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The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) announced the election of two Academia Sinica Academicians among its 2016 list of new members on November 15. In addition, one research fellow was elected a TWAS Young Affiliate. The announcement of the conferral of the accolades was made at the 27th TWAS General Meeting held from November 14 to 17 in Kigali, Rwanda.

The new TWAS members are Academician Ann-Shyn Chiang, Dean of the College of Life Science, Distinguished Chair Professor of National Tsing Hua University, and Professor of the Institute of Biotechnology and Department of Life Science and Academician Yun-Han Chu, Distinguished Research Fellow of the Institute of Political Science at Academia Sinica and Professor of Political Science at National Taiwan University. Dr. Yu-Chin Hsu, Associate Research Fellow of the Institute of Economics, Academia Sinica was elected a 2016 TWAS Young Affiliate, an honor awarded annually to exceptional scientists below the age of 40.

Academician Ann-Shyn Chiang was elected to the area of Biological Systems and Organisms. Academician Chiang’s research is aimed at delineating the memory circuits within the Drosophila brain in the hope of increasing our understanding of how genes and circuits orchestrate complex behaviors. He has been reconstructing a brain-wide wiring diagram in Drosophila with results published in top journals.

Academician Yun-han Chu was elected to the area of Social and Economic Sciences. He is a three-time recipient of the Outstanding Research Award from Taiwan’s National Science Council, and was also bestowed the University of Minnesota’s Outstanding Achievement Award. Academician Chu’s area of expertise is East Asian democratization and political economy. His publications (including co-authored and edited works) include 15 monographs and collections of essays in English and Chinese. Academician Chu launched the Asian Barometer Survey, the region’s first and foremost comparative survey.

Dr. Hsu’s research focuses on Econometric Theory and Applied Econometrics. His research topics include stochastic dominance tests, treatment effect models, data snooping, moment inequality models, model selection tests and robust testing in a time series framework. He has received several awards including the Junior Research Investigators Award of Academia Sinica (2015), the Career Development Award of Academia Sinica (2015-2019), and the Wu Ta-Yu Memorial Award from Ministry of Science and Technology (2014).

TWAS has more than 1,200 members from 90 countries. The main mission of the academy is to promote scientific excellence and capacity in the South for science-based sustainable development.