Academician Henry T. Yang who is chancellor of the University of California at Santa Barbara, has been elected chairman of the Association of American Universities (AAU), a group of 62 top research universities in the United States and Canada. He took up his position on October 20th.

      UC Santa Barbara was invited to join the AAU during Dr. Yang's tenure as chancellor and Dr. Yang has been a member of the AAU's executive committee since 2005.

       The AAU is a nonprofit association founded in 1900. It focuses on national and institutional issues that are important to research-intensive universities, including funding for research, research and education policy, and graduate and undergraduate education. Membership in AAU is by invitation and is based on the high quality of university programs and general recognition that a university is outstanding by reason of the excellence of its research and education programs. 

       Dr. Yang is a world-renowned aerospace engineer. He was elected as an Academician of Academia Sinica in 1992. He is also a member of the US National Academy of Engineering, a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), and a member of the US President's Committee for the nomination of the National Medal of Science. He was the Neil A. Armstrong Distinguished Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Purdue University from 1988 to 1994. He received the AIAA Structures, Structural Dynamics and Materials Award in 2008.

Related Websites:
Association of American Universities, http://www.aau.edu/about/article.aspx?id=5476
http://www.ia.ucsb.edu/pa/display.aspx?pkey=2112