Receiving the nation's highest honour for R&D

NUS ENGINEERING scientists were among Singapore researchers who received top honours from President S R Nathan in a formal ceremony at the Istana on 29 Sept.

Prof Miranda Yap who is with the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering as well heads A*STAR's Bioprocessing Technology Institute, received the President's Science and Technology Medal. The dynamic engineer who is also executive director of A*STAR Graduate Academy, was credited with laying the cornerstone for the growth of Singapore's biotechnology and biologics sectors. She plays a key role in pulling in more than $2.5 billion in investments for the biomedical sciences. She has brought in five leading multinational biologics manufacturing companies which have gone on to set up half a dozen commercial-scale biologics manufacturing plants here.

Prof Jacob Phang, Mr Alfred Quah and Mr Goh Szu Huat of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, as well as Mr Chua Choon Meng of Semicaps, were presented the President's Technology Award for their R&D which results in inventions and discovery of significant technologies with industrial applications.

Semicaps Corporation was established in 1988 by a team of lecturers led by Prof Phang. Their scanning electron microscope image-processing systems revolutionised the way electron images were captured, analysed and manipulated.

Semicaps' instruments detect bugs and flaws in semi-conductor processing, a boon for companies using microchips and the semi-conductor industry in general.

Prof Miranda Yap receiving the Award from Singapore President Mr S R Nathan in recognition of her effort in laying the cornerstone for the growth of Singapore's biotechnology and biologics sectors.