Fifty-five new TWAS Fellows were elected into the membership on 26 January 2018, bringing total TWAS membership to 1228. Sixteen new members are women – an unprecedented 29% of the new class.
Thirty-five members hail from China (12), India (11), Brazil (5), South Africa (4) and Taiwan, China (3). Of the other 18, one each comes from Argentina, Bangaldesh, Cameroon, Chile, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Mexico, Morocco, Oman, Panama, Sudan, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, USA, Uzbekistan, Venezuela and Zimbabwe. Two live in Indonesia and Norway, where TWAS previously has had no members.
The new TWAS Fellows, who will be inducted at the Academy’s 28th General Meeting in 2018, are:
01-Agricultural Sciences
- DAKORA, Felix Dapare (South Africa): (M). PhD, President, African Academy of Sciences (AAS); Professor and DST/NRF South African Research Chair in Agrochemurgy and Plant Symbiosesm Chemistry Department, Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria, South Africa. He has identified grain legumes with high N2 fixation, leaf protein and trace element accumulation, much needed for overcoming micronutrient deficiency and protein-calorie malnutrition in Africa. He has also promoted the use of legumes and bacterial products (e.g. lumichrome) as biofertilizers in Africa. Member of the Academy of Science of South Africa, the Royal Society of South Africa and the African Academy of Sciences, he was appointed Adjunct Professor to the University of Western Australia Institute of Agriculture, Perth, Australia and received the UNESCO-Equatorial Guinea International Prize for Research in the Life Sciences (joint recipient).
- HUANG, Lusheng (China): (M). DSc, President and Professor, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, China. He has made a series of important findings in the genetic architecture of pig monogenic and complex traits, which not only improve our knowledge of animal genetics, but also have profound implications in practical swine breeding. Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, he has received the National Prize for Technology Invention of China, the National Prize for Progress in Science and Technology of China and the National Outstanding Experts of China, among others.
- SITHOLE-NIANG, Idah (Zimbabwe): (F). PhD, Professor, Department of Biochemistry, University of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe. Her major contributions relates to partners cloned, sequenced and developed resistance to Cowpea aphid-borne mosaic potyvirus. He co-coordinated a global network for the Genetic Improvement of Cowpea for Africa which brought development partner-attention to the crop culminating in the development of insect resistant cowpea. Member of the Zimbabwe Academy of Sciences, she has received Outstanding Graduate Woman of the Year at Michigan University, and fellow of the Salzburg Seminars and Rockefeller Biotechnology Career Fellow, among others.
- SLAMET-LOEDIN, Inez (Indonesia): (F). PhD, Head, Genetic Transformation Laboratory, International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Philippines. She has developed an efficient plant transformation system for Indica rice and was involved in discovering genes conferring tolerance to low phosphorous soil, drought, anaerobic condition, tungro disease and yield improvement in rice. Member of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), she has received the LIPI best young scientist award, the Indonesian Ministry of Agriculture Award and the Indonesian Presidential Award.
- THOMSON, Jennifer Ann (South Africa): (F). PhD, Emeritus Professor, University of Cape Town, Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Rondebosch, South Africa; President of OWSD – Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World. She has contributed significantly towards the development of maize resistant to the African endemic maize streak virus and maize tolerant to desiccation. She is now embarking on glasshouse trials and subsequent field trials with a local seed company to determine whether it is drought-tolerant. Member of the Academy of Science of South Africa, she has received the UNEP Award for Women in Science, the Distinguished Old Rhodian Award and the L’Oréal-UNESCO award for Women in Science for Africa and Middle East, among many others.
- TSAI, Siu Mui (Brazil): (F). PhD, Full Professor, Center for Nuclear Energy in Agriculture (CENA), University of São Paulo, Piracicaba – São Paulo, Brazil. She has established International cooperation, aiming at GHG mitigation in response to land use changes after deforestation and soil degradation. He has established a modern infrastructure with improved analytical capacity to solve environmental issues in crop production and improved technological transfer. Member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, she has received the CAPES Thesis 2014 Prize, the Agribusiness 2050 Challenge Award, the Latin America Scopus-Elsevier Prize and the Science and Technology Medal, among others.
