Announcements

MDPI’s Young Investigator Awards recognize promising junior researchers, acknowledge their contributions, and enhance communication among scientists. We are proud to present the winners for the year 2021 in the “Engineering” category. The winners were selected by the journals’ editors.

We warmly congratulate the awarded Young Investigators for their outstanding contributions. MDPI will continue to provide support and recognition to the academic community.

Biosensors:

• Amay J. Bandodkar, North Carolina State University, USA.

ChemEngineering:

• Andrew S. Paluch, Miami University, USA.

Chemosensors:

• Mindy Levine, Ariel University, Israel.

Electronics:

• Amir H. Gandomi, University of Technology Sydney, Australia.

Journal of Marine Science and Engineering:

• Tiago Fazeres-Ferradosa, University of Porto, Portugal.

Machines:

• Chen Lv, Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore;
• Ignacio Gonzalez-Prieto, University of Malaga (UMA), Spain;
• Ning Sun, Nankai University, China.

Processes:

• Anton Rassõlkin, Tallinn University of Technology, Estonia.

Sensors:

• Qammer H. Abbasi, Queen Mary University of London, UK;
• Chi Hwan Lee, Purdue University, USA.

We are proud to recognize the winners of MDPI’s 2021 Travel Awards in the “Engineering” category for their outstanding presentations and to present them with the prize.

MDPI journals regularly offer travel awards to encourage talented junior scientists to present their latest research at academic conferences in specific fields, which helps to increase their influence.

The winners mentioned below were carefully selected by the journal editors based on an outline of their research and the work to be presented at an academic conference.

We would like to warmly congratulate the winners of this year’s Travel Awards and wish them the greatest success with their future research endeavors. MDPI will continue to enhance communication among scientists.

Actuators:

• Matthew Wei Ming Tan, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

Applied Sciences:

• Márcia de Sousa Oliveira, University of León, Spain;
• Caroline Sarah Taylor, University of Sheffield, UK;
• Raquel Viveiros, NOVA University of Lisbon, Portugal;
• Alfonso González Briones, University of Salamanca, Spain;
• Alen Horvat, University Carlos III Madrid, Spain;
• Marie Švecová, University of Chemistry and Technology, Czech Republic;
• Venanzio Giannella, University of Salerno, Italy;
• Michaël Lobet, University of Namur, Belgium;
• Lam Thi Ngoc Tran, National Research Council, Italy;
• Hanfei Mei, University of South Carolina, USA.

Applied System Innovation:

• Mert Nakip, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland.

Biosensors:

• Mengdi Bao, Rochester Institute of Technology, USA;

Yichi Su, Stanford University, USA.

Buildings:

• Karthik Panchabikesan, Concordia University, Canada;
• Xiaolei Yuan, Tongji University, China.

Chemosensors:

• Verónica Montes García, Université de Strasbourg & CNRS, France.

Electronics:

• Peng Hang, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore;
• Alfonso González Briones, University of Salamanca, Spain.

Fluids:

• Alberto Zingaro, Politecnico di Milano, Italy;
• Sarah E. Morris, Auburn University, USA.

Infrastructures:

• Angelo Aloisio, University of L’Aquila, Italy;
• André Filipe Castanheira Alves Furtado, University of Porto, Portugal.

Journal of Low Power Electronics and Applications:

• Tommaso Zanotti, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy.

Journal of Manufacturing and Materials Processing:

• Nagalingam Arun Prasanth, Rolls-Royce@NTU Corporate Lab, Singapore.

Machines:

• Muhammad Jamil, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (NUAA), China;
• Mariagrazia Tristano, Sheffield Hallam University, UK.

Processes:

• Michele Schlich, University of Cagliari, Italy;
• Álvaro Santana Mayor, University of La Laguna, Spain.

Sensors:

• Eleonora Macchia, Åbo Akademi University, Finland;
• Alfonso Gonzalez Briones, University of Salamanca, Spain;
• Saúl Vallejos Calzada, University of Burgos, Spain;
• Ana Novo, University of Vigo, Spain;
• Yalin Liu, Macau University of Science and Technology, China;
• Marilena Giglio, Politecnico of Bari, Italy;
• Yuzhi Shi, Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore.

In order to acknowledge our reviewers, who so generously dedicate their time to reviewing papers and demonstrate diligence, professionalism, and timeliness when reviewing manuscripts, MDPI journals regularly offer outstanding reviewer awards to scholars who participate in the peer-review process.

