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Top battery scientist Shirley Meng leaves U.S. for Singapore, cites funding and research constraints
Summary
Megatrends reported that Shirley Meng will leave the University of Chicago for Nanyang Technological University on July 1, 2026, after leading a $62 million DOE research hub and citing hiring, visa, and policy hurdles in the U.S.
The program reported that Shirley Meng, a prominent battery scientist credited with anode-free sodium solid-state work and who led a $62,000,000 Department of Energy research hub, plans to leave the University of Chicago for a senior post at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore effective July 1, 2026.
The broadcast described Meng's scientific achievements — advanced imaging of battery electrodes, lab-developed electrolytes that operate at very low temperatures and the 2024 anode-free sodium solid-state battery paper — and said she cited U.S. visa and funding constraints, and discomfort with creating research for military applications, as reasons for relocating. The show used her departure to illustrate broader concerns about a reported "brain drain," including survey data the segment referenced about scientists considering leaving the U.S.
