February 18, 2008
National Cheng Kung University
Tainan, Taiwan
Da Hsuan Feng
Senior Executive Vice President
National Cheng Kung University
Distinguished guests and friends:
My name is Da Hsuan Feng and I am the Senior Executive Vice President of NCKU. I am representing President Michael Lai to say a few words of warm welcome to all of you, speakers and participants of this very important and exciting workshop on “Simulation-Based Engineering and Science for Emerging and Transforming Technology.”
Let me first say that it really is a great honor for National Cheng Kung University to have the opportunity to host this important workshop. I am especially pleased that one of the individuals behind the concept of the workshop is NSF’s Dr. Ken Chong. It is more important, as far as NCKU is concerned, that Ken is one of the truly outstanding 120,000 alumni of this university.
I am equally excited to see that Taiwan ’s equivalent of NSF, the National Science Council, or NSC, is also the co-host of this important Workshop.
I hope you would not be too annoyed that I will take this opportunity to step into memory lane for a moment. Some 25 years ago, I was a program director in theoretical physics at National Science Foundation. Unlike today, where NSF is housed in a large and imposing office building in Arlington , Virginia , which is across Potomac River from downtown Washington DC , NSF then was sharing an office with the Secret Service at 1600 G Street , which was literally stone throw away from the White House. As you know, the job of the Secret Service is to protect the President of the United States . I remembered that often when we stepped into the elevator, we would see other riders in the elevator who would show no emotions and would not return greetings, and most likely wearing white socks. Except for the few truly eccentric NSF program directors, those attires were a give away for the members of the Secret Service!
My friends, I am very glad to see today that NSF is again at its element, promoting and supporting cutting edge in science and technology. This was the NSF I remembered then, and it is still the NSF of today.
I like to tell you an anecdote which has some relevance to the content of this Workshop. I remembered in the mid-eighties, there was great concern at the NSF that academic scientists did not have access to the state-of-the-art high performance computing systems to assist their research. Mind you, “state-of-the-art” then meant the vector machine Cray-I or Cray II. The computational and storage power of those systems probably could not match the firepower of the laptop you are using in this workshop to project some of your talks. In fact, the complaint then from the scientific communities in the United States was that one needed to go to the Max Planck Institute in West Germany (and assuming you know someone there) to be able to access systems for general public utilization.
This concern spurred the NSF to make the quick decision to set up line-item funds to institute across the United States several supercomputing centers. Hence NCSA, or National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois , championed by Larry Smarr, was established. It was soon followed by San Diego Supercomputing Center , Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center , and the soon after to be shut-down Princeton John von Neumann Supercomputing Center. The shutting down of the Princeton Center is fascinating and is a story for another time.
Today, there are many supercomputing facilities across the United States , NCSA, San Diego and Pittsburgh are still some of the major computational firepowers for the academic communities. I am sure I am not over stating that without NSF’s foresight, it would be a significant delay before US scientists would have access to such systems.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the fact that NSF is always ready and willing to survey the landscape and come to either the rescue or the promotion of cutting edge science and technology, such as the establishment of facilities I mentioned, is indeed not a surprise.
It was, and it still is, the culture of NSF.
This culture, I think, was established on day one when NSF was developed. Some of you may have heard of the name Vannevar Bush, who lived between 1890-1974. Vannevar Bush played a pivotal role during WWII in managing the growth of science and technology which was so critical for the war effort. After WWII, he wrote the memorable words that basic research was: "the pacemaker of technological progress” and "new products and new processes do not appear full-grown. They are founded on new principles and new conceptions, which in turn are painstakingly developed by research in the purest realms of science!"
These are indeed words that can last a millennium!
Perhaps the greatest contribution Vannevar Bush made to the United States , and may be to the world, was his recommendation to the US Government to create what would eventually become in 1950 the National Science Foundation. He wanted to cement and sustain the ties between academic science, industry and the military which had been forged during the WWII.
So, with this great legacy, I am exceptionally pleased to see that this Workshop is being held, and that NCKU can be a part of this greatness, albeit only a small part of a much larger picture.
Finally, we know that to organize such a Workshop successfully, there must be no gap or gaps in the logistics. To this end, I want to thank all the helpers, especially the unsung omes, in the office of the Vice President for Research and Development, who worked so hard and for so long behind the scene. A mere thank you is hardly sufficient to express our gratitude.
Welcome and let the show begins.
