WIN WIN - HEY! - Nanyang Technological University

THE NTU MAGAZINE
JAN–FEB 2016
NO. 25
IC AT IO N
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Lives of
everyday
superheroes
WIN
a free trip
EP
EH T
A KE H E
R HUBBY TO ?
7 HEALTH
AND FITNESS
MYTHS
THS
SE D
EXPO
S
HOME
EXPLOSIONS:
5 WAYS TO AVOID THEM
worth $500
IF YOU READ HEY!
Hello 2016
The fliip
The
p sside
ide o
off llearning
earning iiss h
here
ere
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ZALORA TREAT • BESTSELLER BOOKS • TRENDY EYEWEAR • D’SKIN PRODUCTS • STARBUCKS CARDS
Others talk
about ideas.
His came alive
in San Francisco.
At NTU, we broaden your horizons with invaluable
overseas opportunities. Renaissance Engineering
Programme undergraduate Ian Chen interned at
Airtable in San Francisco, where he developed
several smartphone apps. As part of his
engineering programme, he spent his third
year at the University of California, Berkeley.
Visit ntu.edu.sg/admissions and find out how
you can start the future, even before you graduate.
START YOUR FUTURE
Ian Chen
Renaissance Engineering Programme (REP)
Intern at organisations in the US or Europe
Graduate with a bachelor’s and master’s degree in four and a half years
Attend classes at the University of California, Berkeley or Imperial College London during your third year
NTU – YOUNGEST AMONG THE IVY LEAGUE-CLASS UNIVERSITIES
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CHIEF EDITOR
Dr Vivien Chiong
EDITOR
Eileen Tan
ASSISTANT EDITORS
Chrystal Chan
Derek Rodriguez
WRITERS
Ang Hui Min
Lester Kok
Tan Yo-Hinn
VIDEO PRODUCER
Ei Ei Thei
CONTRIBUTORS
Clara Lock (Class of 2013)
John Nathan Fernandez (Class of 2016)
Li Haolun (Class of 2007)
Nuria Ling (Class of 2010)
Steven Jap (Class of 2011)
Vivek Manoharan (Class of 2011)
Zach Chia (Class of 2014)
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2 FYI 4 FEATURE THE EVOLUTION OF EDUCATION
The flipped side of learning is here –
no ’bots about it 8 FEATURE BUZZ ON THE HIVE
High fives for NTU’s new learning hub
10 FEATURE NOBEL LAUREATES: THINK LIKE A
CHILD, STUDY A USELESS SUBJECT Great minds
collide at NTU 12 FEATURE HITS & WITS AT
TEDXSINGAPORE Hans Rosling, Tony Wheeler and
other gems 13 FEATURE LIFE – WHAT’S THE POINT? Anatomy of survival
14 FEATURE THE TRUTH ABOUT WEIGHT,
EGGS AND BREAKFAST Bust these old
wives’ tales 18 HEY! SURVEY TELL US AND
WIN A free trip and other goodies
21 THE P FILES LADY IN RED She’s got fiery
passion 22 FEATURE 5 WAYS TO AVOID
AN EXPLOSION IN YOUR EVERYDAY LIFE Homefront dangers
24 FEATURE PLAYGROUND FOR THE IMAGINATION See, I made this at my
campus garage 26 FEATURE LIVES OF EVERYDAY SUPERHEROES Thank you
for inspiring us 29 HOT SHOTS MAKE A DATE WITH US Picture your 2016
30 UNPLUGGED A WORD WITH JOANNE PEH Alumnus, actress, fashion
icon, new mum 32 FEATURE BANK ON HIS HEART Rolling with the dough
of love 35 THINKING ALOUD MIND MATTERS
An afternoon with Nobel laureates
36 MY SPACE FILM XCHANGE How to bag
that international film prize
37 FEATURE STATS A FACT ABOUT
NTU The lowdown on why
students choose NTU
HEY! CATCH US ON...
#1
First
things
first...
Young and first in class again. NTU
chalked up first placing in the Quacquarelli
Symonds’ ranking of the world’s young
universities under 50 years old for the
second year running, extending its lead
over second-placed Hong Kong University
of Science and Technology.
Fast and smart
Phone running out of juice? With NTU’s new smart chip, you
can soon charge your mobile phone in under ten minutes
and find out exactly how healthy your battery is, such as
whether it is on the verge of overheating and catching fire.
Thanks to in-built Wi-Fi connectivity, your phone battery can
“talk” to its charger and synchronise for an ultrafast charge.
Even better, the compact chip can be embedded in
anything that has a battery.
Watts
that
glue?
Scientists at NTU have invented a glue that holds tight –
think chewing gum to hair – when zapped with electricity.
This means that it could work underwater, in both hot
and cold environments and, most importantly, whenever
you want to activate it, even to close a cut on your skin.
Super superglue, anyone? Just be careful, we say.
The healing
fields
To infinity
and beyond
There’s a field of possibilities
out there. Sleuthhound
researchers at NTU have
found that a species of bacteria
commonly found in soil,
Clostridium sporogenes, even
when dead, can wipe
out colorectal cancer cells
better than traditional
treatments like chemotherapy
and radiotherapy.
2
Beam me up, Scotty! NTU ended
2015 with a blast, launching its
fifth and sixth satellites. They are
tasked with more practical missions
involving climate monitoring, radiation
resistance and GPS technology,
instead of teleporting us around.
With these last two satellites, NTU
now has built and launched satellites
of three sizes, micro, nano and pico.
PHOTOS: DYAN TJHIA/SPORT SINGAPORE; ONG TIAN HUA/SPORT SINGAPORE
HIGH FLYERS IN...
Take a bow
These award-winning national athletes are your teachers. Assoc
Prof Mu Yuguang (right in second photo) and Asst Prof Wong
Meng Ee (far left) both clinched bronze medals for Singapore at
the latest ASEAN Para Games. Assoc Prof Mu, a physics expert,
was a showstopper in the table tennis men’s doubles, while Asst
Prof Wong, an early childhood education specialist, flew to the
finish line in the men’s 100m freestyle.
… THE UNITED STATES
Meet a duo in the business of winning, Lawis Koh and
Andrew Yap. The business students won the Brandeis
Leveraged Buyout Case Competition 2015, beating
opponents from top biz schools like MIT Sloan School
of Management. Score for NTU!
… SINGAPORE
More app-y winnings. Four NTU students clinched
the grand prize of $10,000 at the Samsung Solve
for Tomorrow competition for their app, SafeSnooze,
which keeps drivers awake at the wheel. Alert gals
Jade Wee, Chan Jia Hui, Chua Yi Bei and Lim Mee Mee
bagged a four-day trip to Korea to visit Samsung’s
headquarters, plus an internship each at
Samsung Singapore.
… HONG KONG
Here’s another team that means business. Goh Duo
Geng, Olivia Koh, Chau Jun Hao and Elsen Yong came out
tops in the Citi-HKUST International Case Competition
in November. Even better, this was NTU’s first attempt
at the 13-year-old competition and the first time a
Singapore
g p team struck gold.
g
Incy wincy medley
DJ Puff Daddy Longlegs, spin that track! The NTU Centre for
Contemporary Art Singapore hosted the oddest musical pairings
ever, as Singapore-based musicians joined their eight-legged
associates to “perform” in Arachnid Orchestra. Jam Sessions,
an interactive installation by Argentinian artist Tomás Saraceno.
