This collection consists of the professional papers of Lanna Cheng, marine biologist and faculty member at UC San Diego, Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
Lanna Cheng Papers, 1938-2005 (SMC 95)
Extent: 12 Linear feet (30 archives boxes)
Lanna Cheng was a marine entomologist researcher at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography beginning in the 1970s, where she stayed for several decades. Her work focused on the open-ocean sea-skater Halobates, and she also published on marine insects, algae, and climate change. She received her M.S. degree from the University of Singapore in 1966 and her PhD from Oxford University in 1969. In the 1980s, Cheng worked extensively with scientists in the People's Republic of China (PRC), both hosting international workshops at SIO and traveling to develop laboratories in China. Between 1988-1990, she served as the Chief Technical Officer on the United Nations Development Project (UNDP) Brine Biotechnology Project with the Salt Research Institute in Tanngu, China.
In 1969, she married Ralph Lewin, marine biologist at SIO. Cheng and Lewin collaborated frequently over their careers, publishing together and traveling internationally to host seminars. Cheng often worked as a translator for Lewin, although Lewin was fluent in Esperanto. Cheng's brief professional CV and bibliography is available on on the Scripps Profiles website at:
This collection consists of the professional papers of Lanna Cheng, marine biologist and faculty member at UC San Diego, Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Materials include manuscript drafts by Cheng and others, correspondence, insect collection data, expedition reports, and photographs. The collection was received in two accessions (2006 and 2007) and processed in 2024 by Alex McGrath.
Arranged in four series: 1) WRITINGS, 2) WORK WITH SCIENTISTS IN CHINA, 3) RESEARCH FILES, 4) CORRESPONDENCE.