We are proud to recognize the winners for the year 2021 in the “Engineering” category for their outstanding contributions among extensive competition by presenting them with an Outstanding Reviewer Award.

We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all of the winners on their achievement. MDPI will continue to provide support and recognition to the academic community.

Actuators:

• Ryszard Dindorf, Kielce University of Technology, Poland.

Applied Sciences:

• Khaled Giasin, University of Portsmouth, UK;
• Jakub Krzysztof Grabski, University of Technology, Poland;
• Marcos Tostado-Véliz, University of Jaén, Spain;
• Luigi Pugliese, University of Calabria, Italy;
• Francesco Bennardo, University of Catanzaro, Italy;
• Heriberto Perez-Acebo, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Spain.

Biosensors:

• Amir Hatamie, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

Buildings:

• Francesco Fiorito, Polytechnic University of Bari, Italy;
• Paul G. O’Brien, York University, Canada.

Chemosensors:

• Verónica Montes García, University of Strasbourg, France.

Machines:

• Piotr Gierlak, Rzeszow University of Technology, Poland;
• Sebastian A. Nugroho, University of Michigan, USA;
• Viorel Paleu, Gheorghe Asachi Technical University of Iasi, Romania.

Processes:

• Marcin Dębowski, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Poland;
• Bartłomiej Zieniuk, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Poland;
• Zbigniew Nadolny, Poznan University of Technology, Poland;
• Attila Egedy, University of Pannonia, Hungary;
• Seok-Ho Rhi, Chungbuk National University, Korea.

Sensors:

• Hojong Choi, Kumoh National Institute of Technology, Korea;
• Li Fu, Hangzhou Dianzi University, China;
• Leonardo De Mello Honorio, Federal University of Juiz De Fora Juiz De Fora, Brazil;
• Mario Versaci, Mediterranea University, Italy;
• Robertas Damasevicius, Kaunas University of Technology, Lithuania.

The 2021 citation metrics have been released in the Journal Citation Reports (JCR), and we’re pleased to announce the following results for MDPI journals:

For more information on Impact Factors and what it means to index academic journals, please visit our related blog posts.

* Journals given their first Impact Factor in 2022

Source: 2021 Journal Impact Factors, Journal Citation Reports ^TM (Clarivate, 2022)

We are pleased to announce the launch of a new project in Micromachines—the Special Issue Mentor Program.

This program intends to provide an opportunity for early career scientists to enhance their editing, networking, and organizational skills and to work closely with our journal to gain more editorial experience. Early career scientists who have novel ideas for new Special Issues to be published in Micromachines (ISSN 2072-666X) will act as Guest Editors under the mentorship of an experienced scientist; this mentor could be a member of the Micromachines Editorial Board or from other well-established research institutes or laboratories, etc.

If you are interested in this opportunity, please send your Special Issue proposal to the Micromachines Editorial Office (micromachines@mdpi.com), or submit the proposal at the following link: https://www.mdpi.com/journalproposal/sendproposalspecialissue/micromachines, and we will discuss the process (i.e., mentor collaboration, Special Issue topic feasibility analysis, etc.) in further detail. When the Special Issue is closed, our office will provide certificates to all of the mentors and to those who complete the program. Younger scholars will be prioritized as candidates for our journal award.

The 2021 citation metrics have been officially released in Scopus!

We are pleased to announce that 182 MDPI journals are included, of which:

● 21 journals received their first CiteScore.
● 85% of journals increased their CiteScore from 2020.
● 155 journals (85%) ranked above average, in at least one category.

The following 65 MDPI journals (36%) ranked among the top 25% of journals, in at least one category:

Source: 2021 CiteScores™ (Elsevier)

We are pleased to announce that Micromachines (ISSN: 2072-666X) is now inviting nominations for the Micromachines 2022 Young Investigator Award. This prize will be given to one young investigator in recognition of his/her excellence in the field of micro/nano-scaled structures, materials, devices, and systems and their applications. All nominations will be assessed by an Evaluation Committee led by the Editor-in-Chief.

Prizes:

• CHF 2000;
• Option to publish one paper free of charge in Micromachines after peer review before the end of 2023;
• An engraved plaque. 

