NANOscientific
Symposium SE Asia 2026

Keynote Talk

Dr. Cho is a graduate of Stanford University where he earned an M.S. in Materials Science and Engineering, and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering under the guidance of Professor Curtis W. Frank. During his doctoral studies, Dr. Cho first gained an interest in research at the interface of molecular virology and biomaterials. The principal goal of his thesis work was to develop lab-on-a-chip technologies for analysis of viral protein interactions with lipid membranes.

Dr. Cho then continued his postdoctoral training in Professor Jeffrey S. Glenn’s group in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the Stanford University School of Medicine. He applied these engineering technologies to combat the Hepatitis C virus (HCV), which affects over 150 million people worldwide. His work has led to significant advances for treating HCV, including new drugs currently in preclinical or clinical trials. In addition, Dr. Cho has pioneered a novel approach to liver tissue engineering that has enabled an improved artificial organ system for studying liver disease.

His passion for translational and regenerative medicine has been recognized by several prestigious international honors and awards from the American Liver Foundation, Beckman Foundation, and leading global universities and companies including Chalmers University of Technology and Roche Ltd. In 2011, Dr. Cho was named an NRF Fellow by the Singapore National Research Foundation, and was also appointed to a Nanyang Associate Professorship. In addition to his academic duties, Dr. Cho is the founder of infollutionZERO, a global nonprofit organization committed to building a green digital world for future generations by eradicating infollution (information + pollution) from the digital world.

Prof Cho Nam-Joon | Academic Profile | DR-NTU | Research | NTU Singapore

Optical metrology solutions for advanced packaging materials and structures

Jake Kim is a Technical Support Team Leader in the Optical Equipment Business Unit at Park Systems. He holds a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from Nanyang Technological University and has more than eight years of experience in advanced microscopy and metrology. His expertise includes AFM, imaging spectroscopic ellipsometry, white light interferometry, and digital holographic microscopy, with a focus on semiconductor and advanced packaging applications.

Invited Talk

Dr. Chiu Wee Siong is currently a senior lecturer at Department of Physics in University Malaya. He received both of his Bachelor of Science (Nuclear Science) and Master of Science (major in Materials Science) in UKM. Thereafter, he enrolled his Ph.D. degree in Chemical Engineering at University of Nottingham. His research interests cover the aspects of synthesis and characterization of solid-state nanostructural materials, which consisted of oxide- and 2D-based semiconductor and magnetic-nanomaterials, graphene nanocomposite, novel metal nanoparticles as well as photocatalyst nanocomposite. His current research work mainly focuses on the design of value-added nanostructural photocatalyst materials for photoelectrochemical application in producing hydrogen gas through water splitting reaction. He has published 95 papers in ISI-cited peer-reviewed journals and 30 conference proceedings. He has earned 2505 citations with total H-index of 26 according to ISI-Web of Science. Up to date, he has led 7 external grants and 6 internal grants with the sum of ~2-million and successfully filed two patents.

Furthermore, he has received Young Scientist Award from Malaysia Association for Solid State Science and Technology. For the number of postgraduate students, he has successfully produced 10 PhD students and 2 master students. Moreover, he is actively involved in social engagement activity inclusive of serving as auditor/reviewer for numerous of well-known international fundings cum renowned publishers. His dedication in research also has honoured him with 17 awards both internationally and locally. In the meantime, he is also honoured with “Trusted Reviewer by UK Institute of Physics” in addition to the honour of Recognized Reviewer Award for numerous of ISI-cited journals under Elsevier Publisher. Furthermore, he has being appointed as Scientific Coach by Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) for International Nanotechnology Olympiad (INO) and won gold medal with the honour of Best Project in Science and Technology Development. In the meantime, he also has won gold medal for the Green Hydrogen Technology Invention in International Materials Invention Competition in Nov 2024. With respect to his expertise in nanoscale materials for hydrogen production, lately, he has been elected as Guest Editor for a journal (Discover Nano with impact factor 4.5) published by Springer Nature, in managing publications associated to the “Green Hydrogen Production via Nanoengineering Approach”.

On the other hand, his well-recognized expertise in semiconductor physics and photoelectrochemistry also renders him to be invited as plenary speaker and invited speaker in both international- and local-conferences. In terms of teaching, he has reflected multi-tasking and can diversify his teaching philosophy to wide range of subjects that ranges from materials physics to modern physics. Meanwhile, he has been appointed as external assessor for Curriculum Review of Materials Science Program in UiTM Shah Alam and serve as judge for numerous of scientific competitions.

Finally, he has actively contributed to faculty administration task by serving as Quality Manager in handling auditing task, troubleshooting quality issues and managing special task force for the well-being of department and faculty. Additionally, his excellence contribution to department has rendered him to be awarded with excellent service certificate thrice.

