Academia Sinica scholars elected to TWAS

2014-11-05

Three Taiwan scholars from the nation’s leading research body Academia Sinica were elected to The World Academy of Sciences at the 24th TWAS General Meeting Oct. 25-29 in Muscat, Oman.

The new TWAS fellows are Kuan Chung-ming, minister of the National Development Council and chair professor at National Taiwan University; Li Ker-chau, distinguished research fellow of the Institute of Statistical Science; and Tsai Ming-daw, distinguished research fellow of the Institute of Biological Chemistry.

Kuan was inducted into social and economic sciences for his contribution to the research of econometric theory, economic forecasting methods and empirical studies in economics and finance. His macroeconomic forecasting models and financial condition indicator have aided the government and private sector in understanding economic fluctuations.

Li was elected to mathematical sciences for his seminal publications on statistics and high-dimensional data analysis, while Tsai was named in the area of structural, cell and molecular biology for his research on related topics as the structure-function relationship of proteins in DNA damage response and cancer signaling.

Separately, Denise Wu—an associate professor from National Central University’s Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience in Taoyuan County—was named a TWAS Young Affiliate. The five-year tenure is awarded to scientists under 40 who show potential for a promising career.

In addition, Chung Sun-lin—also a research fellow with Taipei City-based Academia Sinica—was awarded a TWAS prize in earth sciences. He was joined by Chang Tse-wen in medical sciences and Lu Chih-yuan in engineering sciences.

Based in Trieste, Italy, TWAS was founded by Nobel physics laureate Abdus Salam in 1983 to promote science and engineering for sustainable prosperity in the developing world. The academy boasts a lineup of 1,148 elected fellows—15 of them Nobel Prize winners—from 90 countries.

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=223660&CtNode=413)