(certificate of the Einstein Professorship)

According to the recent-released name list of successful applicants for next year’s Einstein Professorship Program, Prof. José Nelson Onuchi, recommended by Prof. WANG Erkang, has been granted the eligibility as one of the twenty eminent scientists who will be awarded Einstein Professorships in 2011.

José Nelson Onuchi is a professor of physics at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD).He did his undergraduate work at the University of São Paulo, Brazil, and received his PhD from California Institute of Technology in 1987. In 1990, two years before he became a fellow of the American Physical Society, he came to UCSD. In 2006 he was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences, USA.

His current research interests centers on theoretical and computational methods for molecular biophysics and chemical reactions in condensed matter. In protein folding, his group introduced the concept of protein folding funnels as a mechanism for the folding of proteins. A second effort of his group focuses on the theory of chemical reactions in condensed matter with emphasis on biological electron transfer reactions.

The Einstein Professorship Program is a key initiative of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). Einstein Professorships will be awarded each year to 20 distinguished international scientists actively working at the frontiers of science and technology, for conducting lecture-tours to China.