The award was the starting line: what four Young Alumni Award recipients did next
Ahead of the upcoming 2026 Nanyang Alumni Awards, we catch up with four past recipients of the Nanyang Outstanding Young Alumni Award to find out what they have done since, and how NTU continues to shape their journeys.
Text: Vivien Yap | Photos: Vincere Zeng, Liu Xiaoyi, Edward Yee
Since 2005, the Nanyang Alumni Awards have recognised NTU graduates for outstanding achievements and sustained contributions to NTU, the community or society. More than 600 alumni have been honoured to date.
The Nanyang Outstanding Young Alumni Award goes to graduates aged 40 and below who have excelled and earned wide recognition in their professional fields for outstanding and sustained achievements.
For four past recipients, the award has marked not an end point, but careers still accelerating.
A mountaineer is scaling the world’s highest peaks. A theatre director is creating new platforms for artists. An impact investor has turned his attention to AI safety. And a clean energy entrepreneur is building the next generation of green technology.
Here’s what they have been up to since receiving the award.
Still scaling new heights
Vincere at the peak of Mt. Kangchenjunga in 2026, making her the first Singaporean female to climb the world’s 3rd tallest mountain.
Vincere Zeng, an alumna of NTU’s School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, has gone higher since receiving the Nanyang Outstanding Young Alumni Award in 2024.
She has since climbed Kangchenjunga, the third highest peak on Earth, and summited Puncak Jaya, the highest in Oceania. Once a student who considered herself unathletic, she has now stood on the world's five highest mountains.
Vincere got her first taste of mountaineering on a post-graduation volunteer exchange trip to Tanzania with NTU student club AIESEC where she climbed Africa's highest mountain. During the climb, her guide told her she was faster than the porters.
“It was kind of a hidden talent I discovered,” she says.
In her day job, Vincere works in global strategy and transformation at SAP. She found her SAP internship at an NTU career fair booth and worked there for over decade.
The future for Vincere is simple and clear: she plans to finish all 14 peaks above 8,000 metres.
“When I’m on the ascent, it’s just me and my breath. It’s difficult, but strangely it’s meditative. I take my life, my journey, as an experiment,” she says.
From making shows to building platforms
Liu Xiaoyi, an alumnus of NTU’s School of Humanities, received the award in 2022. Since then, the artistic director of international experimental arts group, Emergency Stairs, now works across Singapore, Hong Kong, mainland China and Germany.
In 2025, he became a guest professor at the University of Gießen in Germany, bringing Asian theatre methods into a European classroom. He also teaches contemporary Chinese theatre at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts.
Xiaoyi (centre, in black) photographed as part of The Peripheral Experiment in 2024, held in Topu Town, China.
His most memorable project is The Peripheral Experiment, a festival he curated to support artists and showcase new works. Over three editions, it has grown into a community of more than 100 artists across Asia.
“What excites me most right now remains how to create opportunities for others,” Xiaoyi says.
Bringing social impact to AI safety
Having graduated from Nanyang Business School in 2019, Edward Yee won in 2024 for his social impact work, including co-founding impact investment fund Givfunds and fintech nsave.
Two years ago, he turned to a new problem: AI safety and dedicated his years of resources and networks to finding and reducing the risks of powerful AI systems.
He is now Chief Growth Officer at FAR.AI, which he describes as one of the leading independent AI safety organisations globally. He recently took over its red team, a group that tries to break AI models before release to expose their weaknesses. The team works with leading AI frontier labs and, Edward says, has helped strengthen safeguards on leading AI models in use today.
Edward at the launch of FAR.AI’s Singapore office in 2026.
In 2026, FAR.AI opened a Singapore office, bringing Edward back to Singapore after an international career that spanned the United Kingdom and the United States.
He is candid that the path of social entrepreneurship and impact is uncertain.
“The world needs more people who are willing to take that path, to take the risk, to work hard and to work smart,” he says.
Moving up the supply chain
Dr Avishek Kumar (left) was conferred the Nanyang Outstanding Young Alumni Award in 2023.
Dr Avishek Kumar, an alumnus of NTU’s School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering received the award as co-founder of VFlowTech (now VFT), an NTU spin-off.
Its flow batteries store energy in liquid, allowing solar and wind power to be used even after the sun sets or the wind drops. The company has sold its products in 11 countries.
In 2026, Avishek stepped down as executive CEO of VFlowTech to embark on a new entrepreneurial journey. His new company, Applied Advanced Green Materials (AAGM), uses AI to help manufacturers in countries such as India, Indonesia and the US develop more efficient and reliable solar, battery and semiconductor supply chains.
His advice to other NTU alumni on pursuing their passion is: “Life is hard, but if you follow your passion and put sustained effort into something for 8 to 10 years, you will see meaningful change.”
On 28 October 2026, the NTU campus will welcome this year’s Nanyang Alumni Awards recipients. For them, as for the four alumni featured here, the award may be a milestone, but it is unlikely to be the final destination.
