The Academy of Sciences for the Developing World announced to honor 15 scientists from the Chinese mainland and Taiwan with membership.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) General Office of Academic Divisions said in Beijing on Wednesday that 12 out of the 15 newly elected are CAS members and one from the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE).

Dr. Yang Pan-Chyr and Dr. Lee Der-Tsai from Taiwan are fellows of the Taipei-based Academia Sinica.

The CAS members are: Chen Xiaoya, director of Plant Physiology and Ecology Institute, the CAS Shanghai Institute of Biological Sciences; Meng Anming, professor of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology Department, Tsinghua University; Yang Huanming, professor at the CAS Beijing Genomics Institute; Zeng Yixin, president of Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center; Cao Yong, professor of Polymer Optoelectronic Materials and Devices Institute at South China University of Technology; Duan Shumin, researcher of the CAS Neurosciences Institute; Ma Shengming, professor of Chemistry, East China Normal University; Fang Jingyun, professor of Ecology Department, Peking University; Mu Mu, researcher of the CAS Atmospheric Physics Institute; Long Yiming, professor and director of the Chern Institute of Mathematics, Nankai University; Wang Enge, professor of the CAS Physics Institute; Zhang Jie, president of Shanghai Jiaotong University.

The CAE member Liu Depei is president of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and the Peking Union Medical College.

Dr. Yang serves as dean and professor of Medicine College, National Taiwan University. Dr. Lee is well known for his outstanding contribution to algorithms designs.

The Academy of Sciences for the Developing World, originating from the Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) which was founded in 1983, is a non-governmental and non-profit organization headquartered in Trieste, Italy. The TWAS now has over 900 members, including at least 17 Nobel laureates.

The academy has been committed to promoting scientific capacity, scholar exchanges, academic communication and training, in a drive to prosper basic and applied research in the developing world.

The Italian government, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and other multinational organizations donated the outlay of the TWAS. The Chinese government has also sponsored the TWAS on several occasions.

(Xinhua News Agency November 19, 2008)