such as, don’t use public Wi-Fi or use strong password. But do you know why public Wi-Fi is dangerous? What does it look like when attacker is in action? This talk will help you gain the other side’s perspective. Sometimes, you learn more by knowing how someone attacks you.

Speaker Bio

Rediscover the Ocean 重新看見海洋

RC Chin-Wen Lai
Thaddeus S Stappenbeck

The ocean can be described in an endless number of ways. It’s refreshing, beautiful and humbling. It’s vast, mysterious and terrifying. The most important thing is that the ocean is the origin of living beings. However, it faces growing challenges from pollution, habitat loss, development, and climate change. If that wasn’t enough, expanding industries such as offshore oil drilling, renewable energy, shipping, and aquaculture threaten to crowd our oceans and degrade the health of the ecosystem.

Speaker Bio

考古學家如何研究史前環境與人類的關係

林宜羚 Yi-Ling Lin

人類學式的考古學（anthropological archaeology）著重於研究任何與史前人類社會相關的關係 (relationships)，這些關係包括人與人、社會、動物、植物、環境之間的關係，並藉此了解史前人類的生活方式及社會運作。本演講將介紹進數十年間，考古學家透過科技整合的研究方式，運用哪些自然科學方法來重建史前的環境、進而了解史前人類如何影響其生活環境，又如何被這環境所影響，藉以說明人與環境間複雜又相互羈絆的關係其實已經延續了數萬年。

Speaker Bio

校園親密關係暴力預防: 國際學生的危險與保護因子

龔姿卉 Tzu-Hui Kung

不僅美國與臺灣，大學校園性暴力事件層出不窮，以為最安全的校園，可能潛藏各種暴力危機，但也是最能著力改變之處。現下社會突顯「結構性暴力」型態，強調暴力事件已不能僅單純個人歸因，視作雙方或人際之間的問題，所謂介入與預防也不只限於加害與受害者服務工作；而是大環境結構下，人與人互動是否無形強化了加害行為的合理性，或是增加了少數群體的弱勢？透過實習機會，有幸研究校園內相對少被資源與服務觸及的碩博班國際學生，面臨校園親密關係與性暴力事件的危險與保護因子為何？如何前瞻地從校園環境層面改善，提升校園危機意識，協助學生建立健康的親密關係？而作為國際學生團體或在美臺灣人組織，又能做些什麼？

Speaker Bio