Shirley Meng, a leading U.S. battery researcher, is relocating to Singapore after two decades in America, citing Trump administration policies and concerns over decarbonization priorities. Meng, 35, will join Nanyang Technological University (NTU) as vice president for innovation, her alma mater ranked higher than her former U.S. institutions. She also steps down as director of the $62 million Energy Storage Research Alliance (ESRA) at Argonne National Laboratory, a DOE hub focused on AI-driven battery innovation.

Meng emphasizes her desire to avoid U.S. military applications of battery tech and maintain her role as a builder, not a contributor to destructive technologies.ESRA’s funding remains intact, but Meng highlights political challenges, including bureaucratic hurdles for foreign scientists and restrictions on collaborations with Chinese-linked companies like Tesla. She criticizes Trump’s fossil fuel focus, contrasting it with industry recognition of decarbonization needs. Meng plans to maintain a partial UChicago appointment while continuing her lab’s work on anode-free sodium solid-state batteries, which enable cheaper, faster EV charging.

Her move reflects broader tensions between U.S. scientific ambitions and evolving geopolitical priorities.