Education

Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles (2009)

B.Eng. in Automation & Computer-Aided Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (2003)

Selected Honors and Awards

Faculty Scholar Medal for Outstanding Achievement (2024)

Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) (2024)

Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) (2023)

Nano Research Young Innovators Award (NR 45) (2023)

Top 2% Most-Cited Researchers in the World, Elsevier (2017 – present)

Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (2019)

National Geographic Explorer Grant (2018)

ASME Sia Nemat-Nasser Early Career Award (2018)

Distinguished Alumni Award, Faculty of Engineering, CUHK (2017)

IEEE Nanotechnology Council Early Career Award in Nanotechnology (2016)

Wormley Family Early Career Professorship in Engineering (2015)

Innovators Under 35, MIT Technology Review (2014)

DARPA Young Faculty Award (2014)

NSF CAREER Award (2014)

US Frontiers of Engineering Invitee, National Academy of Engineering (2014)

Outstanding Alumni, Dept. Mechanical & Automation Engineering, CUHK (2014)

R&D 100 Award (2012)

Best Inventions Using Biomimicry, Treehuggers – A Discovery Company (2011)

Short Biography

Dr. Tak-Sing Wong is currently Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering and was the inaugural holder of Wormley Family Early Career Professorship in Engineering at The Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Wong’s research focuses on surface and interfacial engineering, micro- and nanomanufacturing, as well as bio-inspired materials design with applications in health, water, and environmental sustainability. Dr. Wong is a key inventor and pioneers a new class of pitcher-plant-inspired liquid-infused slippery surfaces including slippery liquid-infused porous surfaces (SLIPS) and liquid-entrenched smooth surface (LESS). Dr. Wong has published over 40 peer-reviewed publications including papers in Nature (2), Nature Materials (2), Nature Sustainability (1), Nature Communications (2), Science Advances (5), and PNAS (3). Six of these papers are listed as top 1% highly cited papers in the fields of Chemistry, Materials Science, and Multidisciplinary Sciences accordingly to Clarivate Analytics. Dr. Wong’s original paper on SLIPS published in Nature is the most cited paper out of 59,747 published papers in the field of wetting, antifouling, and superhydrophobic surfaces from 2010 – 2019 according to the Clarivate Analytics Web of Science. Dr. Wong is ranked among the top 2% most-cited researchers in the world by Elsevier based on his citation impact (PLoS Biology 18: e3000918, 2020). Dr. Wong currently holds 64 issued and pending US and international patents. His work on bio-inspired materials has been recognized with a number of national and international awards including a R&D 100 Award, a NSF CAREER Award, a DARPA Young Faculty Award, a NAE Frontier of Engineering Invitee, the IEEE Nanotechnology Council Early Career Award, the IEEE NANOMED Innovator Award, the ASME Sia Nemat-Nasser Early Career Award, and the National Geographic Explorer grant. Dr. Wong has been honored by the White House with the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), as well as named one of the world’s top 35 innovators under 35 by MIT Technology Review for his contributions in nanotechnology, surface engineering, and bioinspired surface engineering. Dr. Wong received the Faculty Scholar Medal for Outstanding Achievement from The Pennsylvania State University in 2024. Dr. Wong is a cofounder, CTO, and director of Y Combinator-backed startup spotLESS Materials Inc. Dr. Wong is an elected Fellow of ASME and the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC).

