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NTNU Professor Emeritus Receives NARST's Highest Honor

National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) is proud to announce that Professor Emeritus Dr. Mei-Hung Chiu of the Graduate Institute of Science Education has been awarded the 2026 Distinguished Contributions to Science Education Through Research Award (DCRA) by the National Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST). DCRA is considered the most prestigious lifetime achievement honor in the global science education research community. Prof. Chiu is notably the first scholar of Chinese descent to receive this honor since NARST's founding in 1928. 

The award was presented on 20 April at NARST's 99th Annual Meeting in Seattle, Washington, before an international gathering of science education scholars from across the world.

From Taiwan to the World Stage

In a deeply personal and widely praised acceptance speech, Prof. Chiu opened by recalling her arrival in the United States 41 years ago with two suitcases, a brand new passport, and English proficiency acquired purely to pass exams. She described standing at a sandwich counter, unable to decipher what “BLT” meant, an anecdote that drew knowing laughter and warm recognition from international colleagues in the audience. “And yet today,” she said, “I stand on the stage of the 99th NARST Annual Meeting.” The grit and determination contained within this simple sentence invoked sustained applause.

Prof. Chiu is an alumna of NTNU's Department of Chemistry, who went on to complete her master's and doctoral degrees at Harvard University. She joined NTNU's Graduate Institute of Science Education upon returning to Taiwan, forgoing opportunities in the US to invest in Taiwan’s educational research. She retired with emeritus distinction and remarkable contribution in 2023.

A Career Defined by a Central Question

Prof. Chiu described her decades of research as driven by a single animating question: how can we better understand and support students as they grapple with complex and abstract scientific concepts? That question led her to investigate science learning processes, conceptual change, instructional innovation, and educational technology as well as into sustained collaboration with leading international scholars.

She credited formative influences at Harvard, including Judah Schwartz, Bob Tinker, and Eleanor Duckworth along with the opportunity to audit Seymour Papert's courses at MIT. A period at the University of Pittsburgh working alongside conceptual change authority Prof. Michelene Chi proved especially pivotal. Prof. Chi had encouraged Dr. Chiu to remain in the United States, and celebrated the recent news of Prof. Chiu’s award. 

Pioneering Research

Among Prof. Chiu's most innovative contribution is her team's application of facial micro-expression recognition to the analysis of student learning. Inspired by the television series Lie to Me, she and collaborator Prof. Chin-Cheng Chou began exploring whether real-time analysis of subtle facial expressions could reveal moments of conceptual shift and cognitive engagement in science learners. The resulting research program has become a landmark example of cross-disciplinary integration between science education and artificial intelligence.

Prof. Chiu also served as Associate Editor of the Journal of Research in Science Teaching and co-edited a landmark 2011 special issue on the globalization of science education. Her long collaboration with Australian scholar Prof. David Treagust on student misconceptions and conceptual learning further deepened Taiwan's integration into the international science education research community.

Building Global Bridges from Taiwan

Prof. Chiu served as President of NARST and used that platform to advance the organization's international reach, championing the Linking Science Educators Program which has supported science education development in Malawi, India, South Africa, Rwanda, Lebanon, Indonesia, and Brazil. She also made history by hosting NARST's doctoral student research summer institute (the Abell Institute) in Taiwan. It was the first time the program had been held outside the United States and had attracted 35 doctoral students from 11 countries and 8 mentors from 6 nations.

As NARST approaches its centennial, Prof. Chiu closed her remarks by honoring the scholars who came before her and encouraging future generations. She spoke directly to non-native English speakers in the audience: language, she insisted, must never be allowed to limit imagination, creativity, or contribution to the research community. “If I could set out from uncertainty and find my way, so can you.”

The ceremony concluded with the playing of “Tomorrow Will Be Better,” a beloved Taiwanese song whose melody moved Chinese-speaking scholars and students in the hall to visible emotion. NTNU President Yao-Ting Sung expressed pride in Prof. Chiu's achievement, affirming the University's commitment to cross-disciplinary innovation and international collaboration in education research.