02-Structural, Cell and Molecular Biology
- KHAN, Haseena (Bangaldesh): (F). PhD, Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh. The nominee has contributed majorly in bringing jute, a cash crop of Bangladesh to the forefront of the country’s molecular research; established an efficient transformation protocol for tissue culture recalcitrant jute and developed jute lines with traits that will boost income of farmers. She has decoded jute genome. Member of the Bangladesh Academy of Sciences, she has received the Moni Singh-Farhad Memorial Trust Award, the Kazi Mahbubullah Gold Medal and the Bangladesh Academy of Sciences-M.O. Ghani memorial Gold Medal, among others.
- LEE, Wen-Hwa (Taiwan, China / USA): (M). PhD, Chancellor, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan, China. The nominee is a pioneer of tumor suppressor in cancer biology. He identified the first tumor suppressor gene, RB and showed that re-introduction of the gene suppressed neoplasm. He also elucidated the function of two breast cancer susceptibility genes, BRCA-1 and 2, in modulating genomic stability. Member of the Academia Sinica and of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences, he has received the Outstanding Breast Cancer Research Award (Taiwan), the Athalie Clark Outstanding Research Award (US Irvine), and the F.E. Shideman-Sterling Award of the Univ. of Minnesota, among others.
- MENCK, Carlos Frederico Martins (Brazil): (M). PhD, Full Professor, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas, USP, São Paulo, Brazil. The nominee and his group were the first to develop a potential gene therapy strategy for the skin in vivo, for XP disease. He demonstrated the functionality of photorepair in human cells, how singlet oxygen may damage DNA, and how DNA damage is repaired and replicated in human cells. Member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, he has received the Award of Scientific and Technological Merit of the State of Sao Paulo and fellowship of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, among others.
- ROY, Siddhartha (India): (M). PhD, Senior Professor, Department of Biophysics, Bose Institute, Kolkata, India. The nominee was the first to describe DNA-sequence dependent allosteric changes in transcription factors and their involvement in gene regulation. He has developed peptide models to study roles of post-translational modifications in p53. He was the first to develop a peptidic helix-mimetic protein-protein interaction inhibitor and a synthetic transcription factor. Member of the Indian National Science Academy and Indian Academy of Science, he has received the Bhatnagar and Tata Innovation Prizes, and JC Bose, Human Frontier Sciences and Woods-Whelan fellowships, among many others.
- ZHOU, Qi (China): (M). PhD, Professor, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. The nominee has generated world’s 1st cloned fertile rats, iPSC-generated healthy mice and allodiploid embryonic stem cells, discovered molecular markers correlated to the stem cell pluripotency level, established haploid stem cells and obtained fertile animals. Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, he has received the TWAS Prize in Biology, the Prize for Outstanding Contribution to Stem Cell Research, the CAS International Cooperation Award for Young Scientists and the Tan Jiazhen Life Sciences Innovation Award, among many others.
03-Biological Systems and Organisms
- KAMAU, Luna (Kenya): (F). PhD, Chief Research Officer, Kenya Medical Research Institute, Nairobi, Kenya. The nominee has contributed to the first ever Large-Scale Insecticide treated nets trial which formed backbone of policy for malaria control world-wide. Her work on insecticide resistance mapping led to recent change in the indoor residual spraying policy from use of pyrethroid insecticides in Kenya. She has also contributed to new tools for vector identification and research. Member of the Kenya National Academy of Sciences, she was a TWAS Young Affiliate (2008-2012) and has received the KEMRI Gold (Nelion) Excellence/Merit Award, the Second Most Efficient Reviewer and Programme Head Reviewer of KEMRI and most efficient programme head reviewer of KEMRI twice, among others.
