Prognosticating Work Productivity, Stress Level and Workload Capacity through fNIRS Brain Haemodynamic Signal Measurement
Institution: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA
Feng Ying Xing is a PhD candidate at Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP) Centre for Intelligent Signal and Imaging Research (CISIR), a national Higher Centre of Excellence (HiCoE). He grew up in a small town in Simpang, Taiping, where he recalls celebrating Merdeka by comparing who had the biggest national flag on their bicycle.
He received his bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Bradford, UK and later earned his MSc in the same programme at UTP.
He became the first Malaysian student to work on functional Near-Infrared-Spectroscopy (fNIRS), a noninvasive optical brain-imaging modality that measures the changes in hemoglobin concentration.
Feng has served as the teaching assistant from 2014 – 2017. In recognition of his outstanding leadership and achievements in academia, he was awarded the Yayasan UTP Prestigious Scholarship for his postgraduate studies.
Feng has won multiple awards in the past. In 2016, he was awarded the Best MSc Thesis by IEEE Signal Processing Society Malaysia. He represented UTP and Malaysia in the IEEE SAC Region 10 - Asia Pacific Postgraduate Student Paper Competition in 2017 and 2018, and won the second runner up and first runner up respectively. He also represented UTP in many local and international conferences.
His current research is focused on establishing biomarkers to differentiate the nature of mental stress in healthy individuals. As one of the recipients for this year’s Merdeka Award Grants for International Attachment, he hopes that it will allow him to venture into the field of deep learning for early detection of mental stress through fNIRS, as an early preventive measure for mental illnesses.
Besides research, Feng has also passion for sports. He was the finalist for badminton mixed double in Majlis Sukan IPTS Malaysia 2016 and completed his first 42km full marathon in 2017. He also devotes his time for charity works and to mentor students with failing grades.