Hong Qian is the Olga Jung Wan Endowed Professor of Applied Mathematics at the University of Washington, Seattle, USA. He received his B.A. in Astrophysics from Peking University, his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Washington University in St. Louis, and worked as postdoctoral researcher in biophysical chemistry and mathematical biology at the University of Oregon and the California Institute of Technology. He was elected Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2010. Professor Qian's current research focuses on mathematical representations and the physical understanding of biological systems, especially in terms of stochastic mathematics and nonequilibrium statistical physics.
Hao Ge is an Associate Professor at the Beijing International Center for Mathematical Research and the Biomedical Pioneering Innovation Center of Peking University, Beijing, China. He received both his B.A. and Ph.D. in Probability and Statistics from Peking University, and worked as lecturerand associate professor at Fudan University from 2008 to 2011. He was a visiting scholar in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard University during 2010–2011. Professor Ge's main research interest is in the stochastic mathematics of nonequilibrium biophysics, biomathematics and biostatistics.