An intriguing combo of art, science and architecture, it was a
showcase of intricate webs and the spider’s sophisticated mode of
communication through vibrations. You’ll never see these creepy
crawlies in the same light again.
H E Y ! JA N– F E B 2 0 16
3
Feature
The start of a learning revolution is here. Lester Kok
traces the 4Gs in this path of education and finds
himself at The Hive, the centrepiece of NTU’s flipped
classroom learning that was recently featured on CNN
4
NTU students Lincoln Lim,
Aaron Soh and Bertrand Tee,
and Assoc Prof Jung Younbo
stride into the future.
H E Y ! JA N– F E B 2 0 16
5
In just two decades, the
classroom as we know it has
been transformed – from
textbooks and pen-and-paper
assignments to multimedia
projects and online quizzes
today. Assoc Prof Jung Younbo
from the Wee Kim Wee
School of Communication &
Information has ridden the
waves as a student and now
as a professor that teaches the
younger generation.
“From primary school
till my undergraduate days
in Michigan State in the
US, I was mainly reading
books, taking paper tests and
photocopying references in
the library. By the time I
did my PhD in Southern
California, all assignments
were done on a computer or
laptop. Now, I teach students
in classrooms where they use
mobile devices like tablets
and ultrabooks to do their
coursework. I wouldn’t be
surprised if in future, I teach
a class in multiple places at
the same time through
a hologram to overcome
geographical limitations!”
Just last year, NTU gave a sneak
peek at that possibility when
Nobel Prize-winning physicist
Carl Wieman from Stanford
University delivered his lecture
on the Lee Kong Chian Lecture
Theatre stage as a hologram.
This evolution is what I call
the 4G in education, says NTU
President Prof Bertil Andersson.
He explains that the first G is
Gutenberg, who introduced
the printing press that allowed
for the mass printing of
books. Books and printed
materials were the mainstay for
knowledge sharing for almost
five centuries before Bill Gates
and his contemporaries ushered
in the era of personal computing
in the 20th century.
“I wouldn’t be surprised
if in future, I teach a
class in multiple places
at the same time
through a hologram…”
Now, we have dived into the
age of Google and online searches
where information can be found
at a click. And soon, we will be
moving towards being a glocal
generation where one can be local
and global at the same time.
“The 4th dimension is where
concepts of time and space can
be abolished with gizmos and
gadgets,” Prof Andersson adds,
saying it could be possible to
learn from the best professors
regardless of where we are.
Technologists are excited that
holograms and telepresence
robots can aid tomorrow’s
wired students so they can
learn anywhere at their own
pace. While that day is still
some years away, the departure
from traditional learning
environments is already here.
NTU is driving flipped
classroom learning across the
campus and the newly-opened
Hive is the centrepiece of this.
Students get their lessons on
their laptops and iPads where
they read up on the day’s lessons
beforehand, watch videos and
test their knowledge through
online tools. Face time in class
is put to good use by tackling
questions on the topic in groups.
Assoc Prof Gan Chee Lip,
Director of the Renaissance
Engineering Programme, says:
“In the flipped model of learning,
you don’t just answer questions
– you question the answers.”
“There is no spoon-feeding.
Instead, we guide students to
understand the concepts taught,
challenge their understanding
with ‘live’ quizzes and debates,
and push them to explore related
topics and learn from their peers.”
NTU students from the
Renaissance Engineering
Programme and Lee Kong Chian
School of Medicine are most
familiar with this, as team-based
learning is a central feature
of their programme. What
educators aim to do is to inspire
in students a curiosity and
natural hunger for knowledge.
“In the new classroom, there
is no right answer. Rather, what
The changing face of learning…
Social robots
Droids like Star Wars’ golden C-3PO
PO
aren’t just the stuff of movies.
Scientists at NTU have developed
social robots that look almost
human, with soft skin, a sense of
humour and even good manners.
One such humanoid robot at NTU
U
that made international headlines
recently is Nadine. She has artificial
al
intelligence software that lets her
hold a conversation and reflect herr
own mood and personality.
6
Telepresence
technology
In future, if your professor is at an
overseas conference to talk about
his latest research paper, he can
still teach his class via a robot. One
like EDGAR, perhaps. Edgar is
a remote telepresence robot that
behaves like an avatar or clone.
Using a webcam, the professor can
control the robot and its limbs, and
project his own face onto Edgar’s
so you can recognise him. Having a
THIS PHOTO: LI HAOLUN / OTHER PHOTOS: LESTER KOK
Joycelyn Thiang (left) and
Tiffany Lim at The Hive.
is the best answer? Students are
compelled to take a proactive
approach to learning, since
they need to draw on various
sources instead of just quoting
their textbook.”
“Self-learning and teamwork
skills are invaluable, especially
when students join the workforce
and realise they need to work
with others to find innovative
solutions to real problems that
no one has thought of before,”
says Assoc Prof Gan, a pioneer
of the flipped classroom in
engineering courses.
At the inaugural Nobel
Prize Series held at NTU last
November, none of the global
thought leaders advocated
teaching more content, says
Prof Andersson. “Much of
the discussions focused on
how to encourage curiosity,
how to ignite passion and
the motivation to learn, and
how to nurture a big heart for
humanity in our students.”
So it seems “noisy” classes
full of stimulating ideas are in
order, and the good news is,
150 flipped classroom courses
are being rolled out at NTU,
with 1,500 such courses to be
implemented over the next five
years. The day may come when
one of the tutors greeting you
in class could be a hologram
or robot!
Holograms
physical presence in a place means
the professor can interact with the
environment remotely, shake hands
and even write or draw.
H E Y ! JA N– F E B 2 0 16
This technology makes
video-conferencing look old
school. With holographic
display technologies getting
smaller and better, a person’ss
image can be projected in
three dimensions, so they aree
virtually present in the room.
m.
The speaker can also easily
address audiences in many
locations at the same time. Beam me up,
Stephen Hawking!
7
Feature
buzz on the hive
Learning at NTU has a new icon in a 24-hour hub for
students, which opened in October. Chrystal Chan
checks out what is setting The Hive a-buzzing and
what students love about it
PHOTOS: LESTER KOK, AMIN SHAH
Thee Hive
Th
H is a place where you can
take selfies or photographs. I also
like its unique design and concept.
With a café and library, there is
a lot of activity, especially during
lunchtime, and it’s located in the
South Spine, which adds vibrancy
to the area. Where else on earth
can you find a place like The Hive?
– Steffanie Joy
8
The open-style classrooms and
lights are good for studying!
– Lee Chuen Heng
You don’t have to go all the way
to Lee Wee Nam Library to find
engineering and science textbooks
anymore!
– Huang Junye
an
A Top 10 Instagram spot in Singapore. – Geo Wynn
A hideout with a view and
ggood carbonara! – James Moo
A new learning concept: flipped classrooms
bringing buzz and vibrancy to the open-style
learning experience. Great job! – Wei
ei Siang
S
Really love it! – Lee Rongqin
My next favourite study spot. ☺
– Kevin Le Nguyen
Doing away with the standard lectures and
working in smaller groups really inject in me that
excitement of coming to class. – Elysia Tan
A symbol of NTU and a hive
of student activities!
– Mr Ong Ye Kung Acting Minister for
Education (Higher Education and Skills)
NTU
U ca
ccalls
llls it The Hive. We
call it the Dim Sum Building.
