On June 2nd, China Association of Science and Technology presented the first “National Outstanding Talent in Science and Technology Award” at the Great Hall of the People. Our department’s alumnus of class 1982, Prof. Liao Hong, was one the awardees.
The “National Outstanding Talent in Science and Technology Award” is intended to reward scientists and technologists, who have made original and landmark achievements, have high reputation in the scientific community, are well recognized by international peers and play key roles in technologic innovation. It is a sub award of the “National Outstanding Scientists and Technologists Award”, approved in 2015 by the central government and implemented by China Association of Science and Technology. It is awarded once every two years, with no more than 10 awardees each time. This year is the first time of the award election. The 10 awardees come from physics, chemistry, agriculture, earth science, information technology, material science and engineering respectively, with Prof. Liao being the only awardee in earth and environmental science.
Prof. Liao entered the Department of Geophysics at Peking University in 1982, and obtained her B.S. in 1986 and M.S. in atmospheric dynamics in 1989. She then went to California Institute of Technology for her PhD study, and obtained her PhD degree in 2001. She has been a visiting scientist at Oak Ridge National Lab from 2003 to 2005, “Bairen” Research Scientist at the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Science, and started to serve as the Dean of School of Environmental Science and Technology at the Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology in March 2016.
Prof. Liao’s research simultaneously covers two most major fields in atmospheric sustainable development, namely atmospheric environment and climate change. She conducted deep research in the concentration, distribution, radiative forcing and climate effects of atmospheric pollutants and has published more than 80 scientific papers. Her major contribution includes pioneering in the development of atmospheric chemistry-aerosol-climate two way coupled global numerical models as well as in two-way feedback research, uncovering the impact of anthropogenic emission, land use and climate change on decadal variability of aerosols, and systematically assessing the impact of aerosols on global and regional climate change and its uncertainties.
Prof. Liao has won the National Outstanding Young Researcher Fund in 2008, and was elected into the New Century Talent Project in 2009. She has been the principal scientist in many national major scientific projects, and served in many international academic organizations. She was also one of the Lead Authors of the fifth IPCC report, and the coordinate lead author of the third chapter – “Climate effect of Greenhouse Gases and Aerosols”.
