Wang Xi, former Director of the Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology (SIMIT), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), was appointed vice minister of Science and Technology, according to the State Council, China's cabinet, in an announcement on May 14.

Wang has devoted his work to semiconductor material science. He was part of the Hundred-Talent Program initiated by the CAS in 1984 to attract and cultivate talent. He was also awarded the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars.

Born in 1966 in Shanghai, Wang received his bachelor's degree from Tsinghua University in 1987 and later got his master's and doctoral degrees in 1990 and 1993, respectively, from the SIMIT, formerly known as the Shanghai Institute of Metallurgy. He started his work in 1993 and was selected as an academician of CAS in 2009.