The National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) actively promotes marine science research and supports the Taiwan Ocean Research Institute (TORI) of NARLabs to bolster its capabilities in frontier ocean research, promote marine science education in the public sphere, and enrich marine culture to achieve ocean-facilitated national development and help Taiwan become a smart ocean nation. At this time of high importance for ocean research, NARLabs on Aug. 1 welcomed Pei-Jie Meng, Professor in the National Dong Hwa University Graduate Institute of Marine Biology and Research Fellow at the National Museum of Marine Biology & Aquarium, as Director General of TORI.
NARLabs President Faa-Jeng Lin is confident that Director General Meng will continue to play a strong role in Taiwan's industrial, government, academic, and research communities for marine science development and add to TORI's past achievements. President Lin also expressed hope that Director General Meng will delve deeper in marine science and technology research, refine core and key technologies, cultivate local talent in marine research and scientific instrumentation R&D, and build a platform for marine instrumentation facilities, leading TORI forward to enhance Taiwan's competitiveness in the international arena for marine science research.
Director General Meng received his bachelor's degree from the Department of Oceanography (now the Department of Marine Environmental Informatics) at National Taiwan Ocean University and his master's and Ph.D. degrees from the Institute of Oceanography at National Taiwan University. In 1998, he joined Institute of Chemistry at Academia Sinica as a postdoctoral researcher, and in 2000, the Biology Division of the National Museum of Marine Biology & Aquarium as an assistant researcher. In 2005, Director General Meng was appointed as an assistant professor in the Institute of Marine Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology at National Dong Hwa University (now merged with the Institute of Marine Biology). He then served as Director of the Graduate Institute of Marine Biology, Director of the Multidisciplinary Academic Research Center, Associate Dean of the College of Marine Sciences (now the College of Environmental Studies and Oceanography), and Director of the Office of Research and Development at National Dong Hwa University. He is appointed member of the Academia Sinica Committees on Global Environmental Change and the Pacific Science Association, as well as Honorary Chairman of the Taiwanese Coral Reef Society.
Director General Meng specializes in marine environmental chemistry, marine analytical chemistry, aquarium water quality management, marine ecosystems, and marine pollution. He has published more than 200 journal articles and seminar papers and holds 13 patents. In addition, he has served as an editorial board member of Marine Pollution, an internationally renowned academic journal, and as head of the organizing committee of the 2017 Cross-Strait Coral Reef Conference and the 2018 International Conference on Sustainable Marine Tourism in Eastern Taiwan. In recent years, Director General Meng has devoted efforts to the development of a real-time continuous water quality monitoring system for different ecological environments. The Real-Time Trophic State Index (RTSI) developed for this system can replace the traditional Carlson Trophic State Index (CTSI), a breakthrough in assessing the trophic state of water bodies. The RTSI offers fast, real-time, and full-time monitoring, as well as pROVides more accurate interpretations of the various phenomena of the marine ecological environment, which will contribute greatly to the future of real-time determination of the trophic state of water bodies, aquatic food safety, and marine ecosystem early warning systems.
Director General Meng gave special thanks to Dr. Chau-Chang Wang, former Director General of TORI, for laying the foundation for the institute over the past six years. He also stated that with the long-term support of NSTC, TORI was able to complete the construction and launch of the R/V Legend, which has greatly enhanced marine scientific research in Taiwan and produced fruitful results for five years thus far. In the future, in addition to strengthening instrumentation R&D and cultivating talent in the field, TORI will also pROVide full support to government ministries and academic institutions for open ocean or large-scale integrated research projects and collaborate with neighboring countries in the South China Sea and western Pacific Ocean. In the face of fierce competition and challenges in the international marine arena, TORI will uphold NARLabs' vision of "Global Excellence, Local Impact" to become a cradle of marine science and technology R&D and talent cultivation and a protector of the nation at sea so that the international community may see Taiwan's strength and value in the field of marine science.
