National Taiwan University

This course brings in instructors who are best in their fields of research, and includes topics related to atmospheric science, environment science, physical and social geography in Taiwan. It provides a background in this wide range of disciplines, instilling a greater understanding of Taiwan. Besides the lectures, students also participate in various filed trip to NTU Herbarium and Zoological Museums, Evergreen Maritime Museum, and Guandu Nature Park. 

How does America begin? With the fertile imagination of the first Europeans who arrived at its shores? With the creation myths of its indigenous communities? With John Winthrop’s utopian vision of a “City on a Hill?” With the Declaration of Independence that severed the ties with the British Empire? Questions of origin and identity sit at the center of this course. Every week the course analyzes fictional and non-fictional accounts of America as an idea, from its beginnings up to the early nineteenth century. We will pay attention to the so-called “founding fathers” and, especially, to those silenced by their master narrative of “fatherhood:” women, African slaves, and displaced American Indians. Whereas the course revolves around a specific historical context, the course explores relevant themes and problems to your own experience as a 21st century student and citizen: cross-cultural encounters, gender inequality, violence, war, colonialism, racism, democracy, capitalism, and labor rights. 

The influence of technology is ubiquitous in modern life, and it is changing every day. In the foreseeable future, technology will continue to make breakthroughs and affect human life more comprehensively. However, humanistic literacy is an indispensable part to demonstrate the value of science and technology. Humanistic-based science and technology can meet the exact needs of human beings, thereby enhancing their well-being. This course discusses how to connect technological development and humanistic literacy to create greater value together.

As land plants are sessile organisms, they have evolved sophisticated defense mechanisms against various environmental stresses. To survive and reproduce, plants adapt to stresses by changing their physiology and gene expression. Insect herbivores are one of major biotic stresses to plants. As plants are the main nutrient sources for these insects, plants have evolved with a number of defense mechanisms to protect themselves. This course explains crop-insect interaction from several aspects (molecular mechanisms, traits, ecology, evolution, and practical farming management). Topics: plant traits to insects, insect traits to plants, tritrophic interactions, plant community ecology and evolution, and implications of crop-insect interactions. Text: C.M. Smith, PLANT RESISTANCE TO ARTHROPODS: MOLECULAR AND CONVENTIONAL APPROACHES; L.M. Schoonhoven, J.J.A. van Loon, and M. Dicke, INSECT-PLANT BIOLOGY. Assessment: final report, presentation, midterm exam, attendance and participation.

This course aims to provide understanding of the latest development in biological treatment processes. The course covers the following:
1. Introduction
2. Fundamentals of Microbiology
3. Biological Reaction and Reaction Kinetics
4. Reactor Design (1) Kinetic Model Development(2) Evaluation of Biokinetic Constants
5. Aerobic Suspend-Growth Process (1) Activated Sludge Process (2) Oxidation Ditch (3) Sequencing Batch Reactor
7. Aerobic Attached-Growth Treatment Methods
8. Anaerobic Treatment(1) Introduction(2) Anaerobic Sludge Digestion(3) Anaerobic Wastewater Treatment
9. Nitrogen and Phosphorous Removal Method 

This lecture series covers the science and sociology of insects as a food. Increasing media, investment, and public policy attention has been given to the role insects may play in the future of food. Can eating insects really save the world from famine and environmental destruction? Are there health costs or benefits to adding insects to the diet? Will all people accept insects as food? Should we be promoting edible insects at all, and if so, how best do we do it? What species will we eat and how shall we raise them? This class examines all aspects of the edible insects question, with students taught a broad but thorough overview of the field and asked to consider questions in class about what role they think insects will play in their own food futures, and why they think this way.

This course presents the fundamentals of chemistry including the following topics: atomic structure based on quantum mechanics; atomic properties; trends in periodic table; chemical bonding (Lewis structures, VSEPR theory, hybridization, and molecular orbital theory); gaseous and aqueous equilibria; properties of inorganic and organic acids, bases, buffers; titrations; phase changes; molecular orbital theory; thermochemistry; thermodynamics; free energy changes; electrochemistry; chemical kinetics; coordination compounds; organic chemistry; structure, conformations, and relative energies of organic molecules; application of thermodynamics and kinetics to organic and biochemical reactions; use of molecular modeling software to illustrate molecular structures and their relative energies. This class has a separate general chemistry lab. There are five recitations that go along with the lectures. Text: Theodore L. Brown, et al., CHEMISTRY: THE CENTRAL SCIENCE. This course is taught in Chinese, but the text is in English.

This course provides a rigorous presentation of thermodynamics principles, with emphases on the application of mathematical methods to the study of the spontaneity of processes, chemical reactions, and chemical energy. In addition to thermodynamics description of chemical equilibrium phenomena that form the basis of macroscopic chemical principles, connections between microscopic pictures (quantum mechanics and statistical mechanics) and bulk properties are highlighted.

This course provides essential statistics and its applications. The first semester (Statistics I) covers summary statistics, distribution and data, probability, parametric distribution, sampling, estimation and statistical inference. The second semester (Statistics II) introduces regression analysis, AONVA, nonparametric method, logistic regression and time series analysis. Students are also expected to use basic statistics software, at least Excel, to analyze the statistical issue. This course is conducted in Chinese, but uses an English textbook.

This course covers fundamental microeconomics tools. The course is divided into five parts: (1) the theory of the consumer, (2) the theory of the firm, (3) partial equilibrium, (4) general equilibrium, and (5) market failures.