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SPOTLIGHT

A spotlight on stories from Research, Innovation & Industry over the past few months.

Jan-May 2026

Research

News

A wearable sensor developed by researchers led by Professor Ho Ghim Wei (Electrical and Computer Engineering) enables clinical-grade monitoring of fatigue and mental health in real-world settings, even during movement, overcoming a major limitation of existing devices.

A team led by Associate Professor Low Ying Min (Civil and Environmental Engineering) used high-resolution, turbine-scale ocean simulations to map where Singapore’s tidal currents are strongest, and how much electricity could be generated under practical siting constraints.

Overcoming key safety and durability barriers, research led by Associate Professor Palani Balaya (Mechanical Engineering) advances sodium batteries as a practical alternative to lithium for large-scale storage.

A new high-throughput screening platform developed by researchers led by Assistant Professor Andy Tay (Biomedical Engineering) rapidly identifies gold nanoparticles that can deliver therapies directly to mitochondria, the energy centres inside cancer cells.

Industry & Innovation News

CDE has signed an MOU with the National University Hospital (NUH) as part of the launch of the NUH Innovation Hub, a collaborative space focused on accelerating healthcare transformation through partnerships and AI-driven solutions. The partnership will support the Hub as a real-world platform for developing and validating practical innovations in patient care and hospital operations.

NUS-ArCLab launched a landmark conservation project to explore how heritage buildings can be adapted for a lower-carbon future without losing their heritage value, transforming the conserved townhouse into Singapore’s first historic building retrofitted for net-zero retrofit and operational energy while serving as a living laboratory for sustainable conservation research.

Issue 08 | June 2026

CBE Eco-Solutions, a deep-tech startup founded by former researchers Dr Yao Zhiyi and Dr Babu Cadiam Mohan under Professor Wang Chi-Hwa (Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering), upcycles refinery carbon soot into high-value materials for batteries, tyres and energy storage. Its demo plant on Jurong Island plans to scale to a commercial facility producing around 15 tonnes of output daily.

NUS researchers led by Dr Du Hongjian and Associate Professor Pang Sze Dai (Civil and Environmental Engineering) collaborated with Woh Hup to achieve a Singapore first by 3D-printing structural concrete elements on a live construction site.

Seatrium has further strengthened its commitment to Professorship activities and collaborations with NUS CDE via the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering. This partnership aims to advance research in offshore infrastructure, sustainability and engineering solutions, as well as support existing initiatives such as the NUS Seatrium Public Lecture, which brings together academia and industry to exchange perspectives on emerging developments and challenges in the sector.

CDE is partnering with Eaton, Schneider Electric Singapore, and Sembcorp to validate AI-ready, low-carbon data centre solutions via the Sustainable Tropical Data Centre Testbed (STDCT) 2.0, led by Professor Lee Poh Seng (Mechanical Engineering).

Read about the Eaton MOU

Read about the Sembcorp MOU

Read more about the Schneider Electric MOU

Forging New Frontiers Issue 08 | June 2026

Awards & Achievements

Professor Lam Khee Poh (Architecture and Built Environment) has been named Global WELL Educator of the Year 2025 by the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI), one of the organisation’s highest honours.

Professor Chandra Sekhar (Built Environment) has been honoured with the F. Paul Anderson Award, the highest technical honour from ASHRAE, a global professional society of more than 53,000 members that aims to advance human well-being through sustainable technologies for the built environment.

Assistant Professor Filip Biljecki (Architecture) has received the 2026 Gill Memorial Award from the Royal Geographical Society, recognising outstanding early-career contributions to geographical science.

Professor Lim Chwee Teck (Biomedical Engineering), NUSS Chair Professor, has been elected an International Member of the US National Academy of Engineering (NAE), one of the highest professional honours accorded to engineers worldwide.

Professor Qiu Cheng-Wei (Electrical and Computer Engineering) has been named the 2026 recipient of the Joseph Fraunhofer Award/ Robert M. Burley Prize, one of the highest honours in optical science and engineering, by Optica.

Assistant Professor Jin Yueming (Biomedical Engineering and Electrical and Computer Engineering), Assistant Professor Wang Lei (Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering) and Assistant Professor Pearl Li Yuzhu (Civil and Environmental Engineering) have been awarded the 2026 Robert Brown Promising Researcher Award from the Ministry of Education, Singapore, recognising outstanding early-career researchers with strong potential to advance academic research and innovation.

08 | June 2026

Assistant Professor Gianmarco Mengaldo (Mechanical Engineering) has been appointed to the Joint Advisory Group on Artificial Intelligence (JAG-AI) at the World Meteorological Organization, a by-invitation group of experts from around the world. Read more

Read more awards and achievements news here.

Research Videos

Designing the port of the future

As competition among the world’s leading ports intensifies, ports must become not only bigger and faster, but also smarter, more resilient and more sustainable. At the Centre of Excellence in Modelling and Simulation for Next Generation Ports (C4NGP), research in digital twins, simulation and decisionsupport tools is helping shape the future of Singapore’s port ecosystem. Watch video here

Eyes that photosynthesise

Drawing inspiration from how plants use photosynthesis to convert sunlight into energy, researchers led by Associate Professor David Leong Tai Wei (Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering) are pioneering a revolutionary treatment for dry eye disease, a condition affecting 1.5 billion people worldwide. Watch video here Forging

Watch more videos from CDE here. Issue 08 | June 2026

Decoding the hidden grammar of cities

Assistant Professor Ang Yu Qian (Presidential Young Professor, Built Environment) leads the City Syntax lab at CDE. His research uses data, advanced modelling and AI to uncover the hidden “grammar” of cities, developing solutions for shaping more liveable, sustainable and healthier urban environments.

Watch video here

Better transport begins with understanding behaviour

Research led by Assistant Professor Prateek Bansal (Presidential Young Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering) combines behavioural science, artificial intelligence and large-scale data to understand how people make transport choices and how those choices collectively shape traffic patterns, congestion and demand.

Watch video here

08 | June 2026

Events at CDE

Robotics pioneer talks future of human-robot collaboration

At a seminar held at CDE, Professor Oussama Khatib, Director of the Stanford Robotics Centre, shared how robotics is extending human capability across distance and extreme environments.

First atom probe tomography facility in SE Asia opens at NUS Researchers and industry partners from Singapore and overseas attended the inaugural symposium marking the opening of the Invizo 6000 Atom Probe Tomography Facility at CDE, the first of its kind in Southeast Asia.