UM appoints physicist Prof Da-Hsuan Feng as director of global affairs

The University of Macau (UM) has appointed the physicist Prof Da-Hsuan Feng as director of the Global Affairs Office and special assistant to the rector. Prof Feng expressed confidence in UM’s future development. During his tenure at UM, he will assist the university to formulate and implement global affairs strategies and expand UM’s international networking, to help UM leave a deeper international footprint.

Prof Feng is a fellow of the American Physical Society. He is an expert in the fields of nuclear and nuclear astrophysics, quantum optics, and mathematical physics. He has outstanding achievements and rich experience as a scholar, researcher and leader in university development. He has more than 30 years of experience working at numerous universities and companies in the United States and Taiwan. He was M. Russell Wehr Chair Professor of Physics at Drexel University, director of the Division of Theoretical Physics of the United States National Science Foundation, vice president for research and economic development at the University of Texas at Dallas and professor in its Department of Physics, vice president of Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), which is a Fortune 500 company, and senior vice president at Tsing Hua University and Cheng Kung University in Taiwan. Prof Feng has maintained close contact and collaborations with universities and other organisations in Europe, North America, and Asia. He has served as advisor and board member at numerous national labs and high-tech companies in the United States; visiting professor and honorary professor at 13 top universities in mainland China; as well as board member and advisor for science and technology at several universities in mainland China, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Prof Feng noted that given Macao’s unique position in the four Chinese-speaking territories (mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Macao) and the fact that the Macao SAR government attaches great importance to higher education, he has complete confidence in UM’s future development. “UM needs a brand new, multi-pronged global affairs strategy to lead its global affairs to new heights, and this will present an enormous challenge for my work,” Prof Feng says. “I hope to deepen UM’s existing relationships with Asia (particularly mainland China and Taiwan), North Asia (Japan and South Korea), North America (the United States), and West Asia. During my tenure at UM I will assist to formulate and implement global affairs strategies and expand UM’s international networking, to help UM leave a deeper international footprint. I also hope to establish better strategies for recruiting students in such places as Southeast Asia and South Asia (India) as soon as possible, so as to attract the best students and further increase the diversity of the student body at UM.”

UM said that Prof Feng will be able to assist the university to develop its global strategies and affairs in the 21st century and further strengthen UM’s international collaboration. In addition to maintaining the good relationships with existing partners, Prof Feng will also seek to expand UM’s strategic relationships with other parts of the world. By forging such strategic relationships, Prof Feng hopes that UM will leave a deeper international footprint.