The 4th Tzu Chi Pingtung County and City Cup Environmental Protection and Disaster Prevention E-sports Competition was held on March 18 (2025) at the Pingtung County Sports Stadium. Assistant Professor Zhi-Mou Chen and Assistant Professor Chia-Jung Tsai from the NPUST Department of Civil Engineering led a group of 10 master’s and undergraduate students to participate in the exhibition. At their booth, the engineering students introduced visitors to “Applications and Practical Observations of Weirs” and the “Recycling of Cocoa Shells”, showcasing the results of their innovative research in practice. Their exhibit attracted a large number of visitors, ranging from primary school students to local VIPs. Their display also integrated important information on disaster prevention and environmental protection, which was presented in an interactive and entertaining way. At the opening ceremony of the event, Director Wen-Shinn Shyu of the NPUST Department of Civil Engineering received a letter of appreciation from the Pingtung County Magistrate Chou Chun-mi in recognition of the important cooperation between industry, government and academia which the department is party to.
A total of 126 elementary schools participated in the E-Sports Competition. The competitors included 377 students who were selected from 5,188 of their peers to participate in the county-wide competition. Based on the results from today, 10 students were selected to move on to the Taiwan semi-finals for the Environmental Education E-sports Competition PaGamO International Cup.
The scale of the event was quite grand with 42 promotional booths set up on site to promote the importance of environmental protection and disaster prevention education. One of the highlights of National Pingtung University of Science and Technology’s exhibition was the display on “Applications and Practical Observations of Weirs.” Here students and parents learned about water intake and measuring facilities by observing the hydraulic models the students had prepared for demonstrations. The other main attraction at the booth was the students’ display on “cocoa shell recycling” which presented ways to use innovative recycling methods to turn an agricultural waste product into products with value—such as building materials or renewable energy sources. By creating innovative resource recycling and carbon reduction techniques, the students are helping to further the goal of net zero carbon emissions.
