The spotlight is on Meson Hu, National Formosa University, Taiwan

National Formosa University (NFU), located in Huwei Township, Yunlin County, Taiwan, is organized into four colleges: the College of Engineering, the College of Electronics and Information, the College of Management, and the College of Applied Arts and Sciences.

Over 7,000 students are enrolled in these colleges, which offer 19 undergraduate, 18 postgraduate, and two doctorate level study programs, with a strong focus on engineering, business, and applied sciences. The Department of Information Management, belonging to the College of Management, is part of the university's commitment to training professionals in fields that combine business management and information technology. The department frequently collaborates with industries, allowing students to gain practical experience through internships, projects, and industry-oriented research.

Meson Hu (Nian-Ze Hu), teaches database management systems, programming, and the use of data analysis in fields such as manufacturing performance and sports science. He is a professional speaker at the Taiwan AI Academy and has a master’s degree in Management Information Systems from National Chiao Tung University and a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering from Yuan-Ze University, Taiwan. He has been using Oracle Academy resources since 2020.

Oracle Academy: Which Oracle Academy resources do you use?

Meson Hu: I primarily leverage the Java programming and Oracle database management courses, ensuring that my students get a step-by-step learning experience. I teach database and programming using Database Design, Database Programming with PL/SQL, and Java Programming. I also use the course Artificial Intelligence with Machine Learning in Java for research connected to sports. Oracle Academy’s structured lesson plans speed up the teaching and learning process. The content is invaluable for delivering foundational and advanced teaching in these topics. The coding exercises and projects help me in conducting hands-on labs that focus on real-world scenarios and help students to develop strong critical thinking skills.

Oracle Academy: How did NFU become an Oracle Academy member?

Meson Hu: I have always loved programming and manipulating database systems and became certified in Oracle Database Administration back in the days of Oracle Database 10g, released in 2003! I learned Java from Sun Microsystems before Oracle acquired it and became familiar with Microsoft SQL Server and IBM Cognos for business intelligence. But it was not until I joined NFU that I got to know the wide range of freely available software from Oracle Academy. I downloaded the materials, discovered which parts would be of value for my database management classes, and recommended that we become an Institutional member. Now we are.

A few of my colleagues teaching engineering and multimedia introduce Java programming in their classes, but by means of Taiwanese textbooks in Chinese. I am hoping that more will follow my example by spreading the good news about Oracle Academy.

Oracle Academy: Can you tell us about your students?

Meson Hu: I have Taiwanese undergraduate students who study with me in class. And then there is a large contingent of online students from abroad, in countries such as Thailand, Vietnam, and other neighbouring regions. These are in the graduate program. Some are already working. All my classes are in English for all students. There are 50-60 undergraduates per course in Taiwan and 40-50 in the graduate class.

Oracle Academy: In what way do Oracle Academy materials help you?

Meson Hu: There are benefits for the teacher and for the students. As an instructor, the lesson plans have significantly reduced the need to build curriculum from scratch. For the students, apart from getting skilled in a world-class database management system, the materials provide simplification. For example, when I teach programming and database design, the first problem is how to build up the environment. The slides show them the concept of entities, attributes and relationships and how to create a database. But when it comes to scenarios with which to practice, I do not want students spending time collecting data or inputting data. Fortunately, Oracle Academy provides those sample data sets.

In another example, if students have trouble typing a SQL query statement, especially when it’s a large data set, they may end up with too many error messages and start worrying. But if I show them simple code from Oracle Academy, they only have to revise the statement for different scenarios or applications. In this way, they don’t have to worry about spelling mistakes or misplaced punctuation or ensuring that all table and column names are correct. In the end, the materials allow them to become more confident during the learning process.

This is very true for students from abroad who can’t put up their hand and ask the teacher; having the SQL code available through Oracle Academy is a real benefit.

Oracle Academy: Do you have any plans to use Oracle Cloud?

Meson Hu: I have future plans to give each student an Oracle Cloud account and go deeper into the subject. Currently I show students the steps to log onto the Oracle Cloud through the internet, download the Oracle Academy installation guide, and get access to virtual machines and practice workshops from their PCs. Since our university infrastructure is not very stable, Oracle Cloud is key to fixing performance issues for people connecting from other countries.

