On May 17th, Professor Chu-yung Lin of the Institute of Plant Biology, College of Life Sciences won the Life Corresponding Membership Award from the American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB). Established in 1932, the Award annually recognized outstanding plant biologists who live outside the United States for their academic achievements. As a rule, the recipients of this Award may not make up more than two percent of the total dues-paying members of the Society. Professor Lin is the first person from Taiwan to have won this honor.

Professor Lin is well known for his life long contributions to plant biology. He was a trailblazer in the research of ribosome and protein synthesis mechanisms. In addition, he was the first researcher to isolate nucleolus and nucleus from plant cells, and a pioneer in conducting research on Auxin and RNA polymerase's active functions and gene display. He discovered that under high temperature adverse conditions plants could be induced to release massive amounts of small molecular weight 15-18 KDa heat shock proteins, which played a pivotal role in the thermo-tolerance of plants.

Professor Lin was elected academician of Academia Sinica for his academic excellence. Retired from the Department of Plant Biology ten years ago, he still teaches part-time at the Institute of Plant Biology at NTU. Although nearly an octogenarian, he derives great pleasure from teaching and doing research.

※Professor Lin's Personal Website: http://plantbio.lifescience.ntu.edu.tw/faculty/lin_cy.htm