On 3 December 2003, one of SMA’s
students, Meng Ying was awarded the MRS (Materials
Research Society) Graduate Student Award in Boston.
This award honours students whose academic
achievements and research display a high level of excellence and
distinction. This award is truly encouraging as it not only recognises
the student’s efforts and abilities in materials research
but also
epitomises SMA’s unrelenting support for significant future
achievement in research. Graduate students from top universities
in the world such as UC Berkeley, Stanford, Princeton and MIT were
also among the recipients of this prestigious award.
“ Winning this award also means that I have to work harder in my research.
I always believe that getting an ‘A’ is easy, but keeping it is difficult.
Although I am grateful for this award, winning awards is
not my ultimate goal. As a research scientist, I look forward to
making breakthroughs and creating an impact in my research field
- energy storage and conversion.”
Meng Ying would like to thank her thesis advisors Professors Gerbrand
Ceder (MIT) and Li Yi (NUS) for their invaluable support
and encouragement. She felt that winning this award would have
been impossible without their guidance and advice. She would also
like to thank her colleagues in the Scientific Computational Research
and Analysis of Materials group at MIT who have helped and inspired
her in many ways. “I am truly thankful to SMA for their financial
and administrative support as well as providing me with the opportunity
for participating in an award-winning project.”
The X-factor here is the international collaborations which SMA
has successfully established over the years. With global
collaboration, we are able to synergise resources and expertise
to achieve our research goals.
“SMA’s excellent learning and research environment was one of my main reasons for joining its research programme in July |
2000 in my pursuit of a career in academia. Conducting research in SMA is dynamic, efficient and fast-paced.
New ideas are formed through discussions and meetings with advisors and colleagues
around the world. The advanced classes and training courses at MIT provide fresh
insights and relevant expertise for my research. I am confident and ready for
greater challenges in life after my four-year training in SMA. I strongly recommend
the SMA research programme to students who seek challenges in higher learning,
opportunities in cutting-edge research and a stimulating experience in MIT.”
Meng Ying is now working on designing new materials for energy
storage and conversion, such as rechargeable lithium batteries.
Due to the ever-increasing energy demand, her research area is
active and fast-changing. From portable electronics to hybrid
electric vehicles, energy IS the driving force. Major
technology breakthroughs are needed to
store and convert energy more efficiently
and in environmentally-friendly ways. Her
thesis topic, “Combining ab initio computation with experiments
to design
new materials for advanced lithium ion
batteries” is the third project she has
embarked on since joining SMA. As a
materials scientist, Meng Ying strongly
believes that such direct integration of
computation methods with experimental
research holds promise for significantly
shortening the development cycle of
materials of various applications.
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