Prestigious Science and Technology Awards Celebrate Five Outstanding Scientists in Singapore

SINGAPORE: In a grand ceremony held on Friday evening (20 Oct), five exceptional scientists were honoured with the prestigious Presidential Science and Technology Award (PSTA) and the Young Scientist Award in Singapore for their outstanding contributions to the nation in the fields of science, technology, and economics.

President Tharman Shanmugaratnam presented the awards, reaffirming the significance of their work in pushing the boundaries of science and technology in Singapore.

The President’s Science & Technology Awards (PSTA), Singapore’s most esteemed recognition for research scientists and engineers, is organized by the National Research Foundation Singapore. It comprises three distinct categories: the President’s Science & Technology Medal, the President’s Science Award, and the President’s Technology Award, along with the esteemed Young Scientist Award administered by the Singapore National Academy of Science (SNAS) and supported by NRF.

These awards carry immense prestige and influence and inspire the upcoming generation of researchers in the field of science and technology.

Mr Quek Gim Pew, a senior research consultant with over four decades of service in the Ministry of Defense, clinched the highest honour, the President’s Science and Technology Medal, for his pivotal roles in advancing Singapore’s research ecosystem, especially in the domains of defence capabilities, space technology, quantum engineering, artificial intelligence, and high-performance computing.

Dr Qiu Cheng-Wei, an Associate Professor and Dean’s Chair Professor at the National University of Singapore (NUS), secured the President’s Science Award. His pioneering work has led to groundbreaking advancements in topological thermal materials and diffusion physics, revolutionizing fields such as thermal metamaterials, quantum heat transport, advanced cooling technologies, and nonreciprocal thermal photonics.

The Young Scientist Awards (YSA) celebrated the achievements of three budding scientists this year. Dr Tan Yong Zi, an assistant professor at NUS, received the YSA in the Biological & Biomedical Sciences Category. His innovative contributions in cryogenic electron microscopy have unveiled the structures of proteins in diseases like tuberculosis, malaria, COVID-19, and cancer, potentially paving the way for groundbreaking treatments.

In the Physical, Information & Engineering Sciences Category, NTU Assistant Professor Dr Chang Guoqing was awarded the YSA for his pioneering work in discovering topological quantum semimetals, opening up new research avenues and applications in quantum materials and photonics.

Dr Soujanya Poria, an Assistant Professor at the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD), was also honoured in the same category for his outstanding work in multimodal conversational AI and affective computing, which has found wide adoption and practical applications.

The history of these awards spans 14 years, during which 121 outstanding individuals have been recognized for their remarkable contributions to Singapore’s science, technology, and economics landscape. The impact of their work extends far beyond the present, serving as an inspiration and guidance for aspiring researchers and scientists in the nation’s scientific and technological fields.

/TISG

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