Biography

Yueh-Lin Loo, or her preferred name Lynn was born and raised in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia until she moved to Taipei, Taiwan to study at Taipei American School. After completing high school and middle school in Taiwan she then attended University of Pennsylvania where she obtained her B.S. in Chemical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering in 1996. She then went on to graduate school at Princeton University where she earned her PhD and MA in Chemical Engineering in 2001. Post-graduation she spent a year as a Technical Staff at Bell Laboratories, and then moved on to an independent research program in the Chemical Engineering department at University of Texas at Austin: where she was also an associate professor for a period. Then in 2007 Lynn went on to become an associate professor and undergraduate representative in the Chemical and Biological department at Princeton University. (Global Young Academy (http://globalyoungacademy.net/members/ylloo/), (Bloomberg (http://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=112560609&privcapId=78938853&previousCapId=78938853&previousTitle=NewWorld%20Capital%20Group,%20LLC)))

As a professor at Princeton she has been involved in many research projects such as size and shape tunable periodic structures derive from functional block copolymers, organic conductors and semiconductors for thin-film electronics, patterning schemes for plastic electronics, and assembly of conjugated molecules on metals and semiconductors and seeing how the molecular orientation and structure can affect its electrical properties. Her most notable research though has been the invention of nanotransfer printing, which involves patterning technology that is able to create functional organic thin-film devices. (Chemical and Biological Engineering (https://www.princeton.edu/cbe/people/faculty/loo/))

Trends: Interpretations, Conclusions:

In the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) field women are currently underrepresented. When looking at bachelor’s degrees awarded in the STEM field women earn less than half in all fields. The best percentage was 44.3% in Environmental engineering and the lowest at 9.4% in computer engineering (Engineering By The Numbers (https://www.asee.org/papers-and-publications/publications/college-profiles/2011-profile-engineering-statistics.pdf)). This disparity of women in engineering is not because they lack talent or drive to succeed rather because they do not believe they have the talent to succeed (Hidden hurdle for women in science. What needs to change about these disciplines is not women but rather the culture and being more accepting and welcoming of people from either gender. Since 1970 women only earned 11% of doctorate degrees but the acceptance of women in the work environment has improved; in 2010 the number of women earning doctorates has increased to 40%  (http://www.nature.com/news/hidden-hurdle-for-women-in-science-1.16727)). Even if more women are earning more degrees than they previously have there needs to be more female professors because when students are surrounded by less than 25% female faculty then they doubt whether they are able enough to continue to the discipline (Engineering By The Numbers (https://www.asee.org/papers-and-publications/publications/college-profiles/2011-profile-engineering-statistics.pdf)). Even though the number of women involved in teaching academia has increased it will not be enough until it becomes equal.

Lynn is rare in her field because she is one of the 16% female professors that are tenure-track in the United States (https://www.asee.org/papers-and-publications/publications/college-profiles/2011-profile-engineering-statistics.pdf)).  Since there are so few women on the tenure-track Lynn’s presence and example setting will have one of the largest influences on other up and coming engineers taking her classes. By being that role model and showing her students they can make it too provides the atmosphere that could help them succeed.

One form of technology Lynn has created so far is called nanotransfer printing, which is a technique of patterning onto organic materials to give them electrical characteristics. This would mean plastics that could be used with electrical applications, and this is significant because unlike current electrical appliances plastics are light weight and flexible. This technique could mean tinted windows that could also harness solar energy, create color changing wallpaper, and an indicator for water purity. Her discovery of this technique uniquely expands the usability of electronics in many more aspects of life (Plastic Electronics (http://phys.org/news/2010-10-video-plastic-electronics.html)).

