Dr Kong Xin Ying, a brilliant research fellow from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, has made history as the only Malaysian to be awarded the esteemed MIT Technology Review’s Innovators Under 35 (TR35) Asia Pacific Award for 2024. Dr. Kong’s ingenious work in sustainable energy harvesting and environmental remediation has earned her this prestigious acclaim. A celebratory event was held in Shanghai last month to honour her achievements.
Dr Kong’s revolutionary research has unlocked a new way to tackle the plastic waste crisis. Her innovative approach involves using catalysts to convert plastics into valuable fuels and chemicals at room temperature. This groundbreaking process dramatically shortens the decomposition time of non-biodegradable plastics from hundreds or thousands of years to just one day.
Not only does Dr Kong’s method help clean up our environment, but it also produces valuable chemicals that have a wide range of applications, including solvents, antiseptics, food additives, fragrances and liquid organic hydrogen carriers. By drawing out carbon resources from plastic waste instead of relying on fossil fuels, Dr Kong’s work offers a sustainable and environmentally friendly alternative. Early laboratory experiments have shown promising results, paving the way for a future where plastic pollution is converted into a source of clean energy.
“Receiving this award is an incredible honour, which recognises the significance of my work in mitigating plastic pollution with sustainable solutions and it encourages me to work harder.”
Dr Kong Xin Ying
Dr Kong has made Malaysia proud as she becomes the fourth Malaysian in ten years to win this prestigious award. She joins a remarkable group of innovators, including Wei Ru Wong, Researcher at University of Malaya (2000), Dhesi Raja, Cofounder and Chief Scientist, Artificial Intelligence in Medical Epidemiology (AIME) (2017) and Goh Ai Ching, Co-founder of Piktochart (2014).
Dr Kong’s achievements keep booming! She was recently named one of the World’s Top 2% Scientists in 2023 by Stanford University. At just 32 years old, Dr Kong is one of the youngest to receive this prestigious honour.
Her unprecedented research has also earned her the 2023 Merdeka Award Grant for International Attachment. This award recognises her inventive work in photocatalytic upcycling of plastics. Dr Kong will be heading to the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and University of California, Berkeley for a three-month research stint starting at the end of this month.