Recognition from regional scholarly bodies offers one of the clearest measures of a university's standing among its peers, and Asia's magnetics community has just delivered such a verdict. At the Taiwan Magnetics Annual Conference held in Kinmen on July 21, 2026, the Asian Union of Magnetics Societies (AUMS) announced that its highest honor, the AUMS Award, would go to Professor Ching-Ray Chang, Emeritus Professor in the Department of Physics at National Taiwan University (NTU) and Chair Professor at Chung Yuan Christian University, jointly with Professor Yoshishige Suzuki of the Osaka Institute of Technology in Japan. Conference chair Professor Teruo Ono of Kyoto University presented the award and certificate in person.
Established in 2009, AUMS brings together the magnetics societies of Taiwan, Japan, Korea, China, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Russia, and confers its flagship award every two years to honor Asian scholars whose work in magnetism, magnetic materials, and applications has achieved world-class significance. The award citation highlighted Professor Chang's pioneering contributions across quantum computing, spintronics, nanotechnology, and quantum education, noting how his research integrates quantum information science, advanced materials, and quantum-inspired computing. It further credited his visionary leadership with advancing international collaboration and cultivating scientific talent throughout Asia, thereby strengthening the region's strategic position within the global quantum technology landscape. Both laureates have been invited to deliver keynote addresses at the International Conference of AUMS (IcAUMS) in 2028.
The honor follows Professor Chang's recent inclusion in the Quantum 100, a global list compiled in connection with the United Nations International Year of Quantum Science and Technology in 2025, underscoring the breadth of a career spanning fundamental physics, applied technology, and science education. NTU's presence at the awards extended to the next generation as well: Dr. Danru Qu of the university's Center for Condensed Matter Sciences was among the recipients of the AUMS Young Researcher Award, established to encourage emerging scholars. Taken together, the two awards point to sustained research capacity in spintronics at NTU and to a pipeline of talent connecting established leadership with early-career researchers—a combination increasingly central to how universities build durable influence in strategically important scientific fields.