Technology:

Before being able to understand Lynn’s invention plastic conductors need to understand because Lynn invented a technique to create electric circuits and solar cells with the plastic conductors. Organic compounds such as polymers contain bonds that could be “doped” with halogens which fills “holes” in the bonds with electrons that could then travel throughout the polymer, making it a conductor. This idea came about through the collaboration of three different research groups. The development of the material first began with Alan Heeger and Alan MacDiarmid studying metallic properties of polymers and then worked together with Hideki Shirokawa who developed a technique of synthesizing polymers that would be conducive. Then after coming together the group turned to MacDiarmid to dope their polymer with a halogen to provide the necessary electrons to make the material electrically conductive (The Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 2000: Conductive polymers (https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/2000/advanced-chemistryprize2000.pdf)).

Traditionally solar cells and electrical circuits are made from inorganic materials that are costly and harmful to the environment. They are made by with heavy metals which makes them heavy, inflexible, and harmful to the environment. However by utilizing the discovery of conducting plastics made by Alan MacDiarmid, Alan Heeger, and Hideki Shirokawa, Loo has “invented an inexpensive, non-toxic and quick process for making organic electronics and plastic circuits”. To create these devices she had to understand that methods used to create silicon devices could not be utilized due to incompatibility. The techniques used for silicon devices use toxic chemicals that are then harmful to the organic material that is being developed: silicon processes are also time consuming and utilize expensive equipment. To create organic devices Lynn had to invent a new technique which became nanotransfer printing, a printing method that does not use solvents but a method similar to stamping. This method is created by raised and recessed areas on a flexible, viscous, and elastic stamp of the desired circuit design. Then the circuit parts can be placed onto the flexible plastics without the need of chemical etching. The advantages of this technique compared to those that use silicon are large-area flexible displays, low-cost memory, and disposable and wearable electronics. The stamping process takes only 30 seconds and can be made as large as desired. These carbon based electronics can be more easily incorporated into therapeutics and diagnostic medicine (Chemical engineer and biologist make list of world’s top young innovators (http://news.utexas.edu/2004/09/20/nr_eng_nat_sci)).

Culture

Malaysia began as a region originally inhabited by aboriginal people until settlers arrived from China, India, and Javanese people. Then the rulers of Malaysia converted to Islam and began trade with Muslim merchants eventually spreading Islam across the country. Then the peninsula was taken over by the Dutch for a period and also the British afterwards because of its ability as a trading port. Later on workers from China and India came over to work in tin mines and rubber plantations changing the trade outpost into a commodity producer. During the development of the communist party in China Malaysia began to develop its own communist party which started rebellion against colonial rule. Then for over a decade a struggle for power between British, Japanese, and the Malayan Communist Party developed that ended with the union of the 11 peninsular states and then on to a general election that was won by the Malayan Chinese Association and the Malayan Indian Congress but still under United Kingdom rule. A year later the Malaysian government and the United Kingdom Heads agreed that Malaysia should have their own independence which then started a clash between the various ethnic groups that ended 14 years later with government officials that would look out for Malay people, the larger portion of the population that has been mistreated up until now. Within the last two decades there has been continued religious struggle for creating Islamic states within peninsula states that make up Malaysia (Malaysia: History (http://thecommonwealth.org/our-member-countries/malaysia/history)).

The current culture of Malaysia is formed by Malay elite that control the country’s politics and a middle class the majority of which are Chinese that drives Malaysia to be a consumer society. Many languages are also spoken in Malaysia as addressed by their television programs including English, Malay, Mandarin, and Tamil. Even with the mix of ethnicities Islam is the largest religion with political actions made to maintain it. Depending on Lynn’s ethnicity she would be treated differently growing up in Malaysia. Malay people were the favored group in society and given preferential treatment with promoted enrollment in education, lower mortgage rates, and hawker licenses that factor ethnicity. In terms of gender males are favored in society with laws that favor men relating to guardianship over children, and politics are mostly comprised of men with a slow inclusion of women into political power. In wealthier families both the man and woman work outside of the home and maid work goes to female foreigners. Women work could range anywhere from maid service operating common household cleaning appliances to assembly line worker on or around sophisticated machinery to political jobs that use office and communication devices.  ((http://www.everyculture.com/Ja-Ma/Malaysia.html))