National Cheng Kung University
Tainan, Taiwan
Da Hsuan Feng
Senior Executive Vice President
National Cheng Kung University
Distinguished guests and friends:
My name is Da Hsuan Feng and I am the Senior Executive Vice President of NCKU. I am representing President Michael Lai to say a few words of warm welcome to all of you, speakers and participants of this very important and exciting workshop on “Simulation-Based Engineering and Science for Emerging and Transforming Technology.”
Let me first say that it really is a great honor for National Cheng Kung University to have the opportunity to host this important workshop. I am especially pleased that one of the individuals behind the concept of the workshop is NSF’s Dr. Ken Chong. It is more important, as far as NCKU is concerned, that Ken is one of the truly outstanding 120,000 alumni of this university.
I am equally excited to see that Taiwan ’s equivalent of NSF, the National Science Council, or NSC, is also the co-host of this important Workshop.
I hope you would not be too annoyed that I will take this opportunity to step into memory lane for a moment. Some 25 years ago, I was a program director in theoretical physics at National Science Foundation. Unlike today, where NSF is housed in a large and imposing office building in Arlington , Virginia , which is across Potomac River from downtown Washington DC , NSF then was sharing an office with the Secret Service at 1600 G Street , which was literally stone throw away from the White House. As you know, the job of the Secret Service is to protect the President of the United States . I remembered that often when we stepped into the elevator, we would see other riders in the elevator who would show no emotions and would not return greetings, and most likely wearing white socks. Except for the few truly eccentric NSF program directors, those attires were a give away for the members of the Secret Service!
My friends, I am very glad to see today that NSF is again at its element, promoting and supporting cutting edge in science and technology. This was the NSF I remembered then, and it is still the NSF of today.
I like to tell you an anecdote which has some relevance to the content of this Workshop. I remembered in the mid-eighties, there was great concern at the NSF that academic scientists did not have access to the state-of-the-art high performance computing systems to assist their research. Mind you, “state-of-the-art” then meant the vector machine Cray-I or Cray II. The computational and storage power of those systems probably could not match the firepower of the laptop you are using in this workshop to project some of your talks. In fact, the complaint then from the scientific communities in the United States was that one needed to go to the Max Planck Institute in West Germany (and assuming you know someone there) to be able to access systems for general public utilization.
This concern spurred the NSF to make the quick decision to set up line-item funds to institute across the United States several supercomputing centers. Hence NCSA, or National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois , championed by Larry Smarr, was established. It was soon followed by San Diego Supercomputing Center , Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center , and the soon after to be shut-down Princeton John von Neumann Supercomputing Center. The shutting down of the Princeton Center is fascinating and is a story for another time.
Today, there are many supercomputing facilities across the United States , NCSA, San Diego and Pittsburgh are still some of the major computational firepowers for the academic communities. I am sure I am not over stating that without NSF’s foresight, it would be a significant delay before US scientists would have access to such systems.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the fact that NSF is always ready and willing to survey the landscape and come to either the rescue or the promotion of cutting edge science and technology, such as the establishment of facilities I mentioned, is indeed not a surprise.
It was, and it still is, the culture of NSF.
This culture, I think, was established on day one when NSF was developed. Some of you may have heard of the name Vannevar Bush, who lived between 1890-1974. Vannevar Bush played a pivotal role during WWII in managing the growth of science and technology which was so critical for the war effort. After WWII, he wrote the memorable words that basic research was: "the pacemaker of technological progress” and "new products and new processes do not appear full-grown. They are founded on new principles and new conceptions, which in turn are painstakingly developed by research in the purest realms of science!"
These are indeed words that can last a millennium!
Perhaps the greatest contribution Vannevar Bush made to the United States , and may be to the world, was his recommendation to the US Government to create what would eventually become in 1950 the National Science Foundation. He wanted to cement and sustain the ties between academic science, industry and the military which had been forged during the WWII.
So, with this great legacy, I am exceptionally pleased to see that this Workshop is being held, and that NCKU can be a part of this greatness, albeit only a small part of a much larger picture.
Finally, we know that to organize such a Workshop successfully, there must be no gap or gaps in the logistics. To this end, I want to thank all the helpers, especially the unsung omes, in the office of the Vice President for Research and Development, who worked so hard and for so long behind the scene. A mere thank you is hardly sufficient to express our gratitude.
Welcome and let the show begins.
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