On February 14, 2014, Academician Yu Wang was appointed Academia Sinica Vice President (Division of Mathematics and Physical Sciences). She succeeds outgoing Vice President Shie-Ming Peng. Her term will span from March 1, 2014 to October 18, 2016. A handover ceremony hosted by Academia Sinica President Chi-Huey Wong was held on March 3, 2014 at the Center of Academic Activities. During the ceremony, President Wong thanked outgoing Vice President Peng for his hard work and contributions to Academia Sinica and welcomed incoming Vice President Wang.

         During his term as Vice President, Academician Peng worked to further the development of international cooperation and enhance the talent pool at Academia Sinica supporting the vision of the Academia Sinica President. During his term, the number of Taiwan International Graduate Program (TIGP) programs has increased from eight to twelve. The newly added programs are Biodiversity (2011), Interdisciplinary Neuroscience (2013), Sustainable Chemical Science and Technology (2014) and Social Networks and Human-Centered Computing (2014). In addition to TIGP, Vice President Peng has worked to promote a positive atmosphere of cooperation with domestic universities and build interdisciplinary cooperation and exchanges, for example the cooperation between Academia Sinica and National Taiwan University on the “Drunken Moon Lake Integrated Scientific Research Platform” project.

         Academician Peng (Academician since 1998) is an expert in inorganic chemistry and crystallography. He is noted for his work in the synthesis and structure of transition metal complexes. In recent years, Academician Peng has dedicated himself to research into the synthesis of molecular metal wires. His highly innovative designs are pioneering and hold promise for use in several applications. In 2013, he received Presidential Science Prize of Taiwan (Mathematical and Physical Sciences).

         Incoming Vice President Yu Wang (Academician since 2010) received her doctorate from the Department of Chemistry at the University of Illinois in 1973. She joined the Department of Chemistry of the National Taiwan University (NTU) as an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry in 1979. She was promoted to Professor in 1981 and was Dean of the College of Science of NTU between 2002 and 2005. She was a Distinguished Professor of NTU between 2006 and 2011. Since 2011, she has been a Distinguished Research Chair Professor of the Department of Chemistry. Vice President Wang was Director General of the Department of Natural Sciences and Mathematics of the National Science Council of Taiwan between 1998 and 2001. Among her international appointments as a visiting scientist/professor, she was at the Max- Planck Institute, Ruhr, Germany (1985-1986), the University of Nancy, France (1994/7-12) and the University of Kyoto (2005). She was Vice-President of Asia Crystallographic Association (AsCA) between 1994 and 1996 and went on to become President of the AsCA between 2002 and 2004. She was also a Member of the International Union of Crystallography (IUCr) Charge, Spin and Momentum Density (CSMD) Commission between 1996 and 2005, and the Commission Chair between 2005 and 2008.

         Like her predecessor, Vice President Yu Wang is also an expert in inorganic chemistry and crystallography. Her research interests include electron density distribution and chemical bonding, spin crossover phenomena and light induced excited spin state trapping molecular magnets. One of her seminal contributions is an explanation of the distribution and shape of the electron density in a molecule by combining precise data generated from a Single-Crystal X-Ray Diffractometer and high-level electron structure calculation. In addition, she has also concentrated on the development of the coordination complexes of transition metals and organic metals.

         Vice President Yu Wang has won numerous academic awards during her career, such as the Outstanding Research Award of the National Science Council (1987-1988, 1990-1991, 1995-1996), National Chair Professorship, Ministry of Education (2005-2008), the second Taiwan Outstanding Women in Science award (2009), the Outstanding Achievement Award from Phi-Tau-Phi Honorary Scholastic Society (2009) and the Distinguished Service Award, Chinese Chemical Society (2010).

         Academia Sinica has three vice presidents that represent the three major divisions of the Academy. They are nominated by the Acadmia Sinica President and appointed by the ROC President. The other current vice presidents are Academician Chien-Jen Chen (Life Sciences) and Academician Fan-sen Wang (Humanities and Social Sciences).