Opening Comment at the 2nd International Conference on NDNC2008

 Opening Comment at the 2nd International Conference on New Diamond and Nano Carbons
(NDNC2008)

Sponsored by

Institute of Atomic and Molecular Science, Academia Sinica (原子與分子科學研究所),

National Cheng Kung University (國立成功大學)

Taiwan National Nano Science and Nanotechnology Program (奈米國家型科技計畫辦公室)

Date: May 26-29, 2008

Venue: The Grand Hotel, Taipei

Da Hsuan Feng

Senior Executive Vice President

National Cheng Kung University

Academician Yuan T. Lee, Director Yuh-Lin Wang of IAMS, Vice President Tommy Tzeng of
NCKU, Academician M. K. Wu, Chairman of Physics Institute of the Academia Sinica, my
good friend Ray Baughman from UTDallas, and the hundreds of great scientists of this
“hot” field from all over the world, ladies and gentlemen,

My name is Da Hsuan Feng and I am the Senior Executive Vice President of NCKU. I am
here today representing my boss, Academician Michael Lai, President of NCKU, to
express our sincere and warm welcome to all of you to this conference in particular,
Taiwan in general. I want to especially welcome those who have traveled a long
distance to get here. As you can see from the brochure, NCKU is one of the co-sponsors
of this conference. We are proud to play a role in this gathering.

I also want to especially thank Tommy for working so hard in creating this series of
conference. I also learned from Tommy that Dr. K.H. Chen of the Institute of Atomic
and Molecular Science is serving as the Chief of Secretariat for this conference and
deserves the lion share of credit for its success.

We at NCKU are excited about this collaboration with Academia Sinica as well as with
Taiwan National Nano Science and Nanotechnology Program. We hope that our university
will have an opportunity to organize one of your future conferences so that many
participants, who will not have the opportunity to experience Taiwan’s high speed
rail (at 300 kms/hour, or 200 miles/hour) this time, will experience it when you come
the next time. This high speed train has literally transformed the intellectual and
economic landscape of Taiwan, within a relatively short time!

I am new to Taiwan. I came here 9 months ago, after spending more than 35 years in the
United States. Before that, I was in Singapore. Some people in Taiwan refer to me as a
“paratrooper!” So, for those who came from foreign lands in the audience and are
unfamiliar with Taiwan, please don’t feel that you are alone. I too feel unfamiliar,
even after 9 months “rolling at the ground level” in Taiwan. Taiwan is not easy to
comprehend. There is an old Chinese saying, “The sparrow may be small, its intestines
are complete!” (麻雀雖小﹐ 五臟俱全.) Taiwan is your archetypical “sparrow!”

In the remaining one minute, I am not going to tell you how great is nano-science and
nano-technology. You as experts know how great and how important this field of studies
is.

I am also not going to tell you how interesting is “carbon nanotubes.” I was
indoctrinated by Ray for the past 6 years when I was in UTDallas what scientific magic
this material can do. After 6 years of pure indoctrination and have seen some of the
remarkable products he and his team have produced, including the robust and tough
carbon-nanotubes-sheets, I am convinced!

And I am NOT going to tell you how great NCKU is. You can decide for yourself from
this conference whether the results presented by my colleagues at this important
conference measure up to global standard.

No pressure here, my fellow NCKUers! J

I do like to say a few words about Taiwan, as an “almost outsider.”

As an “almost outsider,” I saw something fascinating about Taiwan in particular,
Asia Pacific in general. So I hope you will allow me to give you an anecdote which
underscores this fascination.

You probably are thinking that what I will tell you will be how beautiful the
landscape of Taiwan is or that it went through an economic transformation, from
agriculture to silicon. Well, no, I will simply tell you that the people in Taiwan are
truly fascinating.

For those of you who follow world events, you must have learned about the recent
presidential election here in Taiwan. As a new comer to Taiwan, I watched in awe that
the months leading to the day of the election, the debates were, to say it mildly,
cantankerous.

Yet, on the next day after the election, people everywhere behaved as if nothing
serious had taken place. Life went on. The only signal that such a profound event did
take place was, on television, the hot debate among so-called “political experts”
was about the pros and cons of whether the President-elect wife should take the public
transportation to work in the morning, as she had done for decades before her new
found notoriety!

The calmness on the next day signals a deep maturation of democratic process that is
now part Taiwan’s DNA. It signals the profound transformation of the people! With
such transformation, how can Asia Pacific not be a fascinating place to visit?

Finally, although it has nothing to do with this conference, I think it is incumbent
for us, who are so lucky to enjoy and pursue the pleasures of life, such as scientific
research, not to forget our fellow human beings who are suffering the truly horrific
recent natural calamities in Sichuang and in Myanmar.

Thank you so much for your participation and let the show begins.