UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Tak-Sing Wong, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, has received a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Young Faculty Award (YFA).

The YFA program identifies and engages rising research stars in junior faculty positions at U.S. academic institutions and exposes them to Department of Defense (DOD) needs as well as DARPA's program development process.

The long-term goal of the YFA program is to develop the next generation of academic scientists, engineers and mathematicians in key disciplines who will focus a significant portion of their career on DOD and national security issues.

A Penn State faculty member since 2013, Wong received his bachelor of engineering degree in automation and computer-aided engineering from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and his doctoral degree in mechanical engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles. He completed his postdoctoral research at the Wyss Institute at Harvard University.

Earlier this year, Wong received a National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Award, and was one of 83 of the nation's brightest young engineers selected to attend the National Academy of Engineering's US Frontiers of Engineering Symposium.

In August, Wong was named one of the world's top 35 Innovators Under 35 by MIT Technology Review.

DARPA's mission is to create breakthrough technologies for national security by making pivotal investments in new technology-driven ideas for next-generation capabilities.