Rate My Professor Tedrick Lew

Tedrick Thomas Salim Lew is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the College of Design and Engineering, National University of Singapore (NUS). He holds the NUS Presidential Young Professorship. Lew earned a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2020, an M.S. in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2018, and an M.Eng. in Chemical Engineering from Imperial College London in 2014. His research centers on plant nanotechnology, including the development of nanotechnology-enabled tools such as nanosensors, nanocarriers, and nanoscale delivery systems to help plants withstand environmental stresses including disease pressure, salinity, and heat. He leads a multidisciplinary team working at the intersection of nanotechnology, plant biology, chemistry, and engineering.

Lew received the Next ASEAN Innovator Award in 2025 for his contributions involving implantable nanoscale plant sensors and nanoparticle-based delivery systems. His work has resulted in publications in journals such as Nature Nanotechnology, Nature Materials, and Nature Plants on topics including chloroplast-selective gene delivery using carbon nanotube carriers, nitroaromatic detection in plants, real-time detection of signaling waves in plants with optical nanosensors, and nanobionic approaches for plant systems. He maintains an active research program focused on advancing precision tools for sustainable agriculture and plant resilience.