It looks
k like
Whatever it is, it definitely
the BMW building
looks pretty dope.
in Munich!
– Azhar Roy
– Vasanth Elangovan
H E Y ! JA N– F E B 2 0 16
EXTRA
Catch a bird’s eye view of
The Hive on NTUsg YouTube
in this video made by
students of the NTU
Aerospace Society.
Th is is a university building like no
other. It defies the norms of traditional
university buildings and redefi nes them
with its iconic shape and unusual use
of space. Within it lies the future of
learning in Singapore.
– Prof Bertil Andersson NTU President
9
Feature
Nobel laureates:
Think like a child, study
a useless subject
Nobel laureates drop in to paint a vision of the future of
education – and share their inspiring journey to self-discovery
With his shock of white hair
W
aand deep authoritative voice,
Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka
N
has often been mistaken as
h
aactor Morgan Freeman.
But it wasn’t for this that
tthe audience stared at him
with collective surprise.
w
The celebrated playwright’s
aassertion that “students
sshould be compelled to learn a
‘‘useless’ subject” was met with
a brief moment of disbelief,
before he explained that
students should be pushed to
go beyond their comfort zones.
10
Interestingly, Prof
Soyinka’s “useless” subject
was mathematics. And
mathematics was what got
him through a period of
solitary confi nement when he
was a political prisoner in his
native Nigeria.
Listening to several stirring
anecdotes like this was the
highlight of the Nobel Prize
Series, which took place in
NTU on 5 and 6 November last
year. The global debut of this
event saw five Nobel laureates
– Profs Soyinka (Literature),
PHOTOS: DANIEL HO, JEREMY SCHEE
by Derek Rodriguez
Mark their words
“
A waste of human talent is in process when the individual does not have the
opportunity of education. If you don’t use a muscle, it atrophies, and this applies to the
mind. Every opportunity to exercise that crucial part of the human anatomy, the brain,
is the entitlement of every human being in society.
WOLE SOYINKA Nobel laureate (Literature)
“
No matter how much we know, we should
be curious about things that happen around us. And
teachers should encourage curiosity.
ADA YONATH Nobel laureate (Chemistry)
”
”
“
Like most physics students
I was attracted to fancy theories
like quantum mechanics and
particle physics. But when it came
to selecting a subject for my
PhD thesis, I lost courage. I had
two options, either to become
miserable and drop my thesis or
to do something cool. I opted
for the latter.
”
STEFAN HELL Nobel laureate (Chemistry)
“
I consider humanity to be our greatest achievement. In every country,
I want to hear this said to the young people: Put humanity first.
“
”
SIR HAROLD KROTO Nobel laureate (Chemistry)
A particular characteristic of universities is the cultivation of social
consciousness. It’s because of this feature of universities that I want
university education to be extended to as many people as possible.
SIR JAMES MIRRLEES Nobel laureate (Economic Sciences)
Stefan Hell (Chemistry),
Sir Harold Kroto (Chemistry),
Ada Yonath (Chemistry) and
Sir James Mirrlees (Economic
Sciences) – sharing their
opinions on education and
their experiences in their
respective fields in a series
of lectures.
Driven by the theme The
Future of Learning, the event
kicked off with a roundtable
dialogue showcasing the Nobel
laureates, industry leaders,
academics, students, NTU
Chairman Mr Koh Boon
H E Y ! JA N– F E B 2 0 16
”
Hwee and Singapore’s Acting
Minister for Education (Higher
Education and Skills), Mr Ong Ye
Kung, at NTU’s iconic learning
hub, The Hive, itself a concrete
manifestation of the theme.
At the heart of the
discussions was a debate
on how to educate new-age
learners. As Singapore’s
President, Dr Tony Tan, said
in his speech at the opening
of the event: “The education
system must prepare
students to tackle social and
ethical issues that arise as
technological advances enable
humankind to do more.”
The Nobel laureates and
guest speakers agreed on
one thing: the importance of
fuelling curiosity in the young
and the university’s role in
cultivating inquisitiveness in
students, along with a big
heart for humanity. So say
“goodbye” to your 10-yearseries exam questions. The
world’s greatest minds in
science asked questions fi rst,
before they tried to fi nd their
own answers.
11
Feature
Hits and wits at
TEDxSingapore
NTU hosted the 2015 TEDxSingapore talks, which brought interesting
personalities of all stripes to the campus. Chrystal Chan gives the
lowdown on the two-day event
best use of sound
most unexpected advice
Dylan Soh
Inch Chua
All of 12 years old, Dylan Soh,
co-author of the book The Big Red
Dot, is proof you don’t need age to
be sage. He was a cutie, charming
the audience with wise
counsel like: Now more than
ever, we need to empower the
fairer sex. And Sure, puff up
your chest, humble brag, but
don’t get too cocky.
Local singer-songwriter Inch Chua
regaled with stories of how she escaped
to Pulau Ubin for four months to fi nd
inspiration for her music. Inching
into our hearts on the strength of her
vocals, she segued into the sound of
crickets in the middle of her account,
then added frog croaking and rooster
crowing, which blended seamlessly into
the start of her song. What a brilliant
performance.
most entertaining speech
Eugene Soh
Better known
know as “The Dude”, this NTU
art, des
design & media alumnus kept
spirits light. With witty tales about the
making of his iconic photographs,
humorous titbits about the
challenges he faced and
well-placed punchlines, he
could have passed off as a
standup comedian. The
audience lapped it up.
most anticipated speaker
Hans Rosling
News about Hans Rosling’s
appearance at TEDxSingapore
spread far and wide weeks before
the event. And as the closing
speaker for his session, his
appearance was much awaited.
There was a palpable air of
anticipation right before he walked
onto the stage – and the man who
makes statistics sing lived up to
expectations. Cue his famous bubble
chart, which made his data “dance”.
And the surprising use of toilet
paper rolls – a stark contrast to his
high-tech charts just moments ago –
to demonstrate population growth.
No less interesting, and certainly
very unexpected.
12
most motivational
Tony Wheeler
Tony Wheeler, the
founder of Lonely Planet
guidebooks, didn’t
exactly tell everyone
to go out and achieve
something great. But his
journey through Europe,
Asia and Australia more than
four decades ago resulting in the first Lonely Planet
guidebook was all the inspiration everyone needed
to go out and chase their passions.
Feature
Life – what’s the point?
in your body are replaced every
year. Nature holds a template of life
in networks, which are everywhere
– in crime, in proteins, in our brain
and so on. What we know through
the science of networks is that ‘life’
is calculating its own future.”
Almost everyone has pondered this age-old question, from
philosophers to scientists. To shed light on it, student-run
think tank NTU World of Wisdom held an independently
organised TED conference, TEDxNTU, on campus
by Vivek Manoharan and John Nathan Fernandez
Sociologist and Associate Provost
for Student Life Assoc Prof Kwok
Kian Woon (above) opened with
a light-hearted quip: “You did not
choose to be born. It was your
parents’ choice. The beginning
of life is a journey towards death.
Who’s to say how long the journey
lasts and when, where and how
it ends?” To demonstrate his
point, he had a student hold up
a broom to simulate a soldier
pointing a rifle. “During war,
why do ordinary men commit
extraordinary evil? What does
it take for a human being to be
trained to kill another?” In short,
questioning is at the heart of
education and a well-lived life.
