Peking University, May 5, 2013: Two graduates from Peking University (PKU) School of Life Sciences were recently elected into the US National Academy of Sciences (NAS).

Chen Xuemei and Deng Xingwang are among the 84 new members of the NAS in 2013. The election results were announced on April 30 to be “in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.”

Prior to Deng and Chen, the NAS had recognized only eight with educational backgrounds in Chinese Mainland, including another two PKU alumni — Xie Xiaoliang and Zhu Jiankang.

Prof. Xie Xiaoliang from Harvard University (File photo)

Prof. Zhu Jiankang from the UC Riverside (File photo)

Chen Xuemei, B.S.’88 of PKU Department of Biology (the precursor of the School of Life Sciences), is Professor of Plant Cell and Molecular Biology at the UC Riverside. After a doctoral career at Cornell University, she joined the California Institute of Technology for postdoctoral research, and then acted as an assistant professor at Rutgers during 1999-2005.

Prof. Chen Xuemei from the University of California (UC), Riverside (File photo)

Deng Xingwang, B.S.’82 and M.S.’84 of the Department of Biology, received his doctorate at the UC Berkeley in 1989. The Daniel C. Eaton Professor of Plant Biology at Yale has for long studied the cellular signaling process of Arabidopsis.

Prof. Deng Xingwang from Yale University (File photo)

Deng has worked part-timely at PKU since the 1990s. Enrolled in both the “1000-Talent Plan” and the “Chang Jiang Scholars Program” here, he moved his lab from Beijing’s National Institute of Biological Sciences to his Alma Mater.

Professor Deng has expressed his plan to return to the School of Life Sciences as a full-time researcher before September 2014, helping equipped PKU with the world-class plant biology.

Written by: Xu Jun

Edited by: Arthars

Source: School of Life Sciences