Chinese Internet search engine Baidu.com (BIDU) has announced the promotion of Jerry Liu to Chief Technology Officer.

Prior to the promotion, Liu had been the Vice President of Engineering since August 2000.

"Jerry was our first employee six years ago and has been integral in transforming Baidu from a new start-up company into the top search engine in China," said Robin Li, Baidu's Chairman and CEO. "Under his leadership, our technology team has attracted outstanding talents and developed into an exceptional team. His industry knowledge, technical expertise and management skills are unparalleled in China."

Liu has more than 15 years of experience in software engineering, R&D and management. He joined Baidu in January 2000 and in August 2000, he was appointed as the Vice President of Engineering responsible for supervising multiple teams of engineers and R&D projects and developing cutting edge technologies for search in Chinese.

Prior to joining Baidu, Liu was an associate professor in the department of computer science and technology at Peking University where he supervised numerous research projects funded by the Chinese National Science

Foundation and the National Planning Committee.