My name is Hung-chun Chang and I am currently a Professor at National Taiwan University in Taipei, Taiwan. I am affiliated with the Department of Electrical Engineering, the Graduate Institute of Electro-Optical Engineering, and the Graduate Institute of Communication Engineering of the University, which are all under the College of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. My research interests include theory, design, and application of guided-wave structures and devices for fiber optics, integrated optics, and optoelectronics, and computational electromagnetics for problems in photonics.

I am glad to find that Taipei area, including its vicinity, is an important IEICE overseas area in terms of the number of members as well as the number of articles published in the Institute's English Transactions. Having more lecture meetings or workshop would help publicize these facts and let the general attendants get familiar with the IEICE activities. An ideal place to hold such lecture meetings is on the National Taiwan University campus. The College of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science of the University is the most prestigious institution in the fields of Information, Communication, Electronics, and Computer Engineering in Taiwan. The College at present employs 140 full-time faculty members and has an enrollment of over 1000 undergraduate students, and over 1300 Master and Ph.D students. Its research activities cover almost the complete spectrum in EE and CS. Nearby, there are the National Taiwan Normal University, the National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, the National Taipei University of Technology, and other private universities. In addition, there are quite a few electronics and computer companies within the city. Lectures given by renowned scholars from Japan will not only offer opportunities for exchange of ideas with local scholars but also be beneficial to many students.

Recently, due to the epidemic of SARS in Taipei and its vicinity, many academic activities involving foreign visitors have to be canceled. I hope the situation could be well controlled in short period and we can start arranging meetings or workshop soon. I plan to invite two scholars in different research areas from Japan to visit Taipei and lecture in the meetings before next spring. The speech would include recent development and progress in the respective speaker's research expertise. I will make the announcement of such lectures reach local IEICE members and local colleagues and try to make them successful IEICE activities.