Oscar Award-winning
documentary director Prof Ben
Shedd (right) shared his life of
fi lmmaking that netted him an
Oscar in 1978. “I didn’t have the
opportunity to ‘fail’ – success was
expected of me all the time,” he
H E Y ! JA N– F E B 2 0 16
said, while
holding up
his Oscar.
His dream is
to continue
doing what he
loves, because
“fi lms set the mind
soaring” and it is a life pursuit that
gives him satisfaction.
Having seen many patients
cheat death, Dr Akhileswaran
Ramaswamy, a palliative care
specialist, said: “Why would
anyone want to die if they had a
good enough reason to live? My
patients have taught me this: If you
have a powerful thought, put it
into powerful action and you will
get powerful results.”
Prof Peter Sloot, a physicist from
NTU’s Complexity Institute, talked
about patterns of life and how they
interact through mathematics and
order. “About 95% of the molecules
Prof Russell Gruen,
a trauma care
surgeon and
Director of
NTU’s Nanyang
Institute of
Technology
in Health and
Medicine, believes
technology could
be changing our end
point. “In an emergency room,
I have never experienced divine
intervention, but what I have
witnessed is technology coming to
the rescue. This makes me wonder:
Can we change the end point of life
itself? Tinkering with the limits of
life, at times, makes us feel like we
are ‘playing God’.”
According to corporate
strategy and leadership
consultant Mr Rajen
Makhijani, the social class we
are in could have a bearing on
how meaningful we find our lives
to be. A country’s wealth alone,
for example, does not bring a high
“happiness” score. What we make
of life and our life choices could be
conditioned by the socio-economic
position we are in. “Who could
have known that richness to my life
would come through the poor?”
Dr Elizabeth Nair, a counsellor
and psychologist, shared her
insights as a counsellor with
Samaritans of Singapore, a suicide
prevention agency. “When you
don’t have a sense of who you are,
what gives you meaning is the
sense of connection with others
around you. So, reach out to those
who need help.”
13
Feature
The truth
about weight,
eggs and
breakfast
“Eggs labelled ‘omega-3-enriched’
and ‘low-cholesterol’ are better than
normal eggs.”
NTU experts shed light on some health
and fitness myths
by Kayce Teo
“You need a daily
multivitamin to
supplement your diet.”
Having balanced meals may be easier said than done, especially
over long periods of time. And if you are a picky eater, or keep to a
small variety of food, you may very well need a multivitamin.
“Diversity is more important than quantity when it comes to
your diet,” says Prof Walter Wahli from the Lee Kong Chian School
of Medicine. “The recommended daily intakes are based on average
values, and how much of each nutrient you actually need depends
on your current state of health, age, lifestyle and more.”
And remember that more is not necessarily better – taking too
much of certain minerals and vitamins can cause health problems.
Pop those pills with restraint!
Omega-3-enriched eggs come from chickens
whose feeds are supplemented with an
omega-3 source, like flax seeds. Chickens
which are said to produce “low-cholesterol
eggs” have a different diet too. However, if you
have been buying both these kinds of eggs,
you might want to consider putting your
money elsewhere.
“A study done in the US found that eggs
labelled low-cholesterol, with 185-210mg
instead of 210-230mg of cholesterol, did not
contain significantly less cholesterol compared
to regular eggs,” says Prof William Chen,
Director of the Food Science and Technology
Programme at the School of Chemical &
Biomedical Engineering.
As for omega-3-enriched eggs, he adds, they
are a good source of omega-3 fatty acids but
not necessarily the most cost-effective one.
“Instead of these eggs, you can supplement
your diet with walnuts, edible seeds or fish oil
to get the omega-3 fatty acids your body needs
to function well.”
“You need to exercise at least thrice a week. Anything less
is pointless.”
Weekend warriors, fret not. “Any exercise is better than none,” says
exercise physiologist Asst Prof Stephen Burns from NTU’s National
Institute of Education. “But, more exercise is still better to accrue
true health benefits.”
Asst Prof Burns adds that aerobic activity should be in bouts of
at least 10 minutes totalling 150 minutes per week, while musclestrengthening activities involving major muscle groups should be
done two or more days per week.
The better news? “Physical activity includes things such as
brisk walking, so the exercise doesn’t have to be structured,” he
elaborates. So, make it a point to walk to your favourite lunch spots,
or schedule that evening stroll around your hall.
14
“Lifting weights will make
your muscles grow bigger.”
Your body adapts and changes according
to the physical activities you engage in, so
targeted exercises, like weight-lift ing, build
bigger muscles.
“If you run, your heart – a muscle – grows
bigger,” explains Asst Prof Burns. “But the
extent of growth is determined by how
much you train, and gender and genetic
differences.”
Compared to men, women tend to “bulk
up” less with exercise, as they have fewer
of the hormones that cause muscle growth,
such as testosterone.
Unless you are consuming large amounts
of protein-rich food and overdosing on your
lift ing exercises, you won’t be taking part in
any bodybuilding pageants anytime soon.
“Green mucus means you have
an infection.”
If you’ve ever sneezed or coughed up a greenish lump, you
know it could mean a trip to the clinic. But how reliable
is the colour of your phlegm as an indicator of illness?
“When we have an infection, white blood cells are dispatched
to the area to help fight against the bacteria,” explains Asst
Prof Sanjay Chotirmall from the Lee Kong Chian School of
Medicine. “These white blood cells contain iron, and when they
have been fighting an infection for a while, the iron leaks into
the surrounding snot, causing it to turn green. But it is also
possible to have perfectly clear mucus and a terrible infection
with symptoms like fever, congestion and facial pressure.”
The next time you have any of these symptoms, visit a
doctor immediately instead of waiting for the colour of your
mucus to change.
“Being cold gives you a cold.”
“Don’t skip breakfast if you want to
lose weight.”
The age-old belief that eating breakfast aids in
weight loss may not be true. A recent study found
that people who skipped breakfast consumed
about 400 fewer calories a day. However, they
were also observed to be more sedentary.
Says Asst Prof Burns: “Eating breakfast may
increase your physical activity. People who do
eat breakfast are often slimmer because they are
more active. Eating breakfast regularly also has
benefits beyond caloric expenditure – such as
blood sugar control.”
So, get up for your daily dose of eggs and toast
if you want to feel more energised during the day.
H E Y ! JA N– F E B 2 0 16
You probably won’t catch a cold by being
in a cold lecture theatre, but don’t leave
your jacket behind just yet.
“Sneezing is a reflex to get rid of
irritants, for example, germs, dust or
pollutants,” says Asst Prof Chotirmall.
“Rapid temperature changes can also
trigger sneezing.”
But while exposure to the cold
does not directly cause illness, it
may make our immune system
less effective at fighting invading
organisms such as bacteria or
viruses, leading to infection,”
he elaborates.
15
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H E Y ! JA N– F E B 2 0 16
19
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y
d
a
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d
e
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in
by Clara Lock
Asst Prof Ling Xing Yi was a striking
figure in red last December, when she
was one of two Singapore scientists
honoured with the 2015 L’Oréal
Singapore For Women In Science
National Fellowship.
She researches nanoparticles –
specks so tiny they can only be seen
with an electron microscope.