- MARQUET, Pablo A. (Chile): (M). PhD, Full Professor and Director, Department of Ecology, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile. The nominees major work on scaling and power laws have allowed him to uncover general patterns in the structure and dynamics of ecological systems and to disentangle the biological basis of human social and cultural complexity and on the sustainability of the human enterprise on earth. Member of the Chilean Academy of Sciences, he serves on many national and international boards and councils and has received Guggenheim Fellowship, Outstanding young scientist award, among other recognitions.
- RAO, Jagannatha Kosagisharaf (Panama): (M). PhD, Director and Chief Executive Officer and Distinguished Scientist, Institute for Scientific Research and Technology Services (INDICASAT AIP), Republic of Panama. The nominee has made outstanding contributions in understanding novel molecular pathways on Cross-talk of protein misfolding toxicity and genomic instability in the etiology/prevention of human neurological disorders and development new therapeutic strategy using novel biomolecules. Member of the Panamanian Association for the Advancement of Science (APANAC) – considered as National science Academy of Panama and of the Royal Society of Chemistry, he has been awarded Distinguished Scientist of the National System of Investigators of Panama, the Won Gold Medal, the Sir C.V. Raman Award and the Indira Vasudevan Award, among others.
- SCHOLES, Robert John (South Africa): (M). PhD, Distinguished Professor, Global Change Institute, University of Witwatersrand, Wits, South Africa. The nominee has done major work on the ecology of African savannas, interactions between the global C cycle and climate change, Earth observation systems (particularly for biodiversity). Member of the Academy of Science of South Africa and Foreign Associate of the US National Academy of Science, he has received the South African National Science and Technology Forum Lifetime Contribution Award, the CSIR Career Achievement Award, the Environmentek (CSIR) Award for Technical Excellence and the CSIR Excellence Award, among others.
- STENSETH, Nils Christian (Norway): (M). PhD, Professor of Ecology and Evolution and Chair of The Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis (CEES), Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo, Norway. The nominee has contributed profoundly to the fields of ecology and evolution as well as the combinations of the two major fields within evolutionary biology, including how species within a multispecies community evolves and the interplay between biotic and non-biotic (including climate variation) processes. Member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, Academia Europaea, French Academy of Sciences and Foreign Member of the US National Academy of Sciences and Russian Academy of Sciences, he has received the University of Oslo Inspiration Prize, the Bonnevie Prize and the Sustainability Science Award, among others.
- VISWESWARIAH, Sandhya (India): (F). PhD, Professor and Chair, Department of Molecular Reproduction, Development and Genetics, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore; Co-Chair, Centre for Biosystems Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Science Bangalore, India. The nominee has characterized human mutations in receptor guanylyl cyclase C for the first time and identified that mutations in this receptor are a cause for congenital secretory diarrhea. She has also identified and characterized a number of novel proteins involved in cAMP metabolism in Mycobacteria. Member of the Indian National Science Academy and Indian Academy of Science, she has received the Gold Medal in Botany, the YT Thathachari Award and the CDRI Award for Excellence in Drug Research, among others.
04-Medical and Health Sciences incl. Neurosciences
- ALBARWANI, Sulayma (Oman): (F). DPhil, Professor, Sultan Qaboos University, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Department of Physiology, Muscat, Oman. The nominee has carried out research on potassium channel expression of coronary vessels in cardiovascular disease such as hypertension and aging. She has made notable contributions to the molecular characteristics of Kv channels and how it is affected by hypertension, aging and exercise. She is a member of the State Council of Oman and Member of the Board of Trustees of the Arabian Gulf University in Bahrain and of Nizwa University in Oman.
- CHANG, Mei-Hwei (Taiwan, China): (F). MD, Distinguished Chair Professor, Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taiwan, China. The nominee has contributed in providing the first and the long-term evidences to prove hepatitis B vaccine as the first cancer preventive vaccine in human, and in promoting the concept and research of cancer preventive vaccine in the world. Member of the Academia Sinica, she received the TWAS 2013 Prize, the Canadian Association for the Study of Liver / Canadian Liver Foundation Sass-Kortsak Award, the Taiwan Outstanding Women in Science Award and the Outstanding Asian Pediatrician Award, among many others.
