UCLA Astronomers Reunion in Mountains of Central Taiwan

Each of the last 19 summers, a large group of the brightest young Taiwanese scientists are invited to share the excitement of cutting-edge discoveries with world experts on a scientific subject. Held at a mountain resort, this week-long “Summer Camp” is generously funded by the private Wu Ta-You Foundation, endowed by Taiwan’s thriving semi-conductor industry.

In August 2023 the subject was Astronomy, and it was very much a UCLA affair.  Two of the main conference lecturers were Matt Malkan, an astronomer on the UCLA faculty, and Chao-Wei Tsai, a Professor at the National Astronomical Observatory of China in Beijing. Professor Tsai earned his PhD degree in the UCLA Astronomy program under the direction of Professor Jean Turner. The leader of the entire meeting, also serving as the emcee, was Professor Wei-Hsin Sun of National Taiwan University. Professor Sun received his PhD degree at—you guessed it—UCLA, with Matt Malkan as his dissertation supervisor. Since his graduation from UCLA, where he became a leading expert on giant black holes in quasars, Professor Sun has gone on to become the most publicly recognized scientist in all of Taiwan with regular appearances in every media format.