Honours and Accolades

At IHPC, we recognise individual and team’s effort in driving the organisation towards the top leadership to advance science and technology through computational modelling, simulation and artificial intelligence (AI). Here are some of the outstanding accreditations and our people’s accolades and achievements.

A*STAR's Highly Cited Researchers of 2019

Prof Zhang Yong Wei

"I am truly humbled and motivated to receive this recognition as a highly-cited researcher for the second consecutive year.

The work I do at A*STAR is multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary in nature, and aims to reveal new insights and understandings across fields such as materials, mechanics, physics, chemistry and biology.

A*STAR provides me the opportunity to partner with local and international ecosystem players such as NUS, Nanjing University, China, Northwestern University and Rice University, USA, and my colleagues from other A*STAR research institutes, including IMRE and SIMTech.

My primary projects focus on exploring 2D materials for energy and electronics applications, improving current additive manufacturing processes, and leveraging machine learning to guide design of high entropy alloys.

My research serves as stepping stones for mankind to advance science and develop new technologies, and I derive great satisfaction from addressing real-world problems such as the continuation of Moore’s law, the need for new materials, and the need for green energy."

Dr. Liu Zhuangjian



“I am honoured to be recognised as a highly cited researcher, and it would not be possible without the team’s effort.

Using numerical simulations in our research on materials and micro-structure systems, we developed new approaches to design flexible electronics devices which have excellent mechanical flexibility and make them attractive as wearable devices.

We are collaborating with public hospitals and local universities to produce stretchable devices for health monitoring. This next-generation flexible and wearable electronics also offer a wide variety of applications ranging from energy harvesting devices to smart prosthetics and human–machine interfaces.

Together with my colleagues at A*STAR and beyond, we combine mechanics with innovative engineering to design devices with more functional capabilities to improve lives.

Outside work, I spend quality time with my family and friends, swim and read.”

Integrated Environmental Modeller (IEM) wins multiple awards in 2019

15 Sep 2019

The Integrated Environmental Modeller (IEM) developed by A*STAR’s Institute of High Performance Computing (IHPC), Institute for Infocomm Research (I²R) and Housing & Development Board (HDB), has won multiple awards this year, including:

• President's Technology Award 2019
• Minister for National Development’s R&D Merits Awards 2019
• IES Prestigious Engineering Awards 2019
• ASEAN Outstanding Engineering Achievement Awards 2019

IEM is a first-of-its-kind high resolution modelling tool that allows users to project how various environmental factors such as solar, wind, temperature, noise; as well as their interrelationships and combined impact affects an urban setting. Other modellers currently available in the market are only able to assess each environmental factor in isolation.

IEM is a result of both in-house and open-sourced multi-physics environmental modelling code that captures the correlation of environmental factors. The IEM is the first integrated and scalable tool to couple all key environmental physics and their complex interactions into a single simulation platform using the latest high performance computing technology.

With IEM, users will be able to visualise environmental features such as natural ventilation, air temperature, solar irradiance, and noise levels on a virtual “Digital Twin” platform which allows for efficient refinement to urban plans. This reduces the risk of costly physical trial-and-error, and allows development plans to be tested computationally before actual implementation. It also provides quantitative and scientific assessments that let planners understand the different trade-offs involved to aid decision-making.

The IEM was also adopted in the urban design plan for Tengah New Town, and could be scaled up for the whole island, e.g. island-wide wind map enables the identification of wind corridors to minimise impact of new developments on existing estates.

To know more about IEM, view the video here.

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President's Technology Award 2019
The President's Science and Technology Awards (PSTA) are the highest honours bestowed on exceptional research scientists and engineers and underpin Singapore's efforts to raise the level of excellence in research and strengthen the growing community of scientific talent in Singapore.

Minister for National Development’s R&D Merits Awards 2019
The biennial Minister for National Development’s R&D Awards seek to recognise and encourage outstanding R&D efforts from the MND Family and partners which contribute towards MND’s vision of making Singapore “An Endearing Home, A Distinctive Global City”.

IES Prestigious Engineering Awards 2019
The Prestigious Engineering Achievement Awards are to recognise and demonstrate the outstanding engineering skills which have made a significant contribution to the engineering progress and the quality of life in Singapore.

ASEAN Outstanding Engineering Achievement Awards 2019
The ASEAN Outstanding Engineering Achievement Award seeks to confer recognition to outstanding engineers’ achievements which has made a significant contribution to the engineering progress and the quality of life in ASEAN.