NUS researchers recognised in the MIT Technology Review's 'Innovators Under 35 Asia' list
Three NUS researchers receive recognition for their work in soft wearable robotics, earthquake engineering and quantum cryptography
Three outstanding researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) have been named among ten innovators in the annual MIT Technology Review magazine's 'Innovators Under 35 Asia' list.
They are Assistant Professor Raye Yeow Chen Hua, from the Department of Biomedical Engineering, Assistant Professor Chian Siau Chen, from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, both from the NUS Faculty of Engineering, and Research Assistant Professor Joseph Fitzsimons from the Centre for Quantum Technologies at NUS. They have been recognised for their research and contribution to the scientific and technological innovation in Singapore and Asia.
The list identifies top young innovators under the age of 35 who have made significant contribution in transforming the nature of technology in industries such as biotechnology, energy, medicine, computing, transportation and the web.
The three NUS professors will also be in the running for the MIT Technology Review's 35 Innovators under 35 global list, which will be made known in 2016. They will each be presenting their work to regional researchers, industry and investors at the upcoming EmTech conference in Singapore in January 2016.
Asst Prof Yeow's research is in soft wearable robotics, which are robots made of soft materials and motors. These wearable robots can be used as intelligent assistive devices to help with activities of daily living, as well as in rehabilitative settings to improve patient mobility. His recent work includes an innovative robotic sock, which takes inspiration from coral tentacle movements, that can help improve blood circulation and prevent Deep Vein Thrombosis; as well as a robotic glove named ExoGlove that provides assisted finger joint motions to patients with impaired hand mobility due to stroke, work and sports injuries and require physical therapy and rehabilitation to restore hand functions. The ExoGlove is in its final stages of development having commenced human subject trials, and Asst Prof Yeow and his team targets to push these robots towards commercialisation.
Asst Prof Chian's research expertise is in earthquake engineering, particularly in catastrophe modeling and lifeline infrastructure damage mitigation. As opposed to conventional prediction systems that rely on a probabilistic model, Asst Prof Chian's damage estimation model programme relies on the engineering science of building damage and computes an estimate of the expected relative extent of damage to buildings based on the earthquake shaking at the rockbed. Asst Prof Chian's methodology has been validated with case histories of four recent large earthquakes, namely the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake, 2011 Christchurch Earthquake, 2007 Bengkulu Earthquake, and 1999 Chi-Chi Earthquake.
Asst Prof Fitzsimons is a theoretical physicist whose research employs quantum mechanics and quantum information theory for more efficient computation and stronger cryptography. His current research primarily focuses on developing quantum cryptographic protocols to enhance privacy in secure computation. Asst Prof Fitzsimons also holds a joint appointment as an Assistant Professor at the Singapore University of Technology and Design.
For more information on EmTech Asia and the MIT Technology Review's 'Innovators Under 35 Asia' list, please visit http://emtechasia.strikingly.com/blog/tech-visionaries-in-singapore-australia-dominate-mit-technology
