The Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (TWAS) announced the election of five Academia Sinica Academicians among its 2012 list of new members on September 18. In addition, one research fellow from Academia Sinica was elected a TWAS Young Affiliate. The announcement of the conferral of the accolades was made at the 23rd TWAS General Meeting held from September 17 to 21 in Tianjin, China.

　　Four Academicians were elected TWAS Fellows and one was elected an Associate Fellow. The four Fellows are, in order of announcement, Academician Kuan Wang, Director of the Institute of Chemistry, Academia Sinica; Academician Lu-Hai Wang, Acting President and Distinguished Investigator of the Division of Molecular and Genomic Medicine, National Health Research Institutes, Taiwan; Academician Kung-Yee Liang, President of National Yang-Ming University; and Academician Shih-I Chu, Watkins Distinguished Professor of the University of Kansas and Director of Kansas Center for Advanced Scientific Computing. Academician Chenming Hu, Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, University of California at Berkeley was elected an Associate Fellow.

　　In addition, Dr. Tzu-Ching Chang, Assistant Research Fellow of the Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, was elected a 2012 TWAS Young Affiliate, an honor awarded annually to exceptional scientists below the age of 40.

　　Academician Kuan Wang was elected to the area of Structural, Cell and Molecular Biology. Academician Wang has made significant contributions to the study of muscle biology and cell motility, including the discovery and naming of five new cytoskeletal proteins that are important in assembly, regulation and dysfunction of the cytomatrix in cardiac, skeletal and smooth muscles and in non-muscle cells.

　　Academician Lu-Hai Wang was elected to the area of Biological Systems and Organisms. Academician Wang's early work initially established the genomic map of Rous sarcoma virus and demonstrated the cellular origin of the src gene. He discovered novel cancer-causing genes (fps and ros), and elucidated the molecular basis of various cancer-causing mechanisms.

　　Academician Kung-Yee Liang was elected to the area of Medical and Health Sciences. Academician Liang is a leading researcher in developing statistical methods for analyzing correlated data including longitudinal and family data, which are common in clinical and public health research.

　　Academician Shih-I Chu was elected to the area of Physics. His research contributions are in the pioneering development of a number of new theoretical formalisms and accurate computational methods for in-depth ab initio investigation of a broad range of problems in chemical physics, atomic and molecular physics, and molecular astrophysics.

　　Academician Chenming Hu was elected to the area of Engineering Sciences. Dubbed the father of 3D transistors for leading FinFET development at UC Berkeley in 1999, Academician Hu is most well-known for his achievements in producing ever smaller yet more reliable and higher-performance integrated circuits.

　　In addition to the scholars from Academia Sinica, Dr. Hong Kun Xu, Professor and Chair of the Department of Applied Mathematics, National Sun Yat-Sen University, was elected a TWAS member; and Dr. Ann-Shyn Chiang, Chair Professor of National Tsing Hua University, was awarded the TWAS prize in Biology;

　　TWAS has more than 1,000 members from 90 countries. The main mission of the academy is to promote scientific excellence and capacity in the South for science-based sustainable development. This year’s annual meeting was attended by more than 400 people from 30 countries.

Related website: http://twas.ictp.it/