On March 18th, Dr. Yu-chi Sung, Distinguished Professor of civil engineering at Taipei Tech, was honored with the 6th National Industry-University Collaboration Master Award by the Ministry of Education. His seminal work on the Seismic Capacity Assessment System for Buildings has been used by almost all structural engineers, civil engineers, and architects in Taiwan. His expertise in architectural engineering, bridge engineering, earthquake engineering, and the application of AI in structural engineering has significantly contributed to government initiatives to rebuild hazardous and old buildings and accelerate urban renewal. 

In recent years, Dr.Sung has also led the Offshore Wind Engineering Research Center at Taipei Tech to develop technical standards for offshore wind engineering designs for the government. Additionally, he has developed wind turbine support structure analysis software that reduces the calculating time from 13.5 hours to just ten seconds, significantly reducing the time cost and greatly improving overall analysis efficiency. Foreign developers have already expressed interest in this software for technical collaboration.

Since obtaining certification for his Seismic Capacity Assessment System for Buildings from the National Land Management Agency in 2008, Dr. Sung further improved on it and, in 2014, rolled out the PSERCB system that was designed to give preliminary assessment of seismic resistance in reinforced concrete buildings based on statistics. Based on the numbers collected from over twenty thousand buildings, the PSERCB system utilizes AI to provide prelinary assessment on the seismic resistance of hundreds of thousands of buildings that have not undergone official assessment.

Dr. Sung stated that a good preliminary seismic assessment served as the basis for structure reinforcement and reconstruction discussions. By proactively identifying and  addressing potential vulnerabilities, these discussions can guide the implementation of safety improvements. Ultimately, such enhancements can lead to reduced casualties in the event of an earthquake. With a large dataset, the government can also properly formulate disaster-prevention strategies. 

Furthermore, Dr. Sung has held various positions such as a member of the Executive Yuan's Public Construction Commission and a team leader of the National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering, assisting in the reviews of major projects and solving engineering disaster problems. His team's research on precast bridge pier construction methods won the Lin Tung-yen Award from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) in 2019, the only award-winning Taiwanese team since the award's establishment over half a century ago. He personally received the Outstanding Contribution Award for Civil Engineers Association in 2022; and was elected as a Board Director of the Chinese Institute of Engineers in 2023. Both institutions are based in Taiwan. 

Dr. Sung previously worked at China Engineering Consultants, Inc. for eleven years, where he participated in the design of various projects such as the Gaoping River cable-stayed bridge in Kaohsiung, the Taipei Civic Boulevard viaduct, Zhengqi Bridge, First MacArthur Bridge, and Zhumei Expressway. The latter four are all located in Taipei. While working fully-time as an engineer, he also taught part-time at Taipei Tech. With full support from his wife, he pursued a full-time doctoral degree and, under the guidance of Professor Tsai I-chau at National Taiwan University, completed his doctorate in three years at the age of 39. He then returned to the Department of Civil Engineering at Taipei Tech as a faculty member. His family was with him in the award ceremony.

Sources of Chinese News Reports：https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/Taipei/breakingnews/4611523
Youtube Link：https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=115aH7rtMtg&t=51s