Dr. Ng graduated from the National University of Singapore with a BEng (Civil Engrg) and a MEng (Civil Engrg) in 1997 and 2000, respectively. He received his Ph.D. (Environmental Engrg) from the University of California, Berkeley in 2002. Prior to joining NUS as an Assistant Professor, he engaged in post-doctoral research in environmental engineering at Yale University in 2003.

Dr. Ng’s core research interest is in membrane science and technology, focusing on membrane fouling – elucidating its mechanisms and minimizing its occurrence. By coupling with aerobic and anaerobic processes to derive high quality water from alternative sources for water reclamation and reuse, he studies biological reactor technologies such as membrane bioreactors and forward osmosis bioreactor. As biological processes could be inhibited by heavy metals, his research also focuses on rapid detection of heavy metals in wastewater using microbial fuel cell as a biological sensor.

Overall, Dr. Ng’s research aims at achieving the following objectives: 1) optimizing of biological treatment performance of industrial wastewater, particularly for membrane bioreactors; 2) understanding the fundamental science of membrane fouling, aimed towards developing technologies and control strategies for membrane fouling; 3) developing novel membrane processes for desalination and zero liquid discharge; 4) optimizing anaerobic processes for energy recovery from industrial wastewater; and 5) developing microbial electrochemical sensor for rapid detection of heavy metals in wastewater.