A USC delegation of engineering faculty and administrators, led by Viterbi School Dean Yannis C. Yortsos, traveled to Taiwan in mid-March to sign a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with National Taiwan University.
L-R: Mingsui Lee of CSIE, USC alum; Powen Hsu of EE, USC alum; Huan J. Keh, dean of engineering NTU; Jay Kuo, USC; USC Viterbi Dean Yannis Yortsos; USC's Kelly Goulis; Soo-Chang Pei, dean, NTU College of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science; Jenn-Gwo Hwu, chair of EE Dept.; and Ching-An Peng, who used to teach at USC and is now at NTU.
The MOU, signed on March 17, outlined a commitment from both schools to begin developing joint academic programs, including undergraduate and graduate educational exchanges and internships, faculty exchanges, distance learning programs, and other collaborative activities in scientific areas of mutual interest to both institutions.
The visit began with a meeting that included National Taiwan University (NTU) President Si-Chen Lee, USC Vice Provost for Globalization Adam Clayton Powell, USC Viterbi School of Engineering Dean Yannis Yortsos and National Taiwan University College of Engineering Dean Huan J. Keh. Soo-Chang Pei, dean of NTU’s Computer Science College, Kelly Goulis, USC associate dean for Master’s and Professional Programs (MAPP), and Jay Kuo, a professor in the USC Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical Engineering, were also present.
Respective deans from each school later presented detailed overviews of their programs, followed by a brief signing ceremony. Yortsos, Keh and Pei signed their names to the formal agreement, which establishes a partnership in which the two institutions can begin building collaborative programs.
USC hosted the first alumni banquet ever held in Taiwan at the International World Trade Center for a large group of former Trojan students.
In the evening, USC hosted the first alumni banquet ever held in Taiwan at the International World Trade Building and drew a big crowd. Seventy-six USC alumni attended, along with the Viterbi School delegation and USC’s Adam Clayton Powell III, vice provost for globalization.
Guest speaker for the dinner was Stan Shih, founder of Acer, Inc., a Taiwanese multinational electronics manufacturer and the second largest computer manufacturer in the world. Shih’s son, Maverick Shih, is a USC graduate and worked with Professors Shri Narayanan and Jay Kuo during his graduate school training. He earned a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from USC in 2003.