But she has grabbed attention
everywhere she goes, even catching the
eye of cosmetics giant L’Oréal, which
invests heavily in nanotechnology
research to ensure that their beauty
products are safe for use.
Her red-hot passion for
nanotechnology research is infectious
and has also rubbed off on her
students at NTU, where she has been
teaching for the last five years.
Her L’Oréal award was for her work
on an ultra-sensitive platform that
can detect even the smallest traces of
environmental toxins.
These toxins can be found
everywhere, from industrial waste
to food, says Asst Prof Ling, citing
melamine as an example. In a 2008
scandal, the industrial grade chemical
used in fertilisers and plastics was found
in milk products from China, which
caused thousands of babies to fall ill.
Although such toxins can be
identified by current methods, they
cannot be detected in the trace
amounts that her platform allows.
H E Y ! JA N– F E B 2 0 16
For her win, Asst Prof Ling
received a $30,000 grant. She now
wants to start a small company to
sell the detection platform, and let
her students run it. She believes
the technology will be useful to
industrial companies or authorities
responsible for food safety.
She is the kind of inspirational
woman L’Oréal wants to shine the
spotlight on.
“I have outstanding
students, and they
will be the CEOs,
the future leaders.”
“Today, only 30% of the world’s
researchers are women. We are
convinced that science brings hope
and fosters discovery, innovation and
excellence, and all the best talents
must be called upon to accomplish
this mission,” says Mr Vincent Ong,
General Manager of the Professional
Products Division and Corporate
Affairs at L’Oréal Singapore.
But the 37-year-old won’t do it alone.
“Students these days are so savvy
with matters of the business world,
like marketing and finance, while
science academics like me are trying
to catch up with the latest business
trends,” she muses.
“I have outstanding students, and
they will be the CEOs, the future
leaders,” says the humble professor
from the School of Physical &
Mathematical Sciences.
She would know, having co-authored
publications and done research with
a number of them. “I particularly
like our undergraduates. At NTU,
we train them well and they are
very enthusiastic. Our lessons are
interactive, and we learn as a team,”
she says.
As she charts new ground in
the science of the ultra-small, Asst
Prof Ling wants her students to
get in on the action. Last year, she
started a module in nanoscience and
nanotechnology for third- and fourthyear students that went beyond the
usual topics to give them exposure to
the newest trends in the field.
Lim Ting Xiang, a fi nal-year
student, says: “It showed me how
important nanotechnology is and
how prevalent it is in our lives.”
She adds that Asst Prof Ling’s
teaching style, which uses many
diagrams and drawings, helps her
understand the concepts better.
The friendly professor says: “I try
to get students interested enough to
come for lectures rather than watch
the recorded versions online, as I find
that those who attend regular lectures
generally do better in exams.”
21
Feature
5
n
a
d
i
o
v
r
a
u
o
o
t
y
s
n
i
y
a
w sion
e
o
l
f
i
exp day l
y
r
e
ev
Accidents can happen with the most innocuous of items,
such as plastic bottles and even batteries. Lester Kok gets NTU professors
to explain the science behind some freak mishaps seen in
the mass media and on social media
22
Shattering light bulbs
Most bulbs are made of glass and they can
get very hot when their fi laments are lit.
Dr Leek Meng Lee from the School of
Physical & Mathematical Sciences warns
that light bulbs are best kept away from
water. “If a drop of water lands on the hot
surface of the bulb, the droplet cools that
part of the glass and it suddenly contracts,”
explains Dr Leek. “This creates stress in the
thin glass, causing it to shatter.”
1
Hotpot blast
When having hotpot for dinner,
the last thing you’d expect is an
explosion. But this happened at a
popular hotpot restaurant in Bugis
last April, hurting five diners.
Assoc Prof David Butler says the
culprit in this case is most likely the
gas-powered stove, since cooking
gas is highly flammable. “A gas
leak can be caused by a number of
things, such as a damaged pipe or
an improperly installed gas canister.
Depending on the environment, it
is possible for the gas to build up in
the surrounding air, where it can
quickly catch fire when exposed to a
flame or spark.” This is what causes
an explosion, explains the professor
from the School of Mechanical &
Aerospace Engineering.
3
Exploding plastic bottles
Putting dry ice into an empty plastic bottle is a bad idea. It could
blow up and hurt you, as a primary school boy found out in Singapore.
Dry ice is carbon dioxide in a solid form.
When it “melts”, it turns into gas, which occupies
about 600 to 800 times its volume as a solid, according
to Asst Prof Zhang Baile, a physicist. “When dry ice
is placed inside an enclosed space such as a plastic
bottle, the pressure created by the expanding
melting gas will be so huge that the bottle will
be blown apart.”
4
5
H E Y ! JA N– F E B 2 0 16
2
Petrol fire
In a viral video clip, a car suddenly catches
fire when the driver refuels at a petrol kiosk in
Penang. Asst Prof Zhang says the likely culprit is
static electricity. Static electricity is “an electric
charge accumulated from friction, and it can
reach over 10,000 volts,” he explains. “Such high
voltages can easily cause an electric spark to
jump from the driver’s hand to the car, so if any
petrol is nearby, the spark will ignite it.”
Thankfully, with the high humidity in
Singapore, the chances of such an incident
happening here are quite low. This is because
electric charges don’t easily build up in moist
environments, unlike in countries with a
drier climate.
Too hot for comfort
Hoverboards are all the rage, but some of them recently caught fire
in the United States. Poorly made or defective lithium-ion batteries
may be to blame.
Batteries have a positive and negative side, kept apart by a plastic
separator. As batteries undergo discharge and recharge cycles, their
components age and degrade, causing small “hot spots” in them,
says battery pioneer Prof Rachid Yazami. “When a battery gets
too hot, the separator melts, causing both ends to touch and shortcircuit. This is how a battery can catch fire.”
Since your mobile phone uses the same kind of batteries, it’s
always best to use the original battery. If you notice your phone
becoming unusually hot, especially during charging, change the
battery or get it checked out at an authorised service centre.
23
Feature
imagination
Playground for the
PHOTOS OF QUADCOPTER AND GARAGE: LESTER KOK / PHOTO OF PHOTO PRINTER: AMIN SHAH
The innovation garages in NTU are simmering
with creative inventions. Derek Rodriguez
finds out what’s cooking
24
“If you want a Nobel Prize, play on.”
So said Sir Harold Kroto, whose
teacher once complained he played
too much.
He went on to win the Nobel Prize
in Chemistry in 1996 and champions
the importance of letting students
follow their hearts and imagination.
And this is what the innovation
garages in NTU are all about.
In the last few years, the three
innovation garages on campus
have been churning out progressive
inventions, like Singapore’s fi rst
3D-printed car, which rolled out of
the garage at the School of Mechanical
& Aerospace Engineering.
HOME IMPROVEMENT
Over at the interlinked Crescent and
Pioneer Halls – NTU’s newest dorms
– big ideas are brewing at their
garage space.
Lim Zhi Yu, a final-year Aerospace
Engineering student, noticed a common
issue – clothes put out to dry would
land on ledges below their windows,
making them difficult to retrieve.
With help from PhD students
Edwin Ang, Edgar Tan and Er Jie Kai,
Zhi Yu and his team are working on
their “clothes-collecting copter”, an
ultra-manoeuvrable quadcopter that
will be able to pick up clothes from
hard-to-reach places.
