By Li Han

Staff Writer of the Tsinghua News Center

The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) announced on December 27 that Tsinghua University Professor Meng Anming from the Department of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology and Professor Zhang Xi from the Department of Chemistry had been elected as new members of the Academy.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences elects new members biennially. A total of 29 prominent Chinese scientists were elected to CAS in 2007. CAS membership, a lifetime tenure conferred by the State, is the highest academic title in science and technology circles in China.

(Professor Meng Anming)

Professor Meng Anming  received his B.S. in agronomy from Southwestern Agricultural University in 1983 and Ph.D. in genetics from Nottingham University in 1991. After two years of postdoctoral research in the College of Biology at Beijing Agricultural University, he was appointed Associate Professor at the end of 1992. He accepted an appointment as Professor of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology at Tsinghua University in 1998. Since 2003, he has been Deputy Director of the Department of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology and Chair of the Science Committee. He teaches developmental biology to undergraduates. His research focuses on the molecular mechanisms which control early development of vertebrate embryos. He has published many papers in prestigious journals, including Science, Developmental Cell, PNAS, Development and EMBO Journal. Professor Meng was honored by the National Science Fund as a Distinguished Young Scholar in 2000 and also named an Outstanding Young Scholar in Biomedicine by Hong Kong’s Qiu Shi Science and Technologies Foundation in 2000. He was named a Cheung Kong Scholar by China‘s Ministry of Education and Hong Kong’s Li Kai Shing Foundation in 2001 and received the Prize for Science and Technology Advancement from the Ho Leung Ho Lee Foundation in 2007.

(Professor Zhang Xi)

Prof. Zhang Xi received his Ph.D. in chemistry from Jilin University in 1992. He has been a Professor of Chemistry at Tsinghua University since 2003. His work has been widely recognized and honored with many awards. He was honored by the Trans-Century Outstanding Experts Program in 1994, the Outstanding Young Investigator Fund, and the Natural Science Foundation of China in 1997. He was named as an Excellent Teacher with a special rating by the Bao Gang Educational Foundation in 1997, received the Young Chemist Award from the Chinese Chemical Society in 1997, named an Outstanding Young Scholar by Hong Kong’s Qiu Shi Science and Technology Foundation in 1998, won the National Natural Science Award (2nd grade, name 2) in 2004, the Chinese Chemical Society-BASF Innovation Award in 2005, and the Science and Technology Award for Chinese Youth in 2006. His main scientific interests are in supra-molecular assembly, organized molecular films, and single molecule force spectroscopy of polymers. Professor Zhang is just 42 years old and the youngest member elected to the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2007.