Oracle Academy: What sort of careers are your students looking at?

Meson Hu: Most of the top companies in Taiwan store their production data and business information in an Oracle database system. Many of them also use Oracle e-Business Suite as their ERP platform. There are plenty of jobs for graduates who know how to tune or manipulate those systems, link a database to an ERP, and help their companies be more efficient.

Before graduating, my students usually find interim jobs in high-tech and other companies. They help organizations to improve the system performance by revising SQL statements, tuning database parameters — all the basics they learn through the Oracle Academy courses.

All of the opportunities for them in industry come from their deep understanding of how to use Oracle database for designing and implementing corporate systems that increase performance and productivity. To this end, I also encourage them to earn Oracle professional certifications to prove their database and coding skills. I guide them through certification preparation to build their confidence so that post-grad they can sit Oracle Professional Associate exams in database management, Java programming, SQL and PL/SQL, and other disciplines.

Oracle Academy: Can you share with us how you use AI/ML in manufacturing performance and sports science research?

Meson Hu: NFU is a major research university, and I have collaborated in multiple studies, papers, and real-life projects. I share these projects with my students, who in this way get to see the types of challenges industries have and understand where Oracle databases skills come into play.

For example, over the past few years I have helped a hospital in visual recognition of endoscopy treatment; an optoelectronics company with video recognition of coating defects; and a plastics company in the prediction of Melt Flow Index. Other projects include big data analysis for integrated circuit development, and the visual recognition of defects in the manufacturing of vehicle components.

I am especially engaged in helping companies to enhance the quality of decision making by integrating the power of big data and artificial intelligence.

In class, I show students these projects and get them to design some simple AI systems to enhance the capabilities of production line, such as defect detection by image recognition, or data integration of IOT devices. All of these tasks bring valuable experiences to students. It is here that I introduce them to Oracle Academy’s Artificial Intelligence with Machine Learning in Java, a resource that I will roll out more intensively in the future. Already I apply that course to another key area of interest: sports science.

Oracle Academy: Kindly tell us more…

Meson Hu: The field of sports science includes things like exercise physiology, how the body responds to physical activity and exercise; sports medicine, understanding how to prevent and treat sports-related injuries; and biomechanics, which is about analyzing the mechanics of movement, including how muscles and joints work together in physical activities and how to optimize athletic performance and prevent injuries.

I currently work in the field of sports science, collaborating with athletes to improve their performance. To strengthen our efforts, we have built a dedicated team that includes NFU athletics coach Dr. Li-Chun Yu and a physical therapist from NTU Hospital. Together, we designed a comprehensive Sport Science course aimed at enhancing both the physical and technical capabilities of our athletes. The participants, including hammer throwers and high jumpers, not only work on their athletic skills but also learn programming, AI algorithms, and database concepts. We teach them how to mount sensors on their bodies for data collection and how to operate unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) cameras to record and analyze their practice sessions effectively.

I taught them to collect and store critical athletic information in the Oracle database and to use PL/SQL for trend analysis. In addition, they also learned AI skills to discover the relationship between posture, movement, kinetic energy, and output during practice. By adding data analysis to personal experience and coaching, athletes can improve both their posture and movement efficiency, leading to greater output with less energy expenditure. All the players summarized their results after finishing the training courses and, through analysis of the reports, could see how advantageous or not they are to their coaches.

I am not saying that this is all down to our efforts at NFU, but certain hammer-throwing players who underwent this training won gold and silver medals in the National Sports Games in Taiwan during the past two years. In addition, a high-jump player broke the national record in 2024 and is intent on participating in the next Olympic Games.

The Sports Science work we accomplished used materials from the following Oracle Academy’s courses and labs: Artificial Intelligence with Machine Learning in Java; Database Design; Database Programming with PL/SQL; and Oracle Database – Hands-On Labs.

Oracle Academy: That’s amazing! Do you play any sports?

Meson Hu: My sport is badminton! I play regularly at a local gym. I began with singles but have moved on to doubles. But I’m not aiming for Los Angeles in 2028!

Thank you, Meson Hu, for your passion for Oracle Academy and for preparing your students to make a positive impact.