PAWEES International Award Speech

Professor Akira GOTO Utsunomiya University, Japan

It is my great pleasure to receive the honorable award from PAWEES. I also have to say I am very sorry for being absent from this important venue. While paddy field farming is the common agricultural practice in the monsoon Asia region, its farming styles vary place to place and time to time, in accordance with diversity of hydrological conditions and difference in stages of development. I think irrigation and drainage engineering for paddy-based agriculture, namely PAWEES, is engineering and technology based on such diversity. With such recognition, I have been engaged in field-oriented research works in Southeast Asian countries. The researches were conducted as collaboration with the universities there, and many of my students, both Japanese and foreign students, were involved. I am now very happy to be awarded by appreciation of such international activities of mine. Thank you very much again. I wish this PAWEES conference will be successful and fruitful.

PAWEES International Award Speech

Professor Ke-Sheng Cheng National Taiwan University, Taiwan
Firstly, I like to thank PAWEES Japan and the Nominating Committee. It s my great honor to be the recipient of this prestigious award. I owe this award to many people who have taken part in establishing PAWEES and launching PWE publication. We have come a very long way to enjoy the tangible success of PAWEES and PWE today. But looking back, it was the collective efforts of many researchers and professors in Korea, Japan, and Taiwan that made our achievements become realities. As JF Kennedy once said, efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction. From the first preparatory meeting of PAWEES held in Kyoto in 2002, we had had clear objectives and were on a right track. For this, I like to pay tribute to the presidents of TSAE, KSAE and JSIDRE back then, namely, Dr. Ming-Hua Tsai, Prof. Soon-Kuk Kwun, and most notably, PAWEES founding president, Prof. Yohei Sato. It was their vision, perseverance and great leadership that led us to overcome numerous challenges. I also like to thank many outstanding supporting staff of KSAE, JSIDRE, and TSAE. Without their superb performances, we could not have had so many successful meetings and conferences that brought us together and drove PAWEES to excel in every of its endeavors. Establishing PWE as an outstanding SCI journal was one of the major missions of PAWEES. PWE has been listed in SCI and gained SCI impact factor since two years ago. However, it is still in its infancy and we need to keep doing good science to foster high quality publication of PWE. For over twelve years, I have had the privilege working with so many dedicated people and leading scientists like you. Today, I see many new faces and younger generations participating in PAWEES activities. Let s keep this momentum going and we surely will stride into a new and successful era of PAWEES. Finally, I like to thank all of you for being here today and I look forward to seeing you in the next PAWEES meeting!

PAWEES International Award Speech

Dr. Keun-Hoo Lee Emeritus professor of Agricultural Engineering Gyeongsang National Universiry, Korea
Good morning Ladies and Gentlemen; First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to the Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers, and the President of KSAE, Dr. Jin-Soo Kim who nominated me to the 2013 PAWEES International Award. I also wish to thank the Nomination Committee of PAWEES International Award that has selected me for this honourable Award. I receive the 2013 PAWEES International Award with mixed feelings of pride, concern, and hope. When I was enrolled in the Institute of Agricultural Engineering and Utilization in 1967, the Korean Government was intended to breed new high yield rice variety called Tongilbyeo. I was assigned to investigate effective way of cold water irrigation for new rice variety. As a result of successful rice breeding, average rice yield was increased from 2t/ha in 1960s to 5t/ha in 2000s. In 1975, Korea achieved self sufficiency of rice which led Korea into industrialized country. It was a rewarding experience for me to participate in such a great project. Today I am here to be bestowed an award by PAWEES. I think my works and practices will be recognized by other friends and colleagues at home and abroad as well. The award gives me a pride and responsibility at the same time. After achievement of self sufficiency of rice, it has been a great concern to see very low governments attention to rice production sectors. Reduced government investment for constructing agricultural infra structures and decreased number of students applying to agricultural engineering department have been followed and continued up to now. These phenomenon has naturally connected to the reduction of research funds and human resources in the field of paddy and water environment engineering.

However, I see a hope from the paddy and water environment engineering. Poverty mitigation and improvement of rural environments are still current hot issues at global scale. Agricultural development is a starting point to solve these issues. It is clear that knowledges on paddy and water environment are the basis of agricultural development. That means future demand of paddy and water environment engineering will be expanded further. We have made brilliant progress since PAWEES was founded and published the first volume of official journal in 2003. In 2009, PAWEES was registered as a SCIE journal and its impact factor marked 1.025 in 2012. It means that the affective power of PAWEES has been continued to increase. Outstanding achievements of PAWEES provide us a concrete foundation of our profession. This makes me have a hope despite of the concerns mentioned earlier. There are so many organizations and individuals who supported and affected me in various ways. I sincerely express my deep gratitude to Gyeongsang National University where I had serviced 34 years, which allowed me to care my family and carry out most of my works. I also give my appreciation to all the colleagues who shared friendship and cooperation with me so long time at Department of Agricultural Engineering. And thank you my students who took a small part of their own journey with me at GNU. Without a doubt they have collectively taught me more than I have taught them. I also appreciate The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers, The Korea Rural Community Corporation, and The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. I have supported and collaborated in various ways from or with these organizations resulting in personal progress and chest full worthwhile. Thank you Dr. Ki-Choon Lee, Dr. Seung-Deok Suh, Director Ju-Chang Kim, Dr. Soon-Hyeok Lee, Dr. Ye-Hwan Choi, and Dr. Soon-Kuk Kwon for sharing my moments of joy and creative inspiration about agricultural water. Thank you Professor Seon-Ju Kim, Professor

