Lee Hong-yuan
Lee Hong-yuan is a Taiwanese civil engineer, environmental engineer, and politician. He was the Minister of the Interior from 2012 to 2014, and previously the Minister of the Public Construction Commission from 2011 to 2012.
Early life and education
Lee Hong-yuan was born in Taishan, Taipei County, to a family of farmers. His father, Lee Teng-hui, served as head of the district. His younger brother, Lee Hung-chun, is also an engineer and politician.Lee graduated from National Cheng Kung University with a bachelor's degree in hydraulic engineering in 1978. He then completed graduate studies in the United States, where he earned a Master of Science in 1982 and his Ph.D. in 1984 from the University of Iowa in civil engineering and environmental engineering under professor A. Jacob Odgaard. His doctoral dissertation was titled, "Flow and Bed Characteristics in Alluvial Channel Bends." He was later inducted as a member of the university's Distinguished Engineering Alumni Academy in 2008.
Upon graduation, Lee worked in the United States for two years before returning to Taiwan in 1986 to teach at National Taiwan University. Lee has also been a visiting professor at five universities in China and in the Netherlands.