- LEKE GANA FOMBAN, Rose (Cameroon): (F). PhD, Emeritus Professor, Board Chair, Institute of Medical Research and Study of Medicinal Plants (IMPM), Head of Immunology Laboratory, Biotechnology Center, University of Yaounde, Cameroon. The nominee has done seminal work on the negative effect of P. falcipurm malaria on the outcome of pregnancy and proposed effective strategies now widely applied to reduce or mitigate these effects. Member of the Cameroon Academy of Sciences, she has received the Kwame Nkrumah Scientific Award for Women, the DSc h.c. by the University of Ghana, and the Officier de L’Ordre de la Valeur, among others.
- MADHI, Shabir Ahmed (South Africa): (M). PhD, Executive Director, National Institute for Communicable Diseases, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa. The nominee research findings have impacted international WHO policies on the prevention of major causes of under-5 childhood death from pneumonia, diarrheal disease and early-infant sepsis with vaccines against pneumococcus, rotavirus and maternal influenza vaccination. Member of the Academy of Sciences of South Africa, he has received the Watkins-Pitchford Prize, the South African Medical Research Council Life Time Achievement Award (Platinum Medal), the TW Kambule Award and the University of the Witwatersrand Vice-Chancellor Award for Research, among others.
- VICTORA, Cesar Gomes (Brazil): (M). PhD, Emeritus Professor, Federal University of Pelotas, Brazil. The nominee has studied the importance of early nutrition, and in particular of breastfeeding, for child health and for the development of human capital throughout the lifespan, through birth cohort studies with over 30 years duration. These findings have helped change global policies affecting child nutrition. Member of the Brazilian Academy of Science, he has received the Global Pediatric Research Award of Canada, the National Order of Medical Merit Medal and the National Order of Scientific Merit Medal from the Government of Brazil, the Carso Foundation Prize for Personal Trajectory in Health and the Prize in Medicine of the Conrado Wessel Foundation.
- ZHANG, Xu (China): (M). PhD, Senior Principal Investigator, Professor, Institute of Neuroscience, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China. The nominee has found the changes in gene expression of somatosensory ganglia associated with chronic pain, and mechanisms for regulating the functions of opioid receptors and Na+/K+ pump in sensory neurons. He revealed that FGF 13 regulated brain development and involved X-linked intellectual disability. Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, he has received the Outstanding Achievement Award, the Outstanding Award of Education, the Lilly-Asian Scientific Excellence Award and the Ho Leung Ho Lee Prize for Sci and Tech, among others.
05-Chemical Sciences
- CHATTOPADHYAY, Amitabha (India): (M). PhD, J.C. Bose Fellow, Emeritus Professor, Biological Sciences, CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, India. The nominee has contributed in understanding the role of membrane cholesterol in the organization and function of GPCRs and its relevance in health and disease. Member of all three Indian science academies and the Royal Society of Chemistry, he has received the TWAS 2016 Prize in Biology, the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize in Biological Sciences, the Ranbaxy Research Award and the Sreenivasaya Memorial Award, among others.
- HAN, Buxing (China): (M). PhD, Professor, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. The nominee works in the interdisciplinary area of physical chemistry and green chemistry. He has contributed to the insight of physic-chemical property of supercritical fluids and/or ionic liquids systems, and use of these green and functional solvents in chemical reactions and material synthesis. Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, among others, he has received the Award for excellence in Scientific Research and Education, the honorary professorship at Nottingham University, UK, the 2nd Class Award of Chinese Government for Natural Science and the Excellent Supervisor Award of CAS several times.
- KANTAM, Lakshmi Mannepalli (India): (F). PhD, Emeritus Professor of Green Chemistry and Sustainibility Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering, Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai, India. The nominee’s focus is to translate research excellence into commercialization and she has 52 US/Indian patents on processes using the novel catalysts. Member of the Indian National Science Academy and the National Academy of Sciences, she has received the Professor Darshan Ranganathan Memorial Lecture Award, the Lifetime Achievement Award, the Vasvik Award, the RMIT Foundation Fellowship Award, among others.
