PASADENA—Alice S. Huang, senior councilor for external relations and faculty associate in biology at the California Institute of Technology, has been awarded the 1999 Achievement Award from the Chinese-American Faculty Association of Southern California for her outstanding contribution to microbiology research and for her dedicated leadership in higher education.
Huang was recognized at the association's 28th annual convention on February 27, at which she presented a keynote address titled "New Challenges for Chinese-American Activism."
Huang sits on the boards of AAAS, Johns Hopkins University, and the Health Effects Institute. She is also chair of the Foundation for Microbiology and chair of the Scientific Board of the Institute for Molecular and Cell Biology in Singapore. She is a member of the Food and Drug Administration Advisory Committee on Vaccines and Related Biological Products. She was previously dean for science at New York University and prior to that professor of microbiology and molecular genetics at Harvard Medical School.
Born in China, she grew up in the United States attending St. Mary's Hall, Burlington, New Jersey; the National Cathedral School, Washington, D.C.; and Wellesley College. She received BA, MA, and PhD degrees (microbiology, 1966) from Johns Hopkins University.
Dr. Huang has been recognized by the American Society for Microbiology with the Eli Lilly Award in Immunology and Microbiology (1977), followed by election as that society's president in 1988–1989. She has honorary doctorates of science from Wheaton College, Mt. Holyoke College, and the Medical College of Pennsylvania. She has served on the board of trustees of UMass and Shady Hill School. She is a fellow of the Academia Sinica in Taiwan (1991).
As an administrator Dr. Huang is particularly interested in education, in career mentoring, and in policy issues related to science and technology. Since coming to Caltech, where her husband David Baltimore is the president, Dr. Huang has joined the board of the Keck Graduate Institute of Applied Life Sciences, the Pacific Council on International Policy, and the Blue Ribbon Committee of the Los Angeles Music Center.
Dr. Huang resides in Pasadena, California, and has one daughter in New York City.
The Chinese-American Faculty Association was established 28 years ago with the purpose of promoting closer cultural and social ties among Chinese-American scholars in colleges and universities in Southern California. Today it has over 100 members. Previous annual convention speakers and achievement awardees include Caltech alumnus David Ho, former Caltech trustee Yuan Lee, and Caltech's Hoag Professor of Biophysical Chemistry Sunney Chan.