Medical students Joel Lim, Adam
Mohamed Naveeth and Sunil Ravinder
Gill have joined forces with chemistry
undergrad Natalie Tay for their
“FloraWall” project. Together with
their mentor, fellow hall resident Hong
Kah Jun, a PhD engineering student,
they are eager to use their knowledge
to beautify the concrete façade of
the hall, and to eventually take their
“home project” outside the campus.
H E Y ! JA N– F E B 2 0 16
Though
the
h still
till iin th
birthing stage, they have
loft y ambitions for their selffwatering, self-maintaining
vertical garden system.
“Plans for a smaller prototype
pee
are in the pipeline,” says
second-year Medicine student
entt
Joel. “If this is successful, we
will move on to do a 12-by-12
12
panel pocket garden on one of the
hall’s walls.”
“Many students think that
hands-on innovation is only
useful to those who want to
start their own companies, but
corporations value employees
with such experience.”
ENTER THE ENTREPRENEURS
Assoc Prof Andy Khong, the man
driving the innovation garage in the
School of Electrical & Electronic
Engineering, says: “The garages
encourage creativity in students.
Many students think that handson innovation is only useful to
those who want to start their own
companies, but corporations value
employees with such experience.”
Entrepreneurship is another
attribute that is fostered in the
garages. FOMO Digital is a start-up
that owes much of its early success to
the innovation garage in the school.
Says founder Louis Liu: “We had a
winning idea – a social media photo
printer designed for events that
allows anyone to print Facebook,
Instagram, Twitter, WeChat or
Whatsapp photos instantly.”
“But we didn’t have somewhere to
work on it. We used to gather in the
TV lounges of Hall 3 or Hall 18, which
wasn’t
wasn’’t the
th
h most
mo conducive, because
people would be constantly walking in
and out. With the innovation garage,
we had a proper workspace.”
“Our professors, like Prof Yoon
Soon Fatt, Assoc Prof Lim Meng Hiot
and Assoc Prof Andy Khong, also
helped by sharing their expertise
and their business contacts with us,”
adds Louis.
To clinch a coveted space in the
innovation garages, students submit
a proposal and present it to a panel
of judges. If their idea is judged to
have potential, they will get to use the
resources in the garages, and also get
funding for their projects.
NTU alumnus Sunny Sharma is
convinced the innovation garages
will become thriving hubs for
ground-breaking innovation. One of
the first to use the one at his school,
he created a device for diabetic
patients who are afraid of needles to
monitor their blood glucose levels
without pricking themselves.
“The garage will always have a
soft spot in my heart,” he says. “The
funding enabled me to develop a
prototype for preclinical studies.
Usually, it is extremely difficult to
get funding, especially for something
that involves hardware and medical
technologies.”
His device is now being prepped
for clinical trials. Sunny hopes
it will be able to hit the market soon,
so it can benefit diabetic patients like
his father.
25
Feature
LIVES OF
EVERYDAY
SUPERHEROES
Meet three students who
have battled illnesses with
determination and perseverance
to come out stronger than ever
before. Here are the inspiring
stories of Clement, Asher and Joan
by Chrystal Chan and Derek Rodriguez
ARISE AQUAMAN
With his chiselled form,
national athlete Clement Lim
looks like any other champion
swimmer. But what not many
people know is that he has
Ankylosing Spondylitis, an
autoimmune disorder that
affects the spine. A form of
rheumatoid arthritis, it was the
heart-breaking diagnosis that
sports-loving Clement had to
grapple with in his second year
in the army back in 2013.
“I was crushed at first, but
after finding out that Jay Chou
26
also has it, and seeing how
he managed to excel in his
career despite that, I knew I
could still do what I love,” he
says. The former Singapore
Sports School student keeps his
condition under control with
daily medication, but the pain
is never completely gone.
His lowest point came in
April 2014, when the pain got
so bad he simply couldn’t get
out of bed. He only managed to
leave his bed two days later.
“I was extremely worried as
I had to be in Glasgow for the
Commonwealth Games in July,”
he explains.
Although not deterred,
he decided not to risk it
and committed himself to
recovering fully before training
again. Amazingly, at the
Commonwealth Games, he
set a new personal best in the
50m freestyle event.
Despite his multiple injuries
– he also had surgery for both
shoulders in 2012 – Clement
pushed himself to the limit
before the Southeast Asian
Games last year, training even
COMEBACK KID
It started with a feeling of weakness
in his limbs, the kind attributable
to a slight fever. Then one day, his
condition deteriorated rapidly and
he started to have trouble walking
and moving around. Asher Mau
had Guillain-Barré Syndrome.
“Focus on the future
and on what you
can do. Make peace
with things that
you cannot change.”
while on painkillers. It all paid
off in the end. He clinched the
gold medal in the 4x100 medley
relay along with his teammates,
a first for Singapore’s national
team since 1991.
Currently on a hiatus from
training, Clement plans to let
his body rest so that he can be
in top form when he plunges
headlong into swimming again.
“With passion and a lot of
hard work, I believe you can
achieve anything you set your
mind to,” he says.
H E Y ! JA N– F E B 2 0 16
The first-year mathematics major
recalls the shock of his diagnosis:
“It didn’t hit me immediately. I felt
numb, both figuratively and literally.
When I heard the name of my
condition, my first instinct was to
find out all I could about it.”
Before the disorder took over his
life, Asher was a regular student
studying at Anglo-Chinese Junior
College, scoring Bs and Cs for his
subjects. Incredibly, after recovering
enough to resume his studies, he
obtained seven As in his A-levels.
“I simply had more time to focus
on my studies,” he says matter-offactly. “Since I couldn’t do physical
activities, I devoted my time to
mental pursuits.”
He began poring over
mathematics problems, one of his
childhood joys. “I randomly solve
questions, make questions, and
teach people about mathematics,”
he elaborates.
His fascination with cerebral
challenges has fuelled his hobby of
collecting twisty puzzles, the most
famous of which is the Rubik’s
Cube. Not content with just solving
them, he even forms short words
or designs on the sides of the mega
11x11x11 cube.
Mathematics also crept into
Asher’s academic life. With his good
grades, he was accepted into the CN
Yang Scholars Programme for highachievers and he will also be doing
a mathematics-related project under
the programme’s Undergraduate
Research Experience this semester.
Ever optimistic, Asher has a
word of advice for those who have
suffered setbacks in their lives.
“Focus on the future and on what
you can do. Make peace with
things that you cannot change.
If you need help, ask for it. More
people will be there for you than
you think.”
27
JOAN THE FIGHTER
28
“One of the most
important things I learnt
growing up is to have
patience to solve problems
as my parents were
not able to teach me
certain things.”
Joan plays goalball with a blindfold, used to
ensure players compete on an equal footing.
She can read and write her name with the help
of technology. For example, she uses assistive
devices like an electronic magnifier to read
words or a monocular to magnify things like
menus, bus numbers or road signs.
“I get extra time during exams, and thanks
to the NTU Special Education Needs fund, I
managed to get assistive devices like a portable
CCTV magnifier and magnification soft ware for
my laptop,” she says with a smile.
PHOTOS OF CLEMENT AND JOAN: NURIA LING / PHOTOS OF ASHER: AMIN SHAH
Meet Joan Hung. National athlete. First-year
mathematics major. Exuberant, cheerful and smiley.