- KHALID, Sami Ahmed (Sudan): (M). PhD, Dean, Faculty of Pharmacy and Professor of Phytochemistry, University of Science and Technology, Omdurman, Sudan. The nominees main expertise is phytochemistry and ethnopharmacology with special interest in the isolation and structure elucidation of plant secondary metabolites with special emphasis on bioactive molecules, including drug discovery of antiparasitic molecules. Member of the Sudanese Academy of Sciences and African Academy of Sciences, he has received several research grants, fellowships and served on various boards.
- LIU, Yunqi (China): (M). PhD, Professor of Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China The nominee’s research focuses on molecular materials and devices with applications in organic nonlinear optics, organic electroluminescence, organic/polymeric solar cell, organic field-effect transistors and sensors. Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, he has received the National Natural Science Award twice, the Natural Science Award twice and the Thomson Reuters China Citation Laureates (highly cited researcher) twice.
06-Engineering Sciences
- CHEN, Shiyi (China): (M). PhD, President, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. The nominee has done outstanding research in lattice gas and lattice Boltzmann methods in which he created important analysis approach having engineering applications. He has also contributed to the high performance computing and fluid turbulence. Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, he has received the Outstanding Research Award (Los Alamos National Lab), the External Honor Recognition Award (BM T.J. Watson Research Center), the Natural Science Foundation of China Outstanding Young Researcher Award, among others.
- COLLINS, James (USA): (M). PhD, Termeer Professor of Medical Engineering and Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA, USA. The nominee was the first to show that one can engineer biological circuits out of proteins, genes and other biomolecular components, and use these circuits to reprogram organisms. His pioneering contributions to synthetic biology are transforming biotechnology and medicine, improving the lives of others. Member of the US National Academy of Sciences, US National Academy of Engineering and US National Academy of Medicine, he has received the Robert A. Pritzker Award, the World Technology Award in Biotechnology, the Lagrange Prize, the Anthony J. Drexel Exceptional Achievement Award and the Thomas Stephen Group Prize, among many others.
- KUMARAN, Viswanathan (India): (M). PhD, Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India. The nominee pioneered the study of transition to turbulence in the flow past soft surfaces at low Reynolds number, an area of importance in physiological and microfluidic flows. His group has made important breakthroughs in the area, including theoretical prediction, experimental realization and practical application of soft-wall turbulence for ultra-fast mixing. Member of the Indian Academy of Sciences and the Indian National Science Academy, he has received the TWAS Prize in Engineering Sciences, the Ruston Chokshi Award for Excellence in Engineering and the SS Bhatnagar Prize, among others.
- PUN, Kit Fai (Trinidad and Tobago): (M). PhD, Professor of Industrial Engineering and Management, c/o Industrial Engineering Office, Faculty of Engineering, The University of the West Indies, St Augustine Campus, Trinidad and Tobago, West Indies. The nominee has contributed to RandD in Industrial Engineering and Management. His work includes strategy formulation and performance measurement attributes, designing the self assessment scoring method and develop the process framework for manufacturing enterprises. Member of the Caribbean Academy of Sciences, he has received the Most Outstanding Researcher Award, the IEOM Outstanding Service Award, the Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Excellence and the Emerald Literati Network Highly Commended Award, among others.
- WILLIAMS, Roberto Juan José (Argentina): (M). PhD, President, National Academy of Exact, Physical and Natural Sciences (ANCEFN, Argentina); Full Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Mar del Plata, Argentina; Researcher, National Research Council (CONICET), Mar del Plata, Argentina. The nominees major work includes development of the thermodynamic background explaining the polymerization-induced phase separation and the control of morphologies generated. He has contributed towards development of transformation diagrams for thermosetting polymers including the prediction of the evolution of glass transition temperature with conversion. Member and President of the National Academy of Exact, Physical and Natural Sciences of Argentina, he has received several national prizes including the Konex Platinum award, the Bunge and Born prize and the Presidential Award 2011, the maximum distinction awarded to a scientist in Argentina.
