THIS September, Melwin Cheng Choon Lei will board his long-awaited flight to the United States, where he will begin his four-year studies as a biology major at Stanford University.
Although there are still four months to go, the 20-year-old Khazanah Global Scholarship winner, who was notified of his acceptance to the prestigious university in December last year, is eager to make the most of his experience there.
I look forward to diving deeper into the world of research and working on practical human-centered innovations at Stanford, not just articles found on the internet without any translation to help the real world,” he told StarEdu.
Looking to major in human biology, biomedical computing or bioengineering while studying political science or sociology, Cheng also hopes to meet more people, build his connections and explore what the US has to offer.
His enthusiasm is not hard to understand, as over the years the Penang lad has developed an unwavering passion for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
His interest in biology or various scientific phenomena, however, did not arise naturally as, by his own admission, he was extremely afraid of plants and insects” in his early years. What really got him hooked was a constant stream of sci-fi movies and cartoons.
Seeing Iron Man, Star Trek, Ben 10 and Digimon, he said, sparked his imagination about the future and how he could make these fantasies come true.
Thus, he began to examine some of the scientific questions on his mind at the age of 10, borrowing astronomy books from his school library, watching documentaries on the Discovery Science channel, and “begging” his family to take him to book fairs to “hoard cheap science-related books.
As an elementary school student, he also dove into a few projects, two of which saw him build a state record-breaking straw bridge for supporting nearly ten pounds of weight, as well as building a solar cooker.
Then, as a student at Chung Ling High School, he participated in a research workshop, where he learned about turning ideas into research from local professors. That became the catalyst for him to take his passion further.
Having won second place in a competition with my idea to control insects through implants, I was invited to pitch an idea and submit a research plan for selection into the school’s scientific research program.
I was settling for the idea of a sweat extraction device when contracting dengue fever from a close relative led me to scrap the idea when I decided to solve the dengue problem for the betterment of society,” he recalled.
After extensive reading of journals such as Nature and The Lancet on mosquito-borne diseases, Cheng proposed the idea of killing mosquito larvae with cinnamon while collaborating with his friend Tham Yong Shiang to implement the plan.
Their efforts won them the gold prize at the National Science and Engineering Innovation Challenge (Pistek) in Kuala Lumpur in 2018 and subsequently led to their being named champions in the Chemistry category at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. 2019 in the United States. Cheng recently reviewed the topic of mosquito-borne diseases with his high school friends.
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