Born to visually-impaired parents and
partially blind herself, Joan’s life story is nothing
short of amazing. At a tender age, she was taught
by her parents to take care of herself, but that
also meant facing many challenges on her own.
“One of the most important things I learnt
growing up is to have patience to solve
problems as my parents were not able to teach
me certain things,” she says. “I had to figure
them out on my own, which meant trying
again and again.”
But her disability has not stopped her from
excelling in life. She is a member of the fi rstever goalball team that Singapore sent to the 8th
ASEAN Para Games last year. Even though the
team did not walk away victorious, the chance
to represent Singapore and be a part of a team
sport has left an indelible mark on her.
“I am really proud that I could represent
Singapore, and it means a lot to me that I can
play a sport competitively, as I’ve always loved
sports but never joined any group sports,” she
says. “Playing goalball has taught me to be more
focused. You have to be disciplined to master
and cultivate a skill. I also learnt how to be
mentally tough.”
Hot Shots
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Turn the page to the next chapter in your life. See what’s in store with
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FIND YOUR NICHE
Lean back, relax and
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H E Y ! JA N– F E B 2 0 16
29
Unplugged
A word with
Joanne Peh
PHOTO: SHIN MIN DAILY © SINGAPORE PRESS HOLDINGS LIMITED.
REPRODUCED WITH PERMISSION
JOANNE PEH’S INSTAGRAM
FEED
Star alumnus, actress, new mum, fashion icon and now Nanyang Alumni
Achievement Award winner… Life is good for Joanne Peh. Ang Hui Min waylays
the 2006 communication graduate for quick thoughts on her successes
PHOTO: 8 DAYS
We asked her to
draw something
that described her
feelings at that
very moment. She
said she cheated
because she added
words. We’ll forgive
you, Joanne, if you
visit your alma
mater again.
30
““I don’t chase awards – they are a bonus,” the
eeffectively bilingual actress told HEY!. She also won
NTU’s
N Nanyang Outstanding Young Alumni Award in
2006,
and a string of top awards over the years for
2
her
h acting chops, including two Best Actress wins.
In one word, describe:
Motherhood
Giving birth
Your marriage
ge
Your baby
Your husband’s looks
Your sense of fashion
Your career as an actress
Life as a student at the Wee Kim Wee
Wee
e School
Sch
of Communication & Information
Winning the Nanyang Alumni Achievement
Award today
If you could bring your husband on a romantic
date on the NTU campus, where would you go?
STAR POWER AT
NANYANG ALUMNI
AWARDS
Apart from Joanne, there were
other familiar faces at the annual
NTU Alumni Night, held to honour
outstanding alumni. Mr Teo Ser
Luck, Minister of State, Ministry
of Manpower, who received the
Nanyang Distinguished Alumni
Award, was seen taking wefies
with Joanne and well-wishing
students. Also spotted: national
sailor Jovina Choo, who bagged
the Nanyang Outstanding Young
Alumni Award. In celebration
of Singapore’s Golden Jubilee,
this year’s event also honoured
more than 120 NTU pioneers in
education, who received special
medallions from the guestof-honour, Mr Chan Chun Sing,
Minister in the Prime Minister’s
Office. The night ended on a high
note with two lovely songs from
regional pop star Stefanie Sun, last
year’s recipient of the Nanyang
Distinguished Alumni Award.
Tell us about your
favourite spot on campus.
y
If you weren’t an actress, what would
oul
uld
d you
you be?
b ?
be
H E Y ! JA N– F E B 2 0 16
31
Feature
Bank on his heart
They say failure is the mother of success.
Leading hedge fund investor Tan
Chin Hwee discovered this two decades
ago when a poor investment move as an
accountancy undergraduate left him on the
brink of bankruptcy.
He had taken a student loan from a bank
to trade options without fully understanding
how the Black-Scholes model of financial
theory worked.
Th is, however, turned out to be a blessing
in disguise.
“If I hadn’t gone bankrupt, I probably
wouldn’t have landed my fi rst job!”
It was 1995. Keppel Corporation’s
then-Chief Financial Officer Teo Soon Hoe
heard about his fiscal misadventure, but
felt the fi re in his belly and offered him
his fi rst job as a treasury analyst when
he graduated.
Looking around his plush Robinson
Road office today, it is clear that the
Adjunct Associate Professor at NTU and
the youngest member on its Board of
Trustees is a go-getter. Yet, the MRT is still
his main mode of transport, and talking
to him, there’s little sign of a life of luxe
living although he became a millionaire in
his early 30s.
32
PHOTO: AMIN SHAH
Top financier and NTU alumnus Tan Chin Hwee, who is in his 40s, has enough to retire.
But all the NTU Board member wants to do is pay it forward,
as Tan Yo-Hinn finds out
He has the stripes to prove his worth in the
corporate world, such as being voted by The Hedge
Fund Journal as one of the top 40 emerging absolute
return investors globally, and being named Best
Asia Credit Hedge Fund Manager by Hong Kongbased publication The Asset. He has also been
named a World Economic Forum Young Global
Leader and a World Cities Summit Young Leader.
Apollo Global Management, the alternative
investment house he built up in Asia as a founding
partner, manages more than US$185 billion in
global assets. Having closed his 100th big money
deal last year, he can comfortably retire.
When asked for money-growing tips, all this
investment guru would say is “save”.
He doesn’t think any student should take the
kind of calculated risks he took in school. If you
have $5,000 in the bank, save most of it and invest
in yourself, he advises.
“You might need it for a
rainy day or medical and
other emergency expenses.
But it won’t hurt to spend on
self-improvement courses that
widen your perspective,” he
adds. “You won’t regret it.”
His eyes light up when the
topic turns to his long-time
passion – social work and
giving back to society.
“My philosophy is – I won’t hand you the
fish. Instead, I will teach you how to fish. I don’t
believe in handouts.”
Growing up in a one-room Toa Payoh flat as
the eldest of three children of former Nanyang
Siang Pau journalist Tan Chio Lin and his
homemaker wife, Adj Assoc Prof Tan worked
hard to make his own future, winning
scholarships to Hwa Chong Junior College,
NTU and Yale University.
Blessed with the same work ethic, his siblings
are equally accomplished – younger brother
Philip is a Young Artist Award recipient and the
creative mind behind acts like the opening of
Gardens by the Bay and the closing ceremony of
the 2013 Southeast Asian Games in Myanmar,
while sister Kai Syng is an award-winning
multidisciplinary artist, curator and consultant.
He reflects: “My siblings and I received a lot
of help to get to where we are and we remember
these opportunities we have been given. I was
also lucky to have made the right decisions at key
moments in my life, and to have the discipline to
work hard for what I wanted.”
With gratitude
comes grace and
humility, and Adj
Assoc Prof Tan is
a firm believer in
paying it forward
so that others with
a less-privileged
start like him can
rise above their
circumstances.
His do-gooder
influence has rubbed off on his wife, Michelle, and
their three children aged 11, 6 and 5, who, like him,
help out at welfare organisations such as Willing
Hearts. Even the 20 members of his extended family
pitch in at these big-hearted family outings.
“I also encourage my staff to spend at least 20
percent of their work time
outside of the office, because
the skills they pick up away
from their desks are exactly
what voluntary welfare
organisations need, like the
ability to solve problems on
the fly and speak coherently
and convincingly,” he adds.
