P R E S S   R E L E A S E

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President of the National Natural Science Foundation of China and a former President of Peking University, Professor Chen Jiaer is a world-renowned physicist and educator with widely acclaimed achievements.  

Professor Chen graduated from the Department of Physics of Jilin University in China in 1954.  He pursued postgraduate research at Peking University and the Nuclear Physics Laboratory at Oxford University as well as Rutherford High Energy Laboratory in the United Kingdom.  In 1982, Professor Chen was invited to be CEEC Fellow at the State University of New York, Stony Brook in the U.S.A.. His outstanding scholarly work for over three decades, in accelerator physics in particular, has been recognized with many prestigious scientific awards and accolades.  

Professor Chen has been active in fostering quality higher education in China.  He was Professor and Vice-President of Peking University from 1984 to 1996 and became President of Peking University in 1996.  He has the vision to bring Peking University to the highest levels in the international arena by enhancing the academic achievements and scholarly research of the University.  Under his capable leadership, Peking University successfully celebrated its centennial anniversary and has continued to grow from strength to strength. He was one of the Founding Members of the Association of University Presidents of China established in 1997.  

Besides his remarkable contribution in education, Professor Chen has also been active in promoting the advancement of science in China.  He was elected Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and is Member of New York Academy of Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.  He also serves as Member of the Executive Committee of the Presidium of the Chinese Academy of Sciences as well as the China Association for Science and Technology.  He is now President of the Chinese Physical Society.  Professor Chen also serves on the editorial board of many prominent journals, and is the President of the Association of Asia-Pacific Physical Societies.

Professor Chen has been a long-time friend of The Chinese University of  Hong Kong. With Professor Chen's strong support, Peking University and The Chinese University of Hong Kong have maintained very close academic ties, which culminated in the establishment of the Beijing Liaison Office of The Chinese University of Hong Kong on the campus of Peking University in 1998.  The Joint Centre for Intelligence Engineering and the Joint Laboratory for Plant Molecular Biology and Biotechnology were launched in 1999 through the collaboration of the two universities.  The two universities work closely together to promote cultural exchange between students of Hong Kong and the mainland, and to set up a programme to enable students from Beijing to pursue undergraduate studies at The Chinese University of Hong Kong.