Ping Wang, associate professor of entomology, has been named associate director of the Tang Cornell-China Scholars Program at Cornell, effective immediately.

"Ping will join founding director Norm Scott in the leadership of this important program, which provides support for early- to mid-career Chinese scientists who are faculty members at leading Chinese agricultural universities to collaborate with leading agricultural scientists at Cornell," said Susan A. Henry, now dean emerita, in her last week as the Ronald P. Lynch Dean of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

The goal of the Tang Cornell-China Scholars Program is to enhance scientific and technological collaboration by developing cooperative relationships between the best scholars at the threshold of their careers in China and established research and education leaders at Cornell.

Founded in 1999 with support from Martin Tang '70 and the Tang Family Foundation, scholarships from the program have allowed 11 Chinese researchers to further their work at Cornell.

"These scientists advance agriculture and the biological sciences in China, especially in rural communities," said Henry. "We want to thank Martin Tang and the Tang Family Foundation for their vision, and Norm Scott for providing seminal leadership since the program's establishment."

Scientists in agriculture, biological sciences and biological engineering spend up to two years at Cornell undertaking research in their field of specialty and collaborating with a Cornell faculty member. They expand their capabilities in research, build lasting research relationships with Cornell colleagues and develop their ability to lead research and technology development and educational advancement efforts in their home institutions in China at the highest levels.

While at Cornell, Tang scholars have conducted collaborative research projects involving animal genetics, pathogen- and drought-tolerant rice, micro-nanofluidic systems, commercial improvement of indigenous livestock, the development of new cultivars of cucumbers and the reduction of pesticides on cotton through the use of biological control agents.

Candidates for the Tang Cornell-China Scholars Program are nominated biennially by the presidents of the top research universities and academies in China.