NTU announced on April 22 that Meng will become Vice President (Industry) and Distinguished University Professor, the university’s highest faculty rank. NTU is ranked 12th globally in the QS World University Rankings 2026, one place above the University of Chicago, where Meng holds the Liew Family Professorship in Molecular Engineering at the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering.
The 49-year-old materials scientist grew up in China, earned her bachelor’s degree from NTU in 2000 and a doctorate from the Singapore-MIT Alliance in 2005, and built her career in the U.S. on the search for cheaper, safer batteries for electric vehicles and the power grid.
She told Science magazine she was leaving with mixed emotions after more than two decades, and hopes the political environment for sustainable energy will improve in coming years.
“I’ve always been an internationalist,” Meng, who became a Singaporean citizen in 2004, told Science. “Singapore is a place where people can collaborate, regardless of what country you come from.”
Meng’s departure also means stepping down as director of the Energy Storage Research Alliance, a U.S. Department of Energy innovation hub funded with up to $62.5 million over five years and headquartered at Argonne National Laboratory, according to Argonne.
ESRA, which brings together three national laboratories and 11 universities to accelerate next-generation battery research, was one of two Energy Innovation Hubs launched on Sept. 3, 2024, in the final months of the Biden administration.
