The White House announced September 27, 2011 that Academician Shu Chien will be one of the seven recipients of the 2011 National Medal of Science. The medals are the highest honors bestowed by the United States government on scientists, engineers, and inventors. The recipients will receive the medal at a White House ceremony on October 21, 2011, along with five recipients of a "sister" medal, the National Medal of Technology and Innovation.

"Each of these extraordinary scientists, engineers, and inventors is guided by a passion for innovation, a fearlessness even as they explore the very frontiers of human knowledge, and a desire to make the world a better place," President Obama said on naming the awardees.

Academician Shu Chien is a medical physiologist and a biomedical engineer who has conducted pioneering work in cardiovascular physiology and bioengineering, which has had tremendous impact in the fields of microcirculation, blood rheology and mechanotransduction in human health and disease. He currently serves as Y.C. Fung Professor of Bioengineering and Director, Institute of Engineering in Medicine at the University of California, San Diego; and Director of Bioengineering and University Professor at the University of California (system-wide).

Dr. Chien has won numerous awards during his 54-year academic career. He was elected Academia Sinica Academician in 1976, and the Foreign Member, Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2006. Dr. Chien is one of very few scholars to be a member of four of the prestigious US Academies: the Institute of Medicine (1994), the National Academy of Engineering (1997), the National Academy of Sciences (2005), and American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2006).

On hearing he had received the award, Dr. Chien said: "I accept this great honor with a deep sense of humbleness and gratitude to my colleagues, including many in Academia Sinica and other institutions in Taiwan, who contributed importantly to what I have accomplished in my research. I am grateful to my parents for their upbringing, my teachers for their mentoring, and my dear wife Kuang-Chung for her love, devotion, support and encouragement."

"The purpose of pursuing a career in science is to generate new knowledge and explore the truth, educate the next generation, and benefit our society and humankind. This is consistent with President Obama's announcement. I feel greatly honored and encouraged by the recognition bestowed by the US National Medal of Science."

Previously, six other members of Academia Sinica have been awarded the medal: Dr. Yuan-Tseh Lee (1986), Dr. Chen Ning Yang (1986), Dr. Paul Ching-Wu Chu (1988), Dr. Alfred Y. Cho (1993), Dr. Shing-Tung Yau (1997), and Dr. Yuan-Cheng Fung (2000).

The National Medal of Science was created by statute in 1959 and is administered for the White House by the National Science Foundation. Awarded annually, the Medal recognizes individuals who have made outstanding contributions to science and engineering.

Related website: http://www.nsf.gov/od/nms/recipients.cfm.