Eligibility and Requirements:

• Must have a Ph.D. degree;
• Must be below 35 years of age by 31 December 2022;
• Must have produced ground-breaking research and a significant contribution to the advancement of the research field;
• Must be nominated by senior scientists. 

List of Documents for Nomination:

• Detailed curriculum vitae, including an updated publication list and a list of the researcher’s own research grants;
• Birth certificate or other proof of age;
• Scanned copy of doctorate certificate;
• Signed nomination letters from two established senior scientists. 

Schedule:

• Open for nominations: 1 March 2022;
• Nomination deadline: 20 September 2022;
• Winner announcement: 31 December 2022. 

How to submit nominations?

Nominations must be submitted online at https://www.mdpi.com/journal/micromachines/awards/1733. Please do not hesitate to contact the Micromachines Editorial Office (micromachines@mdpi.com) with any questions you may have. We look forward to receiving your nominations.

Micromachines Editorial Office

MDPI would like to invite all recognized experts in the field of micromachines to attend the Micromachine Workshop | Current Trends of Inter-Disciplinary Technologies in Biomedical Applications. This series comprises some of the selected current trends of interdisciplinary technologies in biomedical and pre-clinical research. Presented by scientists and clinicians, we will showcase how diverse technology in nanoparticles, material science, biomedical implants, and photonics are presently being applied in preclinical and translational clinical research.

Workshop title: Current Trends of Inter-Disciplinary Technologies in Biomedical Applications
Date: 20/1/2022
Time: 4 p.m. (CST ASIA)
Register in advance for this webinar here.

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information on how to join the webinar. The number of participants in the live session is limited, but the recording will be made available shortly afterwards. Registrations with academic institutional email addresses will be prioritized.

Workshop Chairperson

Name: Dr. Daniel Teh Boon Loong
Affiliation: Assistant Professor (Research), Department of Biochemistry and Bia-Echo Asia Center for Reproductive Longevity and Equality (ACRLE), Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore

Daniel Teh, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Biochemistry, National University of Singapore and is affiliated with the Bia-Echo Asia Center for Reproductive Longevity and Equality (ACRLE). He is a 2020 Singapore’s National Medical Research Council Young Investigator Award recipient. The laboratory of Dr. Teh focuses on inter-disciplinary translational research of nanotechnology and material science in biomedical application. Dr. Teh was the first to discover the upconversion optical waveguide property in hydrogel, translating upconversion from a basic science concept to a medical-based implantable device. The technology is now being used as a wireless light delivery implantable device in photodynamic therapy to treat solid tumors in trials. He also devises nanoparticles for applications such as visualization probes in molecular and cellular processes in neurons. Most recently, he led his team to win the Best Teamwork Award in Singapore’s LeanLaunchpad Medtech Category 2020. He works closely with clinicians, biomedical engineers, and scientists.

Workshop Speakers

Name: Dr. Xinyi Su
Affiliation: Senior Principal Investigator, Divisional Director (IMCB, A*STAR), Asst. Professor, Research Director, Department of Ophthalmology (NUS) Consultant, Department of Ophthalmology (NUH) Clinician–Scientist, Singapore Eye Research Institute (SERI)

Xinyi Su, MB BChir Ph.D., is an ophthalmologist and vitreoretinal surgeon at the National University Hospital of Singapore. She is the Divisional Director at the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB, A*STAR) and Research Director of the Department of Ophthalmology (NUS). She runs a broad research program in retinal diseases as Senior Principal Investigator at the Translational Retinal Therapeutics Lab at IMCB and is a Clinician–Scientist at the Singapore Eye Research Institute (SERI). Her research in retinal therapeutics has been published in Nature Biomedical Engineering, Advanced Materials, and Nature Communications, among others. She received the Asia Pacific Vitreo-retinal Society LDP Gold Medal Award in 2021, the Eye and Vision Health Distinguished Award in 2021, and the Asia Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology SSO Young Ophthalmologist Award for two consecutive years, in 2019 and 2020. Dr. Su has a career total of >SGD 20 million in competitive research grants. She currently leads several translational research programs in developing biomaterials for retinal therapeutics and retinal stem cell regenerative therapy.

