TWAS Elects 3 Academicians as TWAS Members | Academia Sinica Newsletter

The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) announced the election of three Academia Sinica Academicians among its 2020 list of 36 new members in Trieste, Italy. The three new TWAS members are, in order of announcement: Academician Bon-Chu Chung, Distinguished Research Fellow and Professor, Institute of Molecular Biology, Academia Sinica; Academician James C. Liao, President of Academia Sinica; Academician Chih-Yuan Lu, CTO/President of Macronix International Co., Ltd., Founding Chairman of Ardentec Group, and Distinguished Chair Professor of National Taiwan University.

TWAS Elects 3 Academicians as TWAS Members

Academician Bon-Chu Chung was elected in the area of Structural, Cell and Molecular Biology. Dr. Chung uses the methods of cell, molecular, and developmental biology to investigate the functions and regulation of genes. She deciphered the regulation of steroid synthesis, and characterized steroidogenic pathways in zebrafish. She discovered the action mechanism of neurosteroid pregnenolone and received wide appraise. Dr. Chung won the Academy Award from the Ministry of Education and L’OREAL For Women in Science Award. She was elected into the Zoological Society of Kolkata in India and the International Molecular Biology Network for Asia and the Pacific Rim. Dr. Chung served Taiwanese research community as the Director General of the Department of Life Sciences in National Science Council (the former Ministry of Science and Technology).

President James C. Liao was elected to TWAS in the area of Biological Systems and Organisms. President Liao is a pioneer in Metabolic and Synthetic Biology, specializing in both the microbial synthesis of fuels and chemicals, and the redesign of primary metabolic network. He also invented Network Component Analysis (NCA) for analyzing transcription regulatory networks, and designed synthetic gene-metabolic regulatory circuits, which set the foundation for Metabolic and Synthetic Biology. President Liao is an elected Member of the US National Academy of Engineering, US National Academy of Sciences, and Fellow of National Academy of Inventors. He received numerous awards and recognitions, including the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award, the White House “Champion of Change” for innovations in renewable energy, the ENI Renewable Energy Prize bestowed by the President of Italy, and the National Academy of Sciences Award for the Industrial Application of Science.

Academician Chih-Yuan Lu was elected in the area of Engineering Sciences. With AT&T Bell Labs in the mid-1980s, Dr. Lu has made seminal scientific innovations and outstanding technical contributions; later he joined ERSO/ITRI in 1989 as a Deputy General Director responsible for the MOEA grand Submicron Project. This project successfully developed Taiwan the first 8-inch manufacturing technology with high density DRAM/SRAM, and thus led Taiwan semiconductor industry onto world stage. Dr. Lu is a key driver for Taiwan’s memory industry. He was elected Fellows of APS, IEEE and US NAI. Dr. Lu has been granted IEEE Frederik Philips Award and the ROC national highest honor “Presidential Science Prize”.

TWAS now has more than 1,278 members. Thirty-six new TWAS Fellows were elected into the membership on 10 December 2019 and thirteen new members are women – an unprecedented 33% 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. The election results take effect on 1 January, 2020. The new members will be formally inducted at the next TWAS General Meeting.