- ZOU, Zhigang (China): (M). PhD, Professor, President, Kunshan Innovation Institution, and Director of Environmental Materials and Renewable Energy Research Center, Nanjing University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China. The nominee has developed new-generation highly efficient visible-light responsive photocatalytic materials. He has also designed novel nano-heterojunction photocatalytic material system, achieved new methodology of enhancing quantum efficiency; applied photocatalytic materials in water splitting and CO2 reduction. Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, he has received the International Centre for Difraction Data Certificate Award twice, the Jiangsu Science and Technology Award and the Chinese National Science Award.
07-Astronomy, Space and Earth Sciences
- BRUZUAL, Gustavo (Venezuela): (M). Investigador Titular C, Institute de Radioastronomia y Astrofisica, UNAM, Morelia, Michoacan, Mexico. The nominee has contributed to spectral evolution of galaxies and revolutionized the subject of stellar population synthesis. His models for the time evolution of the spectra of galaxies, are highly regarded. Member of the Mexican Academy of Sciences, he has received the Lorenzo Mendoza Fleury Prize, the membership of the national research system both in Venezuela and Mexico, among others.
- CHUNG, Sun-Lin (Taiwan, China): (M). PhD, Distinguished Research Fellow, Institute of Earth Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taiwan, China. The nominee has made significant contribution to our understanding of continental tectonics and magma generation based on his outstanding studies in High Asia (from Tibet to Iran) and neighboring regions. Member of the Academia Sinica, he has received the TWAS Prize in Earth Sciences, the Investigator Award, the National Academic Award and the Outstanding Research Award twice.
- GUO, Zhengtang (China): (M). PhD, Research Professor, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Vice-President, Professor, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS), Beijing, China. The nominee’s research has extended the China loess-soil record from 8 to 22 Ma, attested to the onsets of Asian monsoon and inland deserts by the early Miocene, reconstructed near-contributions Neogene Asian monsoon and desertification histories and greatly improved the understanding on the Asian-global climate links. Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, he has received the Award of Global Change Science, the Huang Jiqing Award of Geological Science and Technology for Young Scientists, the Award of Tibetan Plateau Research for Young Scientists, among others.
- LIZANO, Susana (Mexico): (F). PhD, Investigador Titular C, Institute de Radioastronomia y Astrofisica, UNAM, Morelia, Michoacan, Mexico. The nominee’s major contributions are to the understanding of the birth of new stars in our Galaxy with theoretical and observational work. The current paradigm of the formation of Sun-like stars is largely based on her work. Member of the Mexican Academy of Sciences, she has received the National Prize of Sciences and Arts from the Government of Mexico, the Marcos Moshinsky Medal and the Scientific Research Prize twice, among others.
- SAHNI, Varun (India): (M). PhD, Distinguished Professor and Dean, Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Ganeshkhind, Pune, India. The nominee has discovered a new model of Dark Matter, model independent methods for reconstructing Dark Energy, including the Statefinder diagnostic. He applied it to determine the morphology of Cosmic Web. Member of the Indian National Science Academy, he has received the INSA Homi Jehangir Bhabha Medal, the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for the Physical Sciences and the Thomson and Reuters India Citation Award, among others.
08-Mathematical Sciences
- ADIMURTHI, Adi (India): (M). PhD, Senior Professor, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bangalore, India. The nominee’s work relates to partial differential equations, working at the crossroads of pure and applied mathematics. He has obtained fundamental results on semilinear elliptic equations with critical non-linearity, Hardy-Sobolev inequalities, optimal control and entropy solutions. Member of the Indian National Science Academy, he has received DST J.C. Bose National Fellowship and the Dr. Zakir Hussain Award.
