Vita
Education
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, United States
Ph.D. in Chemistry, 2023
Thesis: Complexing carbon nanomaterials and reactive metal species for selective chemical sensing and tunable catalysis
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, United States
B.S. in Chemistry, 2017
Thesis: Tuning and predicting the initiation kinetics in ruthenium-based olefin metathesis catalysts bearing chelating ortho-alkoxy benzylidenes
Raffles Institution, Singapore
High School, Raffles Diploma (Merit), 2012
Research Experience
School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, United States
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Advisor: Prof. David. A. Weitz
June 2023 – Present
Department of Chemistry and Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, United States
Graduate Research Fellow, Sensing Subgroup Leader, Advisor: Prof. Timothy M. Swager
November 2017 – June 2023
Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, United States
Undergraduate Research Fellow, Advisor: Prof. Robert H. Grubbs
March 2014 – June 2017
Genentech Inc., South San Francisco, CA, United States
Discovery Chemistry Intern
June 2016 – September 2016
Materia Inc., Pasadena, CA, United States
R&D Intern
June 2015 – August 2015
Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE)
Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore
Research Intern, Advisor: Prof. T. S. Andy Hor
May 2011 – December 2012
Awards
MRS Graduate Student Award, Materials Research Society
Best Student Presentation Award, Materials Research Society Spring Meeting 2023
Baxter Young Investigator Award (First Tier)
Mentorship Spotlight Award, MIT Chemistry
Department of Chemistry Award for Outstanding Teaching, MIT
Outstanding Hakka Youth Doctor Award
Second Place, MIT Superfund Poster Session
Lewis Paul Chapin Fund, MIT
George W. Housner Student Discovery Fund, Caltech
Summer Undergraduate Startup Internship (SUSI) Program, Caltech
Regional Finalist, Google Science Fair
Gold Award, Singapore Science and Engineering Fair
Gold Medal, Singapore Junior Chemistry Olympiad
Distinction, AMC 12
Silver Medal, Singapore Mathematics Olympiad
F.I.R.E. Award, Raffles Institution
School-Based Scholarship (SM1), Ministry of Education Singapore
Academic Service
Reviewer
Nature Communications, ACS Nano, ACS Sensors, Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, Macromolecules, Small, Journal of The Electrochemical Society, Advanced Engineering Materials, Electrochimica Acta, Nano-Micro Letters, NeurIPS Workshops (AI4Science, GenBio), ICML Workshop (AI4Science), Journal of Emerging Investigators
Contributor
Teaching, Mentoring, and Outreach
Graduate Teaching Assistant, MIT
Teaching assistant for chemistry laboratory courses (5.310) totaling 60 undergraduate students
Student Mentor, MIT Summer Research Program
Mentee: Cindy Serena Ngompe Massado (Case Western Reserve University, B.S. ’22, current MIT Chemistry graduate student)
Peer Tutor, Caltech
Peer tutor for undergraduate and graduate chemistry courses
Science Fair Judge
Massachusetts High School Science & Engineering Fair (2022 -present)