TWAS Elects 2 Academicians as Members and 2 Scholars as TWAS Prize and Young Affiliate

The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) announced the election of two Academia Sinica Academicians among its 2019 list of 46 new members in Trieste, Italy.

The two new TWAS members are, in order of announcement: Academician Leroy Liu, Chair Professor of Graduate Institute of Cancer Biology and Drug Discovery, Taipei Medical University; Academician Mei-Yin Chou, Vice President and Distinguished Research Fellow in the Institute of Atomic and Molecular Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taiwan. In addition, Professor Chi-Hung Juan of Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at the National Central University is the new Prize winner in the field of Social Sciences. Professor Han-Ching Wang of Department of Biotechnology and Bioindustry Sciences, National Cheng Kung University was elected a 2019 TWAS Young Affiliate, an honor awarded annually to exceptional scientists below the age of 40.

Academician Leroy Liu was elected to the area of Structural, Cell and Molecular Biology for his contribution to the discovery and mechanistic studies of type II DNA topoisomerases, proposing and establishing the twin-domain model of DNA template supercoiling for transcription, and the identification of human DNA topoisomerases as therapeutic targets for cancer.

Academician Mei-Yin Chou was elected to the area of Physics. In the past few decades, she has established herself as one of the leading figures in first-principles electronic-structure calculations, with a distinguished career marked by numerous important contributions to the development and characterization of advanced materials. She is noted for the seminal work on the electronic structure of simple metal clusters and the properties of various types of nanostructures ranging from semiconductor nanowires to metal thin films to two-dimensional materials.

Professor Chi-Hung Juan has been investigating fundamental research topics (e.g. visual attention, working memory and cognitive control) in experimental psychology with modern neuroscientific techniques and nonlinear analytical methods for many years. He is employing his research discoveries in the educational setting and also in early detection and precision treatment in neurological and psychiatric disorders.

Professor Han-Ching Wang was elected for her contribution towards elucidating pathogenesis of the deadliest contagious shrimp diseases and shrimp immunology for developing strategies for selection of disease-resistant shrimps.

TWAS now has more than 1,267 members from 104 countries. Forty-six new TWAS Fellows were elected into the membership on 27 November 2018 and thirteen new members are women – an unprecedented 28.2% of the new class. The main mission of the academy is to promote scientific excellence and capacity in the South for science-based sustainable development.