Teh-hui Kao, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at Penn State University, has been selected to receive the title of distinguished professor of biochemistry and molecular biology. Kao was honored with the title in recognition of his exceptional record of teaching, research and service to the University community. The honor is designated by the Office of the President of Penn State based on the recommendations of colleagues and the dean.
Kao investigates the molecular basis for cellular recognition and signal transduction during reproduction in flowering plants. His research has been featured on the cover of Nature and was chosen as one of the top 75 science stories in 1994 by Discover magazine. In addition, he is the recipient of the 2008 Excellence in Honors Teaching Award given by the Schreyer Honors College. In 2006, he was honored with a Penn State Graduate Program Chair Leadership Award. In 2011 and in 1998, the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology honored Kao with a Paul M. Althouse Outstanding Teaching Award. In 1998, the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology honored Kao with the Daniel R. Tershak Memorial Teaching Award and, in 1995, Penn State honored him with a Faculty Scholar Medal in Life and Health Sciences.
Kao has presented invited lectures throughout his career in the United States and abroad. He has published numerous papers in scientific journals and he has served on the editorial boards of Botanical Studies, Academia Sinica, Plant Physiology, the Journal of Plant Biology, Sexual Plant Reproduction, and Plant and Cell Physiology. Kao chairs the Intercollege Graduate Degree Program in Plant Biology and, until 2006, he was the co-director of the ecological and molecular pant physiology degree option in Penn State's Integrative Biosciences Graduate Degree Program. He has served on the graduate thesis committees of over 70 graduate students throughout his career at Penn State.
Before joining the Penn State faculty in 1986, Kao conducted research at the Roche Institute for Molecular Biology and at Cornell University. He earned a doctoral degree in chemistry at Yale University in 1980. He earned master of philosophy and master of science degrees in chemistry in 1977 and 1976, respectively. In 1973, he earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry at National Taiwan University.