A long-time board member
of the Youth Volunteer Corps,
he enjoys mentoring NTU
students and his firm has groomed about 30 NTU
interns over the last nine years.
His alma mater remains close to his heart for
another reason – it is where he met Michelle.
Recalling his varsity days, he says learning
how to lead was one of the best takeaways that
has served him well throughout his career as an
investment honcho.
“I was heading the Mensa and Photo-Videographic
Society student clubs, which had about 700
members altogether, and I had to motivate them
despite having nothing to offer,” he says.
As much as he believes in the value of social and
community work, he acknowledges that the spark
that lights the fire can only come from within.
“Even if you grow up in conditions like mine,
it doesn’t mean you’ll turn out like me, because
everyone’s life experiences are different.”
But it’s a fire he hopes to see in more NTU
students, because he would like them to experience
the joy that helping others can bring.
“But don’t take it from me. Hear about it from your
friends who are already doing it. It isn’t happiness that
makes us grateful. It’s gratefulness that makes us happy.”
“If I hadn’t gone
bankrupt, I probably
wouldn’t have landed
my first job!”
H E Y ! JA N– F E B 2 0 16
33
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Dive into Lost Ocean, a
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To be one of 10 winners of this
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Just press play
You’ve read the story, now catch the “movie”!
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34
Print. Online. Tablet. Mobile. TV.
Thinking Aloud
Mind
matters
Which useless
subject should
I study?
by Zach Chia
Zach Chia, 26, is
an NTU biological
sciences graduate
pursuing the
NTU-Karolinska
Institutet Joint PhD
programme. When
he is not working
on his thesis in
neuroscience, he
takes photographs
and blogs.
H E Y ! JA N– F E B 2 0 16
A motorcade pulled up ahead
of me. A small flag fluttered at
the bonnet. It was a German
flag on a black Mercedes.
Before I reached the
Nanyang Auditorium, another
car purred by, this one bearing
a Chilean flag.
Th is was The Future of
Learning event, where five
Nobel laureates spoke.
The cavernous Nanyang
Auditorium opened up to
welcome the international
crowd that had flocked to
NTU. On the Nobel website,
a live stream was set up for
participants from all over
the world.
The conference was a
buffet of intellectual food.
We were fi rst treated to a
mini-talk by Nobel laureate
Sir Harold Kroto on creating
an environment where your
childhood curiosities can be
played out. This was followed
by a panel discussion on what
and how we should learn.
A good panel makes you
think, and this one certainly
did. The question in my mind
at the end of the discussion
was a timeless one: Is the
education of tomorrow about
preparing “market-ready”
workers, or about “learning
for the love of learning”? Can
we fi nd that sweet spot in our
educational programmes that
allow for both?
“Education creates
inequality” – that was the
powerful line mouthed
in a soft voice by another
laureate, Scottish economist
Sir James Mirrlees, that
provided the segue into the
second segment. Sir Mirrlees’s
argument was that people
learn at different rates and get
segregated to suit their own
learning speeds, which creates
inequality of outcomes.
That statement was
controversial, and the
panellists got into a
fascinating discussion on
whether a merit-based system
is compatible with equality
of opportunity. Does a child
from a high-income family
deserve the scholarship as
much as one from a lowincome family?
Literature laureate Wole
Soyinka added that while
we can openly discuss the
effects of education here
in Singapore, back in his
hometown of Nigeria,
the extremist group Boko
Haram (which literally
means “Western education
is forbidden”) has stopped
girls from learning and even
destroyed universities.
Everyone went quiet as he
went on about what was
happening there.
Sensing tension in the
crowd, he then gave some
very interesting advice to the
young people. “Learn some
useless subjects!” It was what
helped him pass time as a
political prisoner in his native
Nigeria. Useless subjects are
only useless because we don’t
think we like them or fi nd
them interesting.
The debate was so
fascinating that even though
it went an hour beyond its
allotted time, the audience
stayed glued to their seats.
Th is was the fi rst of a
weeklong series of events,
including a Nobel exhibition
at the ArtScience Museum
and talks by the laureates.
What a great way to begin the
inaugural Nobel Prize Series.
And doubly so that it kicked
off at NTU.
It left me with lots of food
for thought, such as which
useless subject I should study.
35
Aside from museum
brochures, I keep
maps and city
guides that I use
whenever I travel
It was fun to collect snail
mail at Clarkson University’s
centralised post office
I like visiting art museums.
This is from the Metropolitan
Museum of Art in New York City
On Free Comic Book
Day, we went on
a road trip around
Upstate New York,
visiting many comic
book stores. We slept
outdoors in tents and
on dorm floors!
This bookmaking and sewing
kit came in handy during
graphic design print projects
It got as cold as -30˚C in
New York, so this scarf
came in very handy
Le Petit Prince is a
book that I never
tire of and it has
sentimental value
to me. I read this
French version with a
dictionary by my side
I do paintings as
birthday gifts for friends
A nice memento –
Clarkson University’s
reversible practice jersey
I paint with this
Van Gogh watercolour
set, which has colours
that are easy to mix
The Canon EOS 600D I use
to make my films and take
photographs
What’s in her
luggage?
My Space
Living in a refreshingly new environment is the
highlight of an undergraduate’s overseas exchange.
But Sharlene Lee went further with Face Value, a twominute short that won her the Student Film Award
at the St Lawrence International Film Festival in
October last year.
Clarkson University in New York was so proud of
this exchange student from NTU that they sent out a
news release proclaiming the good news. Sharlene’s
entry about a long-distance relationship won her
high praise from the organisers. “Face Value is a great
example of experimental filmmaking of the highest
order,” said Mr Adam Paul, the founder of the film
festival, which showcases films from northern New
York up to states in Canada.
What makes Sharlene’s victory sweeter is that she
filmed it during her spring break at Clarkson University,
when she was travelling around the United States.
36
Her five-month overseas exchange last year has
opened her eyes to many new experiences, like winter
sports. “I tried skiing and snowboarding, which was
quite nerve-racking. I was aching for days after that,”
she says. “The number of ice hockey tournaments we
attended was amazing, and we also went ice-skating
two to three times a week since the rink was free for
students during certain hours.”
Aside from filming, the final-year visual
communication student enjoys graphic design and
has injected her creativity into posters, newsletters
and app interfaces at Active Living for the Elderly, a
research centre at NTU that helps the silver generation
cope better in their twilight years.
On her plans after graduation, the 24-year-old
says: “If I am not doing films and graphic design, I’ll
probably be working on a company’s branding and
visual identity.” – Chrystal Chan
H E Y ! JA N– F E B 2 0 16
PHOTOS: NURIA LING
Film Xchange
H E Y ! M AY– J U N 2 0 14
37
Started his
last year
in school,
by making his
first career move.
At NTU, you can kick-start your career even before you
graduate. Accountancy and Business undergraduate
Alex Ng took part in various overseas case competitions,
and gained invaluable work experience from multiple
internships. His growth helped him secure a permanent
position at The Boston Consulting Group, even before
his final year exams. Visit ntu.edu.sg/admissions
and find out how you can start the future, even before
you graduate.
START YOUR FUTURE
Alex Ng
University Scholars Programme (USP)
Overseas research projects for all USP freshmen
Spend one fully funded semester at a top American university
Broad liberal arts curriculum to complement majors and specialisations
NTU – IN THE TOP 13 OF THE GLOBAL UNIVERSITY LEAGUE