- DIAZ CASADO, Lorenzo Justiniano (Brazil): (M). PhD, Full Professor, Departamento de Matematica PUC-Rio, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The nominees research is in Dynamical Systems Theory with contributions to the bifurcation theory, studying the local and global phenomena associated to hetero-dimensional cycles. Jointly with Bonatti, he introduced the concept of a blender which plays a fundamental role in the study of geometrical and ergo. Member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, he has received the TWAS 2016 Prize in Mathematics and the Ordem Nacional do Mérito Científico of Brazil.
- DZHUMADIL’DAEV, Askar (Kazakhstan): (M). PhD, Institute of Mathematics, Academy of Sciences of Kazakhstan, Almaty, Kazakhstan. The nominee has established modular analoges of Levi-Mal’cev theorem; non-split extensions of non-classical Lie algebras; cohomology theory of right-symmetric algebras; N-ary version of Lie commutator; polynomial identities of algebras close to Lie; new classes of non-associative algebras. Member of the National Academy of Sciences of Kazakhstan, he has received Humbold Fellowship, the State Prize of Rebublic of Kazakhstan and the International Khwarizmi Award.
- ROZIKOV, Utkir (Uzbekistan): (M). PhD, Leading Scientific Fellow, Institute of Mathematics, Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The nominee has significant contributions to theory of Gibbs states in statistical mechanics and evolution algebras of sex-linked populations, aiming to incorporate thermodynamics in mathematical biology. He advanced the idea of studying p-adic dynamical systems and p-adic distributions. Appointed as a TWAS Young Affiliate (2007-2012) and currently TWAS Young Alumnus, he has received the TWAS Prize for Young Scientists, the Uzbekiston Belgisi medal, the Excellent Teacher award and visiting professor and fellowship positions in several universities and institutions.
- YASSEMI, Siamak (Iran, Isl. Rep.): (M). PhD, Dean, Faculty of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science, University of Tehran, I.R. Iran. The nominee has found basic techniques which have played important roles in the field Homological Algebra. His recent works have established fascinating relationships between monomial ideals in Commutative Algebra and graphs in Combinatorics, which have stimulated the development of the new interdisciplinary field Combinatorial commutative Algebra. Member of the Academy of Sciences of the Islamic Republic of Iran, he has received the COMSTECH International Award, the 22nd Khwarizmi International Award in Basic Science and the International Award from Tehran University, among others.
- ZHOU, Xiangyu (China): (M). D.Sc, Professor, Institute of Mathematics, Academy of Mathematics and Systems Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. The nominee has solved the extended future tube conjecture posed by Bogolyubov and Wightman in 1950’s; He has jointly found an optimal L2 extension theorem and solved several open problems, proved Demailly strong openness conjecture, which causes solutions of several open problems, solved Demailly-Kollar conjecture and Johnson-Mustata conjecture. Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, he has received the Tan Kah Kee Science Award, the National Natural Science Award twice and the S.S. Chern mathematical prize, among others.
09-Physics
- CANUTO, Sylvio (Brazil): (M). PhD, Professor of Physics, Institute of Physics, University of São Paulo, Brazil. The nominee has combined Statistical Mechanics and Quantum Mechanics to study atomic and molecular systems in liquid environment and more recently, any thermodynamic condition, including supercritical fluids. Member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, he has received the M.N. Saha Memorial Lecture (India) and has been honoured by the University of Havana (Cuba), the International Journal of Quantum Chemistry and the XII Escola Brasileira de Estrutura Eletronica, Brazil.
- CHERKAOUI EL MOURSLI, Rajaa (Morocco): (F). PhD, Professor, Faculty of Sciences, Université Mohammed V, Rabat, Morocco. The nominee’s work is in area of medical physics. Since 2016 she is a member of KM3NET collaboration (Cubic Kilometre Neutrino Telescope). Member of the Hassan II Academy of Science and Technology and the African Academy of Sciences, she has received the L’Oréal-UNESCO Award for Women in Science Prize for Africa and the Arab States and the “Illi Des Libertés 2015” prize of Morocco.