Name: Dr. Sanghoon Lee
Affiliation: DGIST (Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology)

Dr. Sanghoon Lee is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Robotics Engineering, Daegu Geongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (DGIST). He received his B.S. degree from the Department of Electronic Material Engineering at Kwangwoon University, Seoul, Korea, in 2009 and received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) at the National University of Singapore (NUS) in 2013 and 2017, respectively. He was a research fellow at the Singapore Institute for Neurotechnology (SINAPSE) from 2017 to 2018. In 2018, he joined DGIST and is a director of the Neuro-Interfaced Robotics Lab. His research interests include neural interface-based neuroprosthetics and bioelectronic medicine, as well as neural devices and peripheral neuromodulation.

Name: Prof. Sze Y. Set
Affiliation: Associate Professor, Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, the University of Tokyo, Japan; Visiting Associate, Cambridge Graphene Centre, Engineering Department, Cambridge University, UK; Visiting Fellow, Clare Hall, Cambridge University, UK

Prof. Sze Y. Set received a B.Eng. (first-class honors) and a Ph.D. from the University of Southampton, UK. He was awarded the JSPS postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Tokyo, Japan, in 1998. He joined a startup in Atlanta, Georgia, US, as a senior R&D engineer in 2000, and in 2005, he was appointed the CEO and CTO of a University of Tokyo startup to commercialize university technologies. In 2016, he was appointed as an associate professor at RCAST, the University of Tokyo.

Prof. Set’s research focuses on carbon nanotube photonics, ultrashort pulsed fiber lasers, ultrafast nonlinear optics, bio-photonics, optical communication, fiber optic sensing, and laser 3D imaging. He also teaches courses in university entrepreneurship. He was the first to demonstrate the use of a carbon-nanotube for laser mode-locking in 2003, and has contributed to 10 patents and over 200 academic publications in international journals and conferences. Prof. Set is a fellow of the OPTICA (Formerly OSA), the Deputy Committee Member of the Japan Society of Applied Physics (JSAP), and an Associate Editor of the IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics. Prof. Set was elected as a Visiting Fellow at Clare Hall, Cambridge University in October 2022. He is currently affiliated to the Cambridge Graphene Centre, a world-leading center of excellence for research in graphene and related materials technologies.

This Micromachines workshop will bring together a group of multi-disciplinary researchers from all over the world to present and exchange breakthrough ideas on biomedical applications. We are pleased to provide this excellent opportunity to all brilliant researchers.

To find out more about the speakers and the program, please visit https://sciforum.net/event/CTIDTBA. We hope you can join us for this event.

Shun Li
MDPI Conference Secretariat

It is our great honor to congratulate the Editorial Board Members and Editors in MDPI's journals who have been distinguished as 2021 Highly Cited Researchers by Clarivate, according to Web of Science data. We herewith express our gratitude for the immense impact the named researchers continue to make on scientific progress and on our journals' development.

Clarivate's annual list of Highly Cited Researchers^TM identifies the most highly cited scientists for the past decade. Their impactful papers are among the top 1 per cent in the citation distribution of one or more of 22 fields analyzed in the "Essential Science Indicators", distinguishing them as hugely influential among their peers.

The full list of 2021 Highly Cited Researchers  can be accessed at the following webpage in the Web of Science^TM https://recognition.webofscience.com/awards/highly-cited/2021/.

--- Highly Cited Researchers (HCR) is a Clarivate product.

Academic editors play a crucial role in leading our journals and ensuring that each article undergoes a robust and timely peer-review. With the launch of Topics this year and addition of Topic Editors to our family of academic editors, we decided it would be a good time to restructure our academic boards, thus providing more clarity and support for each role. MDPI is pleased to announce the launch of a new position—Topical Advisory Panel Member, that will replace the previous position of Topics Board Member. The Topical Advisory Panel will be comprised of early career researchers eager to gain experience in editorial work.

The main responsibility of the new members of the Topical Advisory Panel is to regularly provide support to Guest Editors, Topic Editors, and Section Board Members. The responsibilities of the Topical Advisory Panel are available here: https://www.mdpi.com/editors.

Each year, the members’ performances are evaluated, and outstanding members are promoted to the Editorial Board by the Editor-in-Chief.

To qualify as a Topical Advisory Panel Member, applicants must:

• Have expertise and experience in the field related to the journal;
• Have received a Ph.D. in the last 10 years, approximately;
• Have at least 6-8 published papers in the last 5 years as first author or corresponding author;
• Currently hold an independent research position in academia or a government institute.

If you are interested in this role, please contact the editorial office by email.

We look forward to hearing from you soon.