2020 Distinguished Alumni

The Department of Atmospheric Sciences is delighted to award the 2020 Distinguished Alumni Award to Dr. Ching-Yen Tsay. 

Dr. Tsay received his Ph.D. in 1972 from our Department, working with the late Prof. Shih-Kung Kao.  After postdoctoral research at the National Center of Atmospheric Research and Harvard University, he returned to his homeland of Taiwan as a faculty member in the 1970s.  Dr. Tsay was one of the earliest faculty members at National Taiwan University’s then-newly formed Department of Atmospheric Sciences, the leading department in Taiwan and with whom our Department, through the College of Mines and Earth Sciences, has signed a dual Bachelor’s degree program. 

Dr. Tsay was selected to be a fellow of the American Meteorological Society in 1999. 

He went on to an illustrious career in public service, as the Director of Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau (equivalent to the U.S. National Weather Service), the Civil Aeronautics Administration, and minister without portfolio in the Taiwanese Government.  From 2010 to 2016, Dr. Tsay was the Chairperson of Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute, an applied technology research institute with thousands of employees spawning innovation and incubating transformative companies.