Chemistry students to get Quarter Abroad in Taiwan

A group of UC Davis chemistry students will swap Davis for Taiwan this spring quarter, taking their classes at the prestigious Academia Sinica Taiwan's national research laboratory. It's the first time that Academia Sinica has had such a program with a U.S. university.The experience will give the students the opportunity to learn how science is done in a large government or industry lab, said Jacquelyn Gervay Hague, professor of chemistry and associate vice provost for outreach and international programs, who will lead the group.

The research capacity of Academia Sinica is at a level that rivals the pharmaceutical industry in the United States, Gervay-Hague said. At the same time, the students will be introduced to Chinese culture, she said.Organizers hope the program will help to build links and facilitate joint research projects between Academia Sinica and UC Davis. As part of their studies, the students will carry out a research project in the Taiwanese lab that may lead to further work both there and at UC Davis.The Taiwanese government wants to expose their students to international science,Gervay-Hague said.

The current president of Academia Sinica, Chi-Huey Wong, is himself a chemist. He has been charged by the Taiwan government with building up the island nation’s biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, according to Winston Ko, dean of the Division of Mathematical and Physical Sciences.Wong visited UC Davis in early March, where he delivered the plenary lecture at a symposium on pharmaceutical chemistry.The Quarter Abroad program, in which students will be able to earn UC Davis credits while studying for a full quarter in another country, is unique to the University of California system. But most study abroad programs involve humanities or language classes, rather than lab-intensive science courses, Gervay-Hague said.

The 16 UC Davis undergraduate students will be accompanied by Gervay-Hague, fellow UC Davis chemistry professors Peter Beal and Dean Tantillo, and three UC Davis graduate students.
During their stay in Taiwan, the students will take four courses focused on pharmaceutical chemistry, including a lab class and a research project. Some of the classes also run concurrently in Davis, and some talks and lectures by visiting speakers from industry will be simulcast to the Davis campus. Taiwanese graduate students will also be able to attend the lectures, and Gervay-Hague, Beal and Tantillo will teach classes specifically for Academia Sinica's students.Students can also get a lot of exposure while studying in such universities and different course Engineering,Bilingual Master of Science and Materials Science.

The students began work on their research projects in winter quarter at UC Davis. Once in Taiwan, they will make use of Academia Sinica's state-of-the-art facilities for screening and characterizing pharmaceuticals.Their screening facilities are modeled after the best in industry,Gervay-Hague said. The infrastructure for research is very strong.The students will live on the Academia Sinica campus in Taipei and have time for excursions in the city and around the island. While instruction will be in English, classes in Mandarin will be offered.So far, financial support has come principally from Academia Sinica, which is paying for teaching assistants and lab facilities. Gervay-Hague said that she hopes to attract additional funding to run the program for five years, and also have graduate students come from Taiwan to take internships at UC Davis laboratories.

Quarter Abroad is open to UC Davis students and other UC students, who can transfer to UC Davis for the quarter. Participants in the Quarter Abroad in Taiwan pay a fee of $12,097 including airfare and accommodations. Additional financial support for travel costs has been provided by the Shang Fa and Eleanor Yang Scholarly Exchange Endowment, which is administered through the UC Davis Division of Mathematical and Physical Sciences and can assist faculty or students in any of the four undergraduate colleges at UC Davis.