1994
Jer-Ru Maa
1964 PhD Chemical Engineering

Jer-Ru Maa has engaged in chemical engineering research and education for more than thirty years. He began as a senior chemist at the Rochester Institute of Technology after receiving his Ph.D. in 1970, Dr. Maa returned to Taiwan as a professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at National Cheng Kung University. He went on to serve as chair and graduate director of the department and as dean of the College of Engineering. In 1988, he was appointed president of the university.

National Cheng Kung University, which has five colleges, is the second largest national university in Taiwan. As president, Dr. Maa oversees thirty-two undergraduate and thirty-five graduate departments with nearly 1,000 faculty members, and enrollment of approximately 14,000, and more than 65,000 alumni. In a recent survey of 1,300 top enterprises in Taiwan, the graduates of the university were rated the most sought-after in comparison with all other colleges and universities in Taiwan.

Dr. Maa is an expert in transport phenomena and unit operations, interfacial and nucleation phenomena, and condensationa and boiling. As a researcher, Dr. Maa emphasizes strategies to improve the efficiency of engineering operations, such as evaporation, condensation, boiling, extraction, etc., through developing and understanding of basic mechanisms. He also stresses the study of interfacial phenomena and nucleation pheinomena, emphasizing that all the actions of engineering operations happen at the interface between phases and often involve the change of phases.

In recognition of his contributions to research, Dr. Maa has received several awards including the Ministry of Education Academic Award, the Chemical Enigneering Award of the Chinese Institute of Chemical Engineers and the National Science Council Distinguished Research Award. He is on the editorial boards of the Journal of Chinese Colloid and Interface Society of the Chinese Institute of Chemical Engineerings.

Dr. Maa's wife, Yeou-Wei Yang, received a master's degree in physics from Penn State. The couple has two daughters.

Current as of 1994

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