Nominations of candidates to the Tang Cornell-China Scholars Program are solicited biennially from the presidents of universities and research institutions in China by invitation. Each invited Chinese institution may submit two nominations to the Tang Cornell-China Scholars Program from the broad areas of agricultural/biological sciences or biological engineering. Nominations from the same institution should not be from the same field.

Research and Teaching Capabilities

According to the original research criteria, candidates must have outstanding qualifications in the agricultural and biological sciences or biological engineering; however, if emerging or new priority areas are included in the program, candidate qualifications will be adjusted accordingly.

The Scholars are selected based on demonstrated extraordinary capacity in research, teaching, and potential for research and education leadership. Demonstration of research capability is expected in the form of established mechanisms such as published work in scholarly journals and monographs and recognition in the field. Teaching capability is evaluated by assessment of course materials and peer evaluation of teaching performance.

Review and Selection

Each Chinese institution may submit two nominations to the Tang Cornell-China Scholars Program from the agricultural/biological sciences and from biological engineering. Both nominations should not be from the same field. Should the program expand to include additional fields, the nominations will correspondingly reflect those. 

Tang Scholars Selection

Nominations are evaluated by a selection committee. The selection committee is composed of Cornell faculty members who select two or three scholars from the nominees strictly on the basis of their capacity in research and education, opportunity to participate effectively in programs at Cornell, and their potential for leadership in research and education in China in the long term. Status of nominees’ career, publications, recognitions, letters of reference and a statement of goals by the nominee are carefully considered.

According to the original research criteria, candidates must have outstanding qualifications in the agricultural and biological sciences or biological engineering.