Gui-Seok Yeon, and Professor Seong-Jun Kim you were the best supporting staffs of mine for the administration of Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers. Thank you all again. I have been fortunate to have family who have been my greatest cheerleaders. I want to thank my wife Seung-Shin Park for her unwavering support and for laughing at my jokes. Thank you to our four daughters and their spouses, Se-Yeon, Se-Jeong, Se-Jin, and Noh-Gyeong who have given us full of everlasting joy and happiness. Due to the limited time allowed, I could not express more thanks to all of friends and colleagues who were not mentioned at this time. Please forgive me, but remember that I love you all. Lastly, I would like to leave my message to all the people who are working in paddy and water environment engineering. If you want your hope towards paddy and water come true, you should be armed with enthusiasm, confidence and persistency. Be prepared, and you will see a part of paddy field world. Thank you.

PAWEES International Award Speech

Mr. Kuang-Cheng Huang Former President of Taiwan Agricultural Engineers Society
Ladies and Gentlemen: On behalf of Taiwan Agricultural Engineers Society, it's my great honor to attend the PAWEES 2013 annual meeting and to receive this year's PAWEES International Award. I would like to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt thanks to the Nominating Committee, the Organizing Committee, and also to the board and members of Taiwan Agricultural Engineers Society who have made their great contribution in the advancement of paddy and water environment engineering in Taiwan. Water is the most essential element to human life and economic activities. For Taiwan, agricultural water consumption accounts for 70% of total water consumption. Therefore, it has been the most important issue to use agricultural water more efficiently in Taiwan. In order to enhance agricultural water use efficiency, we are making our efforts to improve the irrigation system and management technology, and will strive to review and adjust the agricultural industry structure. Through these measures, we hope the food security and water resources conservation could be achieved. Sustainable use and development of water resources is the global trend in the 21st century. To reach this goal, we have to work together and share knowledge through international society like PAWEES. I would like to express my sincere appreciation for everyone's outstanding contribution in the society. Finally, I look forward to the successful and fruitful academic exchange and cooperation, and wish the cordial friendship continue to last in the future. Thank you.

PAWEES Paper Award Speech

Dr. Chuan-Pin Chien, Dr. Wen-Tsun Fang Agricultural Engineering Research Center, Taiwan
We would like to thank the International Society of Paddy and Water Environment for the PAWEES Paper Award 2013. It is such a great honor to be recognized as having research contributions in the field of paddy and water environment. The paper Modeling Irrigation Return Flow for the Return Flow Reuse System in Paddy Fields, focuses on the estimation for the amount of return flow in an irrigation system in Taiwan. As we know, there are many excellent and outstanding researchers working on the topic of return flow for paddy fields. We are feeling in good fortune receiving such an important award in the society. It may be the increasing importance of return flow studies in paddy fields in Taiwan drawing attention from the reviewers of the PAWEES Journal. In Taiwan agricultural water use makes large portion of total water consumption; therefore effective water conservation in irrigation may save more water. Using return flow in farmlands is one of the applicable as well as operational ways to conserve water. With full use of return flow in paddy fields by farmers, it is expected that same agricultural water can be supplied to more paddy fields, or water saved can be provided to other water use sectors. Therefore a conservation and sustainable irrigation system may prevail, which is the main concept behind our paper. The PAWEES Paper Award 2013 is quite meaningful to both of us. We would like to thank Professor Ray-Shyan Wu who inspired us in exploring return flow modeling and field experiments. Professor Fi-John Changs encouragement and suggestions during the preparation of the paper in English are also much appreciated. Finally we would like to express our deep gratitude to both of our family members. Their full support completes the research work.

PAWEES Reviewer Award Speech

Dr. Yu-Chuan Chang National Taiwan University, Taiwan
Good morning ladies and gentlemen, I would like to share the award with the members of the Taiwans group, who are here to enjoy this happy moment with me. First, I give my thanks to Prof. Sato, who established the award. It is his contribution that encourages many scholars to devote themselves to the improvement of the quality of PAWEE Journal. Secondly, I give my gratitude to the editors who elected me as the recipient of Sato award. I am grateful for the opportunity to given my contribution into the review work. Last but not least, I want to thank Prof. Kan, who honorably retired from National Taiwan University twelve years ago, but are still active in his profession. In 2010, Prof. Kan recommended me as a visiting scholar in University of Tokyo. It was in that year that I met many great friends and excellent scholars like Prof. Yamaji, Prof. Mizokuji, , Prof. Yoshino, Prof. Shima, Prof. Fujisaki, Prof. Ishikawa and Prof. Sato from University of Tsukuba, all of whom I shared a memorable time with. There are many reviewers who are dedicating themselves to improve the quality of the journal. I truly believe that the comment from reviewers will be one of the greatest drives for continuous improvement of the journal. Being one of them, I hope I can have the chance to make my contribution to the International Society of Paddy and Water Environment Engineering constantly. Thanks all of you.

PAWEES Reviewer Award Speech

Dr. Moon Sung Kang Seoul National University, Korea
I am very thankful to receive the PAWEES Reviewer Award 2013 (MARUYAMA Prize). First of all, I would very much like to express my deepest gratitude to the all of the nominating committee of the PAWEES for choosing me as the recipient. And, I wish the PWE continued success and a top journal now and forever. Also, I will do more hard works to enhance and maintains the high standards of the PWE publications. Thank you very much.