Robert Yuan

Professor Emeritus

His principal research interests relate to the impact of biotechnology on the economic development of both industrialized and developing countries. He has carried out a number of major studies for the U.S. International Trade Administration focusing on: government policies in support of biotechnology: these include basic research programs as well as promotion of industrial projects and regulation of new products and processes; the principal research laboratories and their activities: these include R&D carried out in government institutes, universities and also industrial centers; the principal companies involved in biotechnology: these include both those introducing biotechnology into traditional industries and those developing novel industrial activities; the mechanisms of technology transfer: these include both traditional forms of collaboration between academia and industry and commercial agreements between foreign and U.S. firms. Whenever possible, the mechanisms for financing of industrial biotechnology were also studied. These studies covered eleven countries in Western Europe and a number of Asian countries such as Japan, China, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.

These efforts led to his serving as an adviser and consultant to a number of foreign governments in the evaluation and planning of their efforts in building up their scientific and industrial infrastructure in biotechnology. These resulted in a series of reports to:

• The Dept. of Trade and Industry, Hong Kong Government
• The National Science and Technology Development Agency, Royal Thai Government
• The Council of Economic Planning and Development, Government of Taiwan
• The Economic Development Administration, Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

As the Asian editor of Genetic Engineering News, the major biotechnology trade journal, he has a regular column that covers new developments in biotechnology in Asia.

Dr. Yuan's second major area of interest is in undergraduate curriculum development in biology. In collaboration with Dr. Spencer Benson, he has restructured six courses in the Microbiology Dept. These efforts have focused on a concept entitled "The Virtual Workplace" which emphasizes the use of information for the definition and solution of problems as well as the acquisition of basic skills in teamwork, oral and written presentations and peer review. He has also explored the introduction of cultural diversity into science teaching. One major project involves the Diversity Notebook. This is a collection of case studies drawn from other cultures that are used to illustrate basic biological concepts. Many of these case studies have been developed in collaboration with the students in an honor seminar. Such innovative efforts have led to invitations to speak as a keynote speaker in the Undergraduate Education Conference of the American Society of Microbiology (1995) as well as conferences of the American Association for Higher Education, the Biozentrum in Basel, Switzerland, the Human Genome Project, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

Courses taught by Dr. Yuan:

Recent Publications:

Yuan, R., Benson, S.A., and Glick, L., Teaching Management Skills to Science Students: Creating a Virtual Workplace. Technology Management 1, 107-118, 1994.