THE RAY WU PRIZE

The Ray Wu Prize for Excellence in Life Sciences is established to inspire Asia’s most promising young Ph.D. students to become future leaders in life sciences.  Professor Ray Wu (1928-2008) was a world-renowned biologist who, in the 1970s, developed the first method for DNA sequencing and pioneered the recombinant DNA technology. In the later part of his career, he devoted to genetic engineering of rice. Professor Wu was a life-long advocate for developing life science research in Asia.  In 1982, Professor Wu initiated the first large-scale exchange program in biology which brought over 400 students from China to obtain Ph.D. degrees in the US.  The program opened the door for thousands of more Chinese students to study abroad and marked the beginning of Sino-US exchanges in life science research. This prize is dedicated in honor of Professor Ray Wu’s seminal contributions in training new generation of biologists. The prize has been awarded to more than 120 people so far.

The Ray Wu Prize is awarded each year to graduate students for excellence in life science research. The process for selection of recipients is outlined in the following sections.

The Prize: The prize consists of USD $5,000, a medal, a certificate, and a citation by the Ray Wu Memorial Fund (RWMF). Financial assistance for travel is available to the recipients for career advancement purposes. RWMF will serve as a liaison for the awardees who wish to seek consultation from established investigators as they develop their scientific careers.

Approximately ten awards may be made each year. Candidates from all geographical areas are encouraged to apply and special considerations will be given to semifinalists from each underrepresented major geographical area.

Criteria: The Ray Wu Prize recognizes excellence in life science research by a graduate student for innovation, independent thinking, and dedication.

Qualifications: A candidate must be a graduate student who is pursuing a degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in an institution located in mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, or Singapore. The candidate must have advanced to candidacy in the PhD program and is within one year from dissertation defense by the deadline of application.

Nomination: A candidate may be nominated by a faculty member of the institution from which the candidate plans to receive the PhD. The faculty member shall be a PhD mentor and is actively conducting life science research.

Materials to be submitted: A candidate who wishes to be considered for this year's Ray Wu Prize must submit the following materials by the deadline for application:

1. A completed application form. (Please download the application form http://www.raywumemorialfund.org/application_process.phpavailable below. Fill out in English or Chinese)

Download Application Form

The completed application form must be signed by the Dean of the School in which the candidate is currently enrolled to certify all materials as true and authentic.

2. A two page essay (English or Chinese) by the candidate in which the motivation of pursuing a PhD degree, personal interest in the current field of own research, and outlook for future career development should be addressed.

3. A progress report of the candidate's current PhD research project (limited to 3 pages, not counting references).

4. A current transcript of courses taken in the PhD program.

5. A list of publications

6. Copies of two representative published materials.

7. Awards or honors received.

The candidate must collate items 1-7 in a single PDF file (limited to 10MB) in the right order. The name of the PDF file must be Familyname_Givenname_RWP2021.pdf (e.g. Chen_Xiaohua_RWP2021.pdf).

Submit the PDF file by clicking the button below:

Online Submission

In addition, the candidate must request a letter of recommendation from the nominating faculty member (letter1), and two additional letters of recommendation from other faculty members who know the candidate well professionally (letter2 and letter3). The letter must be in an envelope sealed by each faculty member with candidate’s name on the back of the envelope, sent to:

Dr. Yan Wu

National Institute of Biological Sciences

7 Science Park Rd., ZGC Life Science Park, Beijing, China 102206
Tel: 010-80726688-8826

or sent directly by the faculty members via email to:

raywuprize@nibs.ac.cn

The name of the letters must be Familyname_Givenname_RWP2021_letter1 (2 or 3).pdf (e.g. Chen_Xiaohua_RWP2021_letter1.pdf).

Important Dates:

January 2, 2021, deadline for applications to be received.

February 1,，2021, notification of receipt of completed applications (by email or other means)

April 30，2021, completion of review.

Award ceremony is to be determined.

Website of Ray Wu Memorial Fund: http://www.raywumemorialfund.org/

The Ray Wu Prize committee

Chair:

Xiaodong Wang(王晓东) Director, National Institute of Biological Sciences, Beijing

Members:

Jun-Lin Guan (管俊林)
Professor and Chairman, University of Cincinnati

Wanjin Hong(洪万进)
Professor and Executive Director, Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, Singapore

Ming Li (李明)
Member, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center，New York

Ming Luo (罗明)
Professor, Georgia State University

Bing Ren(任兵)
Professor，University of California, San Diego

Xiao-Hong Sun (孙晓红)
Lew and Myra Ward Chair and Member, Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation

Chao-Wen Wang (王昭雯)
Associate Research Fellow, Institute of Plant and Microbial Biology, Taiwan

Xian-Jie Yang (杨先洁)
Professor, University of California, Los Angeles

Jin Zhang (张瑾)
Professor, University of California, San Diego

Pan Zheng (郑盼)
McKnew Chair for Cancer Biology and Senior Investigator, Children’s National Medical Center

Weimin Zhong (钟伟民)
Associate professor, Yale University

Yuan Zhuang (庄原) Professor, Duke University

Yimin Zou (邹益民)
Professor，University of California, San Diego