Wu was born in Nanjing on 9 April 1934, and earned a bachelor's degree from National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan in 1956.

[5] Wu joined the University of Delaware faculty in 1974, and held the H. Fletcher Brown Professorship in Marine Studies and Civil Engineering from 1980 to 1998.

[2][3] Wu was selected by President Lee Teng-hui to serve as Taiwan's education minister in June 1996.

[2] His resignation was due to a difference of opinion dispute between himself and the president of Academia Sinica, Lee Yuan-tseh, over the pace and types of educational reforms needed.

[2] (Lee Yuan-tseh had previously chaired a panel force in the 1980s which had led to a number of changes concerning education in Taiwan.