This year the annual GreenMetric workshop (8/23-26) was hosted online by Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM). Dr. Riri chaired the event which was organized according to the theme of “Universities, UI GreenMetric and SDGs in the Time of Pandemic”. The theme was designed to bring together various elements of the COVID pandemic and the United Nations Sustainability Goals, and give participants an opportunity to share on related experiences according to the six subcategories of “campus infrastructure”, “energy” “water resources management”, “waste materials management”, “transportation” and “education”.

A sweet convention took place on Sept. 9th, when NPUST and the Forestry Bureau invited bee experts and operators of under-forest community farms from across Taiwan to share information related to under-forest beekeeping and honey production. Some of those present included Shiyang Chang, Consultant of the Taiwan Beekeeping Association; Chih-Tsung Wang, Director of Fengshen Organic Bee Farm; Yu-Wen Chen, distinguished professor of Yilan University; and Ben-Han Chen, researcher at the Miaoli Agricultural Research and Extension Station.

During the summer vacation (8/4), the NPUST Smart Media Research Center held teacher training for teachers at Linghe Elementary School in Tainan. With focus given to “computational thinking” the team put together the “Robot Maker Classroom” to train the teachers from the rural the elementary school how incorporate robots into their teaching plans and implement “maker education”.

Abbot Yong Yan and a number of other representatives of Fo Guang Shan visited the campus on August 11th to present the school with a“Smart Epidemic Prevention Gate”, a generous donation given inconsideration of student health. The delegation, also included Lecture Hall Supervisor Shizai Hsu, Supervisor Suli Jiang, and Lecturer Hsiangtan Zhuang Yue, each of whom wishes health and safety to the students and faculty in the upcoming semester.