From left, President Robert Lindberg of NIA, President Jer-Nan Juang of NARL, in the signing ceremony.

The President Jer-Nan Juang of NARL and the President Robert Lindberg of National Institute of Aerospace (NIA) of the United States signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at NIA Headquarters in Hampton, Virginia, on January 31, 2008. This MoU establishes scholarly cooperation, mutual understanding and friendly relationships between the two organizations. Under the terms of the MoU, NARL and NIA will cooperate on the exchange of educational information, personnel, graduate students and study programs and the training and visiting of personnel. “In the globally cyberspace-connected world of the 21st Century, international collaboration in the face of global competition is the key to success,” stated Jer-Nan Juang. “I firmly believe that collaboration between NIA and NARL will help advance our mutual interests in research activities.” “Establishing this relationship with NARL strengthens NIA’s strategic capabilities internationally,” stated Robert Lindberg. “It demonstrates a cooperative atmosphere that can enhance the education and research programs of both institutions.”NIA is a non-profit research and graduate education institute. It was formed in 2002 by a consortium of research universities to ensure a national capability to support NASA’s mission by expanding collaboration with academia and leveraging expertise inside and outside NASA. NIA performs research in a broad range of disciplines including space exploration, nanoscale materials science, planetary and space science, and global climate change, etc.NARL is a non-profit organization headquartered in Taipei established by the National Science Council in 2003 to consolidate eleven major research laboratories. NARL supports academic research and technological development by promoting the integration of laboratory resources for leading edge research in pure and applied sciences. In addition, the organization establishes R&D platforms to serve both academia and industry through exchanges and cooperation with renowned research institutes around the world. It engages in satellite monitoring, precision instrument development, remote sensing data processing, grid calculation, earthquake engineering and disaster prevention technology development, in collaboration with the Taiwanese National Science and Technology Center for Disaster Reduction. It also promotes frontier technology by integrating nanotechnology, system-on-chip (SoC) technology, aerospace technology and grid calculation. Furthermore, it fosters the life science research through its biotechnology experiment resource platform. More information about the National Institute of Aerospace is available at http://www.NIAnet.org. More information about the National Applied Research Laboratories is available at http://www.narlabs.org.tw/en/.