28 June 2007

NUS researcher receives Singapore Youth Award

WINNER OF SINGAPORE YOUTH AWARD 2007: Dr Yu Hao has also won all the young scientists awards in Singapore, the A*STAR Young Scientist Award 2006 (left, receiving the award from Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports and 2nd Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts); and the NUS Young Researcher Award 2007 (right, receiving the award from NUS President Prof Shih Choon Fong).

His scientific efforts have inspired youths in Singapore. In recognition of his contributions, Asst Prof Yu Hao, Department of Biological Sciences, received the Singapore Youth Award (SYA) 2007. The SYA is the highest national accolade for Singapore youth whose achievements are inspirational.

"It is my great honour to win this award, a driving force to motivate me to strive for excellence in the research field as well as to generate knowledge that may lead to industrial R&D in Singapore," he said.

Asst Prof Yu stood out with his creation of genetic transformation systems to speed up the production of orchids, a major economically important crop in Singapore. He was awarded the NUS Young Researcher Award in 2007 and the Singapore National Academy of Sciences and A*STAR Young Scientist Award in 2006.

He received his PhD degree from the NUS Department of Biological Sciences in 2001, and was awarded the Gold medal of International Society of Plant Molecular Biology (ISPMB) for his outstanding PhD thesis. He credits his distinction to NUS' dynamic research environment and pursuit of research excellence.

Besides teaching biological sciences in the University, Asst Prof Yu has also found time to mentor students from Innova Junior College, Singapore Polytechnic and Raffles Girls' Secondary School on scientific projects. "My long-term goals are to achieve higher levels of scientific excellence and to nurture young talent for Singapore," he said.