Month: February 2018

Dennis Normile   http://science.sciencemag.org/content/359/6378/856 Science 359 (6378), 856 DOI: 10.1126/science.359.6378.856     Shi Yigong has never shied away from risky career moves. In 2008, the structural biologist turned down a $10 million grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Chevy Chase, Maryland, for his work on programmed cell death and relinquished an endowed chair at Princeton University to relocate to Beijing, because, he says, he felt he could “play a much more important role in a rapidly transforming country.” His latest move may be even more audacious: Shi, 50, has resigned as a vice president of one of China’s premier institutions, Tsinghua University in Beijing, to launch a small university here in southeastern China, near Hangzhou’s scenic West Lake. “It’s time for China to experiment with something new and exciting in higher education,” Shi says. Westlake University, which Shi is pitching as the nation’s first private research university, will focus on natural sciences, medical sciences, and engineering. By the end of the month, formal approval from China’s education...