Malaysian Researcher Kong Xin Ying Honoured by MIT and Stanford for Groundbreaking Work in Plastic Decomposition

Kong Xin Ying, a Malaysian researcher, has achieved a milestone few accomplish, gaining recognition from esteemed institutions MIT and Stanford for her revolutionary research in combating plastic pollution. In September 2024, Kong was awarded the MIT Technology Review's Innovators Under 35 (TR35) Asia Pacific Award, making her the only Malaysian recipient this year and one of only four Malaysians to receive this honour over the past decade. She was also named among the World’s Top 2% Scientists 2023 by Stanford University. As a research fellow at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Kong led a team that developed catalysts capable of reducing the decomposition time for non-biodegradable plastics from centuries to just one day, a technology that could also yield valuable chemicals, such as solvents and hydrogen storage carriers.

Kong’s dedication to plastic upcycling is deeply personal, driven by her passion for the environment. Her inspiration began after witnessing plastic waste on a diving trip to Mabul Island in Sabah. Seeing firsthand the pollution that threatens marine ecosystems, she embarked on plastic recycling research, guided by the alarming United Nations projection that plastic in the oceans could outnumber fish by 2050. Her work, spanning two and a half years, aims to address this crisis by upcycling waste into useful resources. Reflecting on her recognition by MIT, Kong said, “Receiving this award is an incredible honour… and encourages me to work harder.”

Kong’s achievements extend to receiving the 2023 Merdeka Award Grant for International Attachment, enabling her to undertake research at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and University of California, Berkeley. There, she plans to collaborate with researchers to further develop her technology, hoping to scale it to an industrial level for real-world impact. Looking ahead, Kong envisions commercializing her research to benefit society and is open to bringing her expertise back to Malaysia. Her advice to aspiring researchers is powerful: “Set clear goals, work hard, don’t fear failure, and trust yourself.”

Article by Sheela Vijayan for FMT Lifestyle. Read more here, or download the PDF below.

Malaysian hailed by MIT, Stanford for pioneering research _ FMT.pdf

Download PDF • 4.77MB