International Fellows

Professor Seeram Ramakrishna FREng
Vice-President (Research Strategy), National University of Singapore

Seeram Ramakrishna is currently the Vice-President (Research Strategy) and Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the National University of Singapore, NUS. Before this, he served as the Dean of NUS Faculty of Engineering during 2003-2008. He is also the founding Co-Director of NUS Nanoscience & Nanotechnology Initiative, NUSNNI since 2002, www.nusnni.nus.edu.sg.

As a vice-president his responsibilities include a) enhancing research excellence & visibility of university; b) building research collaborations with leading institutions around the world, and c) fostering synergistic partnerships with funding bodies and members of the Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise, CREATE worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

He serves on the management boards of Global Asia Institute, GAI; Institution of Engineers Singapore (IES); Energy Studies Institute (ESI), Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Trade & Industry; Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore (SERIS), Clean Energy Program Office, National Research Foundation; Temasek Polytechnic, Ministry of Education; and DSO National Laboratories, Ministry of Defence.

He is the author of The Changing Face of Innovation: Is it Shifting to Asia! He is a Faculty Associate of the Global Asia Institute, and delivers invited lectures on global trends of higher education, research and innovation.

• What or who were your major inspirations during your career?

Nature and Thomas Edison are my heroes.

• What inspired you to study engineering?

When I was growing up, I was amazed to see how a tree can withstand a forceful typhoon! As I learnt more about the microstructure of plants, insects, animals and humans, I admired nature's ingenious engineering!

• What do you consider as your major achievements as an engineer and during your career as a whole?

I tremendously accelerated and advanced the research and development of electrospun fibers worldwide, and demonstrated their usefulness in addressing global challenges: health, energy and water.

Aging population is a challenge of our societies and tissue regeneration is vitally important to address this growing challenge. I demonstrated that biodegradable polymeric nanofibrous constructs are suitable scaffold systems for regeneration of wide range of tissues. Idea of developing nanofibers with nanohydroxyapatite has enhanced the scope of fabricating scaffolds to mimic the architecture of natural bone tissue. Carried out pioneering research on cell-nanofiber interactions. Their recent observations indicate that nanofiber scaffolds positively promote cell-matrix and cell-cell interactions, inducing them to express the normal phenotypic shape. The positive interaction of stem cells and 3D nanofibrous scaffold is a key factor that was realized to construct biomimetic and bioactive scaffold with cells under environmental stimuli.

Given the global shortage of water and the growing need for energy saving membranes for water treatment, developed a new class of thin film membranes, which have the ability to separate various particulate, bacteria, viruses, molecules and ions from water to be treated. Designed successfully thin film composite membranes based on electrospun nanofibers, which yield higher water fluxes and result in three fold energy savings.

Harvesting solar energy to power low energy demand applications will transform the lives of many low income families. Realizing that the effective charge transport within photoelectrode is a key factor that influences the efficient conversion of sunlight into electricity, I conceived and developed photovoltaic nanofibers with better charge diffusion characteristics. Successfully made solar cloth with an efficiency of ~ 1.2×10-4, which is several orders of magnitude higher than efficiencies reported in the literature. Energy storage is also critically important for successful harvesting of solar energy. Hence developed metal oxide nanofiber electrodes which enable long term stability of batteries.

• What impact has your work had on wider society?

As a former dean of engineering at NUS from 2003 to 2008, I focused on a) curriculum changes for nurturing engineer-leaders with global exposure through exchange programs, internships, and joint or double degree programs with overseas universities; b) introduced new undergraduate engineering programs such as bioengineering, materials science and engineering, environmental science and engineering, engineering science, engineering management, systems engineering and engineering design to nurture future engineers for changing economy and industries; c)attracted higher proportion of female students to engineering; and d) actively promoted engineering as a liberal arts education of the future.

• What are the major challenges still to be tackled in your field?

Lowering the costs of food, water, clean energy and healthcare through materials advancement and development.

• What are the main global engineering issues and what is the future of engineering?

Together with the Dean of Engineering at Harvard University, I was instrumental in establishing a Global Engineering Deans Council, GEDC with the active encouragement of International Federation of Engineering Education Societies, IFEES.

Globally more than one million engineers are trained annually. However the quality of nurturing varies greatly. There is a need for exchange of information and peer learning among people who lead and manage engineering schools/colleges around the world.

Global challenges such as climate change, clean water, sustainable energy, livable urban cities, healthcare, aging, infectious diseases and cyber security require engineering solutions of global nature.

Efforts must be made to put in place mechanisms that encourage and facilitate cooperation among engineers from different parts of the world.