Curtin Malaysia’s Associate Professor Stephanie Chan receives ACS Outreach Volunteers award

Miri – 17 February 2022 – Associate Professor Stephanie Chan Yen San, Head of the Department of Chemical and Energy Engineering at Curtin University Malaysia (Curtin Malaysia), has been named a recipient of the American Chemical Society’s (ACS) 2022 Outreach Volunteers of the Year award for the ACS Malaysia Chapter.

The annual award recognises outstanding efforts made by ACS local section and international chapter volunteers who conduct community outreach and teach the public about chemistry.

Associate Professor Chan won on account of her numerous outreach activities between 2016 and 2021 in her capacity as Institutional Representative of the ACS Malaysia Chapter, its Sarawak Activity Director, and Education/Award Working Group Co-Leader. The activities included the Science Buddy 2016 camp for students at SK Long Teru, the annual ChemFest since 2019, and the STEM Playground event in Miri from 2019 to 2021, as well as a number of chemistry outreach webinars and workshops for students.

The ACS is one of the world’s largest scientific organisations with membership of over 151,000 in 140 countries. Its mission is to advance the broader chemistry enterprise and its practitioners for the benefit of Earth and its people.

Associate Professor Chan’s accomplishments will be published in Chemical & Engineering News and on the ACS website at www.acs.org/voty next month. Profiles of all the award winners will also be posted weekly on ACS social media accounts. From the pool of awardees, the ACS Committee on Community Activities will select one global winner who will be featured via the same article, website and social media campaign.

Associate Professor Chan has won a string of such awards through the years. They include the ACS International Student Chapter Outstanding Award 2019-2020 and ACS International Honorable Mention Award 2018-2019 for her role as advisor to the ACS Student Branch at Curtin Malaysia, as well Gold Awards at the 3rd World Invention Innovation Contest (WiC) in Seoul in 2017 and 3rd International Invention Innovation Competition in Canada (iCAN) in Toronto in 2018.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical-bioprocess engineering from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia and a PhD from Universiti Sains Malaysia. She has been an academic at Curtin Malaysia since 2014 and has held various senior academic positions leading to her current position as Head of the Department of Chemical and Energy Engineering in Curtin Malaysia’s Faculty of Engineering and Science.

In addition to being a passionate teacher, she is an active researcher whose current research interests include bionanotechnology, bioprocessing engineering and technology, biotechnology, microwave technology, and drug delivery

In congratulating Associate Professor Chan on her achievement, Curtin Malaysia’s Pro Vice-Chancellor, President and Chief Executive Professor Simon Leunig said, “We are extremely proud that Stephanie has been recognised internationally for her contributions to advancing the teaching and practise of chemistry.”

“It is always a great pleasure to see our academics and researchers excelling in their fields. They not only contribute to academic and research excellence at Curtin Malaysia, Curtin University’s largest global campus and hub in the ASEAN region, but also to building Curtin’s global reputation in higher education, strategic partnerships and community engagement,” he added.

ACS Outreach Volunteers of the Year award winner Associate Professor Stephanie Chan.

Associate Professor Chan (standing, right) and Curtin student volunteers conducting a chemistry workshop for primary school students.