NTU MAE Congratulates Faculty Members on Their Promotions

NTU MAE is proud to congratulate two of our faculty members on their well-deserved promotions. Their achievements reflect the depth of research excellence and innovation across the school.

Prof Li Hong — Promoted to Professor

Prof Li Hong joined NTU MAE in 2016 as a Nanyang Assistant Professor. He currently serves as Assistant Chair (Research) at MAE and Deputy Co-Director of the NTI-NTU Corporate Laboratory. His research focuses on technology development for decarbonisation and sustainability, including green hydrogen generation, biomass waste-to-fuels and green chemicals, passive cooling, and nanofabrication.

His work has been published in leading journals, including Science, Nature Materials, and Nature Sustainability. Prof Li has been recognised as a World's Top 2% Scientist by Stanford University and Elsevier, and as an Emerging Investigator by Green Chemistry journal. He has been involved in organising international scientific conferences, including the World Hydrogen Energy Conference 2016 and MRS Spring Meeting 2024, and has delivered numerous plenary, keynote, expert, and invited talks at international conferences worldwide. Prof Li is also actively involved in innovation and entrepreneurship, having filed more than 20 patents that have led to several licenses and a start-up.

We congratulate Prof Li on his promotion to Professor.

Prof Wang Yifan — Promoted to Associate Professor with Tenure

Prof Wang Yifan joined NTU MAE as a Nanyang Assistant Professor in 2020. His research focuses on developing robotic materials that can sense, respond, and adapt to their environment, with applications spanning smart fabrics for exoskeletons and haptic interfaces, microscale shape-changing robots, and active metamaterials.

His work has been published in leading journals including Nature, Science Robotics, and Advanced Materials, and he has been recognised with the Grainger Foundation Fellowship Award. His lab, the Robotic Materials Group, continues to advance the field of soft robotics by developing adaptive fabrics and devices that combine comfort with functionality, paving the way for the next generation of wearable robotics.

We congratulate Prof Wang Yifan on his promotion to Associate Professor with tenure.