Shirley Meng: Chicago → Singapore
Shirley Meng, a battery scientist and former chief scientist for energy storage at Argonne National Laboratory, is moving from the University of Chicago to Nanyang Technological University in Singapore as VP of Industry and Distinguished University Professor. The move is structured as a loan with an option to buy, meaning Chicago retains a partial appointment during the transition. Meng is known for her work on solid-state, sodium-ion, and anode-free batteries, and her lab published the first anode-free sodium solid-state battery in 2024. She cited the US retreat from decarbonization policy and immigration restrictions squeezing Chinese-born scientists as explicit reasons for leaving.
- NTU is Meng's undergraduate alma mater, making this a return to her home institution after a career that also included stops at the University of Florida, UC San Diego as Zable Chair, and the University of Chicago's Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering.
- The DOE-funded energy storage research hub she directed was a $62 million, five-year program focused on making grid batteries longer-lasting, safer, and cheaper. She is stepping down as director, but the hub's funding was not cut.
- The hosts note sodium's advantage over lithium in grid-scale storage: sodium is abundant in seawater, making it more accessible, and is suited to storing large amounts of power from solar farms for overnight dispatch even if it won't replace lithium-ion in other applications.
- Her awards include the Faraday Medal of the Royal Society of Chemistry and the ECS Battery Division Research Award.
Transcript
This chapter, from the episode video's captions · 587 words
1:33:54now being transferred to Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. Also deal done in July. However, you will note this is a loan with the option to buy under transfer terminologies as opposed to just on the free although there's no money in the loan. We'll get to that in a second. So, I mean, she's she's just been incredible around this uh this energy space and story, energy storage specifically. She served as the chief scientist for energy storage science at the US Department of Energy, DOE, uh Argon National Lab, and directed the DOE funded energy storage research
1:34:35alliance. This is a $62 million um over five-year DOE program that's sort of designed for figuring out how do we make energy storage. Um longerlasting for grid batteries safer and cheaper. Um grew up in China, got her first degree at NTU, so she was returning to her alma mater uh by way of the Singapore MIT Prince uh MIT Alliance PhD program. Came to the States. also made a stop at the University of Florida, became the Zable chair at UC San Diego. Shout out California again. And in 2021, she was a professor at Chicago's Pritsker School
1:35:16for Molecular Engineering. 25 years. Uh here she's going back home to run the club. Uh and her big focus has been better, solid state, sodium ion, >> anodefree. uh in 2024 her lab reported the first anodef free uh sodium solidate battery which we've covered the concept of >> yeah in one of our previous episodes as well in terms of the importance >> I mean the the paper that we covered it was out in Juel if you remember and it was actually from her lab >> it was it was from her lab >> it was straight up from her lab um we were talking about why sodium is so important >> compared to lithium lithium is great but
1:35:56it's like >> hard to get at sodium is literally in seawater >> so if we could make a battery out of sodium, that'd be great. I mean, it's not going to replace lithium ion batteries, but um for certain types of applications, it's going to be key for scalability. like if we want to store like massive amounts of power um and then deploy it like later at night and things like that. Like if we want to have solar farms that that create a bunch of electricity during the day and then we want a way to store like um you know infrastructure level worth of power worth of power sodium batteries might be the key. And she's been doing insanely amazing work um at the University of
1:36:38Chicago. another another great professor who um is now leaving us. >> Another seasoned trophy winner, Faraday Medal of the Royal Society of Chemistry. Oh, >> ECS battery division research award, ACS uh electrochemistry honors, not a mid-table signing. She's becoming the VP of industry and distinguished university professor, the highest faculty rank. She's already there as of July 1. And Chicago is going to keep a partial appointment through the transition. So, this is a loan, not on the free. Uh, she's stepping down as the director of the DOE hub. Uh, the hub's money wasn't cut. She's just leaving as the chair. In science, uh, her reasons for leaving
1:37:21were explicit. Oh, >> the US turning away from decarbonization and the immigration rules squeezing international, including Chinese-born scientists. Uh, she's one of the ones
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