- GONG, Qihuang (China): (M). PhD, Boya Chair Professor, Department of Physics, Peking University, Beijing, China. The nominee has made significant achievements in ultrafast intense optics and nanophotonics, especially to ultrafast organic optical nonlinearities and photonic crystal switches and the ionization of atoms, molecules under ultrafast intense laser fields. Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, he has received the State Natural Science Award, the Science and Technology Award, the HLHL Prize for Scientific and Technological Progress and the Ro Yutai Physics Prize, among many others.
- MINWALLA, Shiraz (India): (M). PhD, Professor of Physics, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, India. The nominee’s major contributions are to theoretical physics and in particular to the uncovering of a deep connection between the equations of fluid dynamics and Einstein’s equations of general relativity, which has led to the discovery of new terms in the equations of charged relativistic hydrodynamics. Member of the Indian Academy of Sciences and appointed as TWAS Young Affiliate in 2008, he has received the TWAS Physics Prize, the President’s Gold Medal IIT, the ICTP Prize and the Inaugural Nishina Asia Award, among others.
- SINHA, Sudeshna (India): (F). PhD, Professor, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Mohali, India. The nominee has made outstanding contributions to chaos theory, ranging from chaos control to complex networks. In particular, she developed the novel concepts of chaos computing and logical stochastic resonance. Member of the Indian National Science Academy and the Indian Academy of Sciences, she has received the B.M. Birla Prize for Physics and the J.C. Bose National Fellowship.
- XIE, Xin-Cheng (China): (M). PhD, Dean and Chair Professor, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing, China. The nominee has established theories for several remarkable observations, including the 2D radiation-induced ‘zero-resistence state’, the 2D metal-insulator transition, and the fractional quantum Hall states in the double-layer system. Recently, he proposed a theory for spin superconductor. Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, he has received the Top 10 Science Advances of China, the Outstanding Science and Technology Achievement Award, the Regent’s Outstanding Research Award of Oklahoma State University and the Outstanding Young Scientists Award for Oversea Chinese, among others.
10-Social and Economic Sciences
- AGARWAL, Bina (India): (F). PhD, affiliated with the Institute of Economic Growth (EG), University of Delhi, India, and part-time Professor of Development Economics and Environment, University of Manchester, United Kingdom. The nominees major research is on diverse dimensions of gender inequality, have challenged mainstream tenets in social sciences; shifted paradigms around women’s property ownership and environmental governance and opened new policy pathways. Member of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei of Italy, she has received the Order of Agricultural Merit (France), the Leontief Prize, the Padma Shri, India President’s national award for education and economics, the Ramesh Chandra Award and the Malcolm Adiseshiah Award, among others.
- CHEUNG, Fanny Miu-Ching (China): (F). PhD, Chair Professor of Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, China. The nominee has demonstrated best practice in test translation and adaptation; Raised awareness on indigeneous constructs of personality; Pioneered the adoption of the combined emic-etic approach to develop culturally relevant personality assessment. Established evidence-based gender studies in Chinese societies. She has received the Silver Bauhinia Star Award, the Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, the Badge of Honour and the International Association of Applied Psychology Award, among others.
- DURAIAPPAH, Anantha (India): (M). PhD, Director, UNESCO Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development (MGIEP), New Delhi, India. The nominee constructed the first non-linear dynamic optimization model involving climate and economic systems, the latter comprising both developed and developing regions. The model yielded insights on technological transfers that were reflected in the 2015 Paris Agreement. He is a member of the World Academy of Arts and Sciences and is founding member and fellow, Human Development and Capability Association.
- KASIMBAZI, Emmanuel (Uganda): (M). PhD, Professor, School of Law, Kampala, Uganda. He has an extensive research experience in Environmental law and policy. He has authored Environmental and Energy monographs for Uganda, book chapters and journal articles on Oil and Gas, Wildlife, Water, climate change, forestry and energy management and regulation. Member of the Uganda National Academy of Sciences, he has received the Golden Key International Honour, the Hon. N.D. McDermit Graduate Scholarship, the Alberta Law Foundation Graduate Scholarship and the Graduate Research Scholarship, all in Canada.