UMEXPERT - ASSOCIATE PROF. DR. CHIU WEE SIONG

Nano-Bridges to Southeast Asia's Future: Scanning Probe Microscopy and Nanoscale IR Metrology Powering the Region's Semiconductor and Energy Transformation

Dr. Sang-Joon Cho is Executive Vice President of the Research Equipment Business Unit at Park Systems Corp., where he leads global strategy and innovation in Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and Scanning Probe Microscopy (SPM), with applications spanning semiconductor, materials, and life-science research. With over two decades of experience in nanotechnology R&D and scientific instrumentation, he has played a central role in bridging fundamental research and industrial deployment—formerly directing a multinational team of 58 scientists and engineers at Park Systems’ Application Technology Center, and earlier leading 12 years of national R&D programs totaling more than USD 20 million in funding. Dr. Cho serves as Chairman of ISO TC201/SC9 (Scanning Probe Microscopy), President of the Korean Society of Surface Analysis (KoSSA), Vice President of the Korea Nanotechnology Research Society (KoNTRAS), and holds board or advisory roles with RNDIA and IUPAP. He is the author of 48+ scientific publications and has delivered over 110 invited presentations and lectures worldwide. In 2021, the Republic of Korea recognized his contributions to nanotechnology and scientific instrumentation with the Science and Technology Medal of Merit.

Advances in Graphene and Emerging Two-Dimensional Materials for Sustainable Hydrogen Generation

Dr. Goh Boon Tong is a professor in the Department of Physics, Universiti Malaya, where currently serves as the Deputy Dean, Institute for Advanced Studies and the Deputy Head of the Low Dimensional Materials Research Center. He earned his PhD in 2012 with a thesis titled “Layer-by-Layer Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapour Deposition of Nanocrystalline Silicon Thin Films”. His primary research interests focus on the synthesis and characterization of nanomaterials, including one-dimensional structures (nanowires, nanotubes, and nanorods), two-dimensional materials (graphene and metal carbides), and metallic nanoparticles.

Dr. Goh has obtained numerous prestigious awards, both locally and internationally. These include the MASS 2001 Awards (Best Thesis Awards for Final Year Project of Undergraduate Science) from MASS Malaysia, the Excellence Award 2012 (for PhD candidates with the highest impact publications in the sciences) from the Universiti Malaya, the Newton Advanced Fellowship 2016, the Outstanding Researcher in Materials under the Science Discipline Award from the Venus International Foundation, the 2020 Top Research Scientists Malaysia (TRSM) Award from the Academy of Sciences Malaysia, as well as several conference awards.

He has secured many local and international research grants and holds 6 filed patents. Dr. Goh also has been appointed to various academic and professional roles, including adjunct professor, visiting professor, visiting scientist, session chair at international conferences, editorial members and associate editors of journals, PhD thesis examiners by universities worldwide. To date, he has published over 235 peer-reviewed papers, with a total of nearly 3, 400 citations (h-index = 30) according to Google Scholar, and more than 156 refereed papers with nearly 2, 600 citations (h-index = 26) according to Publons Web of Science.

UMEXPERT - PROF. DR. GOH BOON TONG

Invited Talk

Since 25 October 2023, Nafarizal has been appointed as Director at Research Management Centre (RMC). Prior to that, he was the Director of the Institute for Integrated Engineering, UTHM from 2019-2022. He also headed Microelectronic Laboratory and Microelectronic and Nanotechnology - Shamsuddin Research Centre (MiNT-SRC) at UTHM in 2009-2013 & 2016-2018. He also managed Microelectronic Lab which is an industrial standard cleanroom facility with class levels 100, 1000, and 10 000. He work with Magnetron Sputtering Deposition System for more than 20 years.

His research interest is in thin film deposition, plasma diagnostics, and plasma processing. From 2013 to 2015, he visited Quantum Science Engineering, Hokkaido University for collaboration research on CZTS thin film. He is the author and co-author of more than 80 ISI-journal papers, 130 SCOPUS-indexed proceedings, and 4 international keynote talks. To date, he received more than RM 1.3 million in research funds as project leader.

https://community.uthm.edu.my/nafa

Invited Talk

Dr. Pravarthana Dhanapal completed his dual degree BS-MS from IISER Pune in 2011 and was awarded an Erasmus Mundus dual doctorate in Materials Chemistry in 2015. His Ph.D. was jointly conducted at the University of Caen Basse-Normandie, France (CRISMAT Laboratory, French National Centre for Scientific Research), and the University of Liège, Belgium (LCIS Laboratory). Currently, at IIT Indore, his research group focuses on developing safer and more affordable rechargeable batteries and on controlling functional properties through ionics.

Department of Chemistry – Indian Institute of Technology Indore