Dec 18 2009
Georgia Tech Prof. Zhong Lin Wang is one of six foreign scientists selected as academicians to be inducted into the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) this year.
A CAS academician title is the highest Chinese academic achievement in science and technology and a lifelong honor. New foreign members are added every two years, with no more than 60 total native and six6 foreign academicians chosen during each election. A total of six foreign and 35 native academicians were elected for 2009.
Wang is the youngest foreign academician to be inducted and the first from any Georgia educational institution. He is also the first foreign member to be named by CAS among the half million Chinese students sent overseas from China for studies for studying from China since 1980.
“This is the most prestigious honor I have received, and it will set my career to a new horizon from where I will work toward my new goals,” Wang said. “I am very honored to be accompanied by these world-class distinguished scholars. It will inspire me to make more contributions in science in years to come.”?
The new native academicians were selected from 296 candidates. These new members include six from the mathematics and physics division, eight from chemistry division, five from the life sciences and medical sciences division, five from the earth sciences division, four from the information technological sciences division and seven from the technological sciences division. Wang’s acclaimed work in materials science and nanotechnology stood out to the academy members who championed his membership.
“He is one of the best overseas Chinese professors in the field of materials science and physics worldwide,” said Dr. Ze Zhang, an executive member of the CAS who spearheaded Wang’s membership. “His discoveries and inventions involving nano-electricity motorsgenerators have been well recognized by the international science community and the general public as one of the most influential technologies of the next decade.”
Recognizing Wang, Zhang said, also sends a message of encouragement to the millions of Chinese researchers who have traveled abroad to complete their studies.
“If the CAS can recognize their excellent work, it will promote more overseas Chinese to devote themselves to world science world wide, which in turn shall promote the Chinese science in China,” he said.
An induction ceremony for Wang and the other new academicians will be held next June in Beijing.
"We are thrilled that Dr. Wang's extraordinary work has been acknowledged by his membership in the CAS," said Don Giddens, dean of Georgia Tech’s College of Engineering. "This prestigious honor reflects his groundbreaking accomplishments in nanoscience and further enhances Georgia Tech's reputation as a worldwide hub for nanotechnology. Election as a foreign member of the CAS is reserved for only a select few, and we are extremely pleased to have ZL as a member of our faculty."
The CAS is the leading academic institution and comprehensive research and development center in natural science, technological science and high-tech innovation in China.