Peking University, Beijing, December 1, 2008: At the 19th General Meeting and 25th Anniversary Celebration of The Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) which was held in Mexico City during the period 10-13 November 2008, Fang Jingyun, professor of College of Urban and Enviornemntal Sciences of Peking University was honored with TWAS membership. This years, 41 scientists from 12 countries and regions were newly elected as academician of TWAS, among which 15 are Chinese.

Fang Jingyun, born in July, 1959 in Anhui Province, is a Cheung Kong Scholar professor of Peking University and was elected as academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in 2005. He has published 210 pieces of academic papers, with a focus on fields of global change ecology, vegetation ecology and  bio-diversity. Over 80 of his papers were included by SCI, five in Science, Nature and PNAS. He has also received many awards, such as 1st National Science Foundation for Excellent Young Investigators (1994), Top 10 Progresses of Science and Technology of Higher Education in China (2001), First Prize for Natural Science Research Granted by National Ministry of Education (2003), Second Prize of National Natural Science Award (2004), Cheung Kong Achievement Award (2006), Ho Leung Ho Lee Science and Technology Achievement Award (2007).

TWAS is an autonomous international organization, founded in Trieste, Italy in 1983 by a distinguished group of scientists from the South under the leadership of the late Nobel laureate Abdus Salam of Pakistan. The academy has been committed to promoting basic and applied research in the developing world.

Translated by: Wang Yi

Edited by: Wang Yi