Full Biography  

Dr. Tak-Sing Wong is currently Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering and was the inaugural holder of Wormley Family Early Career Professorship in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at The Pennsylvania State University.  Dr. Wong conducted his postdoctoral research at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University  from 2010 – 2012 (with Prof. Joanna Aizenberg).  He received his Ph.D. degree in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department at UCLA in 2009 (with Prof. Chih-Ming Ho), following his B.Eng. degree in Automation and Computer-Aided Engineering from The Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Dr. Wong’s research focuses on micro/nanoengineering, interfacial phenomena, and biologically inspired engineering with applications in materials science, water, health, and energy. Dr. Wong is a key inventor and pioneers a new class of pitcher-plant-inspired liquid-infused slippery surfaces including slippery liquid-infused porous surfaces (SLIPS) and liquid-entrenched smooth surface (LESS). His research has collectively led to >40 peer-reviewed publications, including papers in Nature (2), Nature Materials (2), Nature Sustainability (1), Nature Communications (2), Science Advances (5), and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA (PNAS) (3). Six of these papers are listed as top 1% highly cited papers in the fields of Chemistry, Materials Science, and Multidisciplinary Sciences according to Web of Science by Clarivate Analytics. Dr. Wong’s original paper on SLIPS published in Nature is the most cited paper out of 59,747 published papers in the field of wetting, antifouling, and superhydrophobic surfaces from 2010 – 2019 according to the Clarivate Analytics Web of Science. Dr. Wong is ranked among the top 2% most-cited researchers in the world by Elsevier based on his citation impact (PLoS Biology 18: e3000918, 2020). Dr. Wong currently holds a total of 66 issued and pending US and international patents including 26 issued U.S. and 24 foreign patents, as well as 16 pending U.S. and foreign patents. Dr. Wong is currently a co-founder, CTO, and director of Y Combinator-backed startup spotLESS Materials Inc.

Dr. Wong has received a number of international and national awards and recognitions including: the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), Innovators Under 35 by MIT Technology Review (2014), Faculty Scholar Medal for Outstanding Achievement (2024), ASME Sia Nemat-Nasser Early Career Award (2018), IEEE Early Career Award in Nanotechnology (2016), National Academy of Engineering U.S. Frontiers of Engineering Invitee (2014), NSF CAREER Award (2014), DARPA Young Faculty Award (2014), Distinguished Alumni Award by Faculty of Engineering, CUHK (2017), 20 Outstanding Alumni by Mechanical Engineering, CUHK (2014); R&D 100 Award for the invention  of SLIPS: Slippery Liquid-Infused Porous Surfaces (2012), the Croucher Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship (2010 – 2012), the  Intel Foundation Ph.D. Fellowship (2007 – 2009), the Lucent Global Science Scholar (2001), and a number of best paper awards from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).  Dr. Wong’s bio-inspired materials research has been featured in two documentaries by BBC (2012) and PBS NOVA (2013) and a short film by Science Nation (2016) of the National Science Foundation, as well as >100 international media, including  BBC, CBC, Reuters, The Economist, The Times, The Guardian, Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, NPR, Le Monde, Der Spiegel, Die Welt, National Geographic, Scientific American, Popular Science, Discover, MIT Technology Review, Nature, and Science.

Dr. Wong is a National Geographic Explorer, and a elected Fellow of ASME and the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC).  Dr. Wong currently serves on the Advisory/Editorial Boards of Scientific Reports (Nature Publishing Group) and Droplet (Wiley), and has served as an Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Nanotechnology (2015 – 2020) and a Guest Co-Editor for MRS Bulletin (2013) and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA (2023). In addition, Dr. Wong serves as a peer reviewer in leading research journals such as Science, Nature, Nature Materials, Nature Sustainability, Nature Communications, Science Advances, PNAS, Physical Review Letters, Angewandte Chemie International Edition, ACS Nano, Advanced Materials, Chemical Society Reviews, Nano Letters, and Lab on a Chip, etc.

Dr. Wong has given over 50 invited and keynote talks including his most recent keynote speech at the American Museum of Natural History. Dr. Wong and his team have participated in the USA Science and Engineering Festivals to showcase their research to the general public to increase public awareness of biologically inspired technologies and their societal impacts. His group’s Liquid Entrenched Smooth Surface (LESS) coating has been permanently archived by the Fisher Fine Arts Library Material Collection at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Wong’s research contributions for pitcher-plant inspired slippery coatings have been honored by an American painter, Ashley Cecil, through her featured portrait “Protection” that was displayed in the Deepening Roots: Our Growing Connections to the Botanical World at The Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens.