Professor Jackie Ying is first woman to win Turkish Academy of Sciences award

Mustafa Prize Laureate Professor Jackie Y. Ying has won the 2018 Turkish Academy of Sciences (TÜBA) Academy Prize in Science and Engineering Sciences. This award recognises her pioneering work in the synthesis of advanced nanostructured materials for biomedical, catalytic, energy and advanced materials applications.

Professor Ying heads A*STAR’s NanoBio Lab in Singapore. “It is a great honour to receive this Prize from the Turkish Academy of Sciences. I am grateful to be able to do exciting research with the talented scientists and dedicated staff at NanoBio Lab in Singapore.

Source: NanoBio Lab,
A*STAR. Professor Ying
(right) and her daughter
(middle) with Turkish
president Recep Tayyip
Erdogan at the  TÜBA
award ceremony.

"Technological breakthroughs can help to improve the quality of lives and benefit society in many ways. It is my hope that we can make a distinct impact through many successful clinical translation and commercialisation of our research,” said Professor Ying.

The TÜBA Academy Prizes have been presented annually since 2015 in three categories to eminent scientists who demonstrate original, leading and groundbreaking work in their fields. The three award categories are Science and Engineering Sciences, Health and Life Sciences, as well as Social and Human Sciences.

Candidates are nominated by TÜBA members, science academies and inter-academy organisations that collaborate with TÜBA, as well as other international scientific institutions and scientists who have been invited as nominators. The nominees in each category are evaluated by a committee composed of TÜBA members and renowned scientists, who select the winners via a rigorous peer review of their work.

Professor Ying is the only female recipient of the TÜBA Academy Prizes in 2018. She is also the first woman to receive the TÜBA Academy Prize in Science and Engineering Sciences. The other 2018 TÜBA Academy Prize winners are Professor Fatih Mehmet Uҫkun of the University of Minnesota (Health and Life Sciences category), and joint winners Professor Bold Luvsandorj of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences and Professor Viorel Panaite of the University of Bucharest (Social and Human Sciences category).

Each laureate received an Academy medal and US$30,000.