HIGHLIGHTS
ALUMNI UPDATES
Siew E Ian, inventor of Auxobrace, has been shortlisted for the JDA International Top 20!
A project by a Division of Industrial Design graduate Siew E Ian as his final year thesis clinched him the top prize as Singapore national winner of the James Dyson Award 2023. He has now made the shortlist of 20 pioneering inventions announced on 18 October 2023, meaning he will have the chance to become a global winner and receive S$48,000 to support the next stage of his invention.
Singapore’s shortlisted entry, Auxobrace, is a vest-like device for post-operative rehabilitation, which improves support for the fusion of the sternum bone after surgery. E Ian was motivated by his difficult experience recovering from open-heart surgery to create a better solution. He consulted with experts from the National University Hospital in Singapore and will be furthering his invention and exploring other forms of compressive braces.
E Ian said: “I have recently started my position as a Design Research Engineer at the NUS Centre for Additive Manufacturing and will be embarking on my postgraduate journey to advance my research in rehabilitation devices. Receiving the James Dyson Award has bolstered my confidence in pursuing this invention, and I am grateful for the acknowledgment from the Dyson engineering community.”
Read more at: James Dyson Award 2023: Auxobrace
ChBE Alumni Inaugural Fireside Chat and Networking Dinner
The NUS Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (ChBE) Alumni Committee successfully hosted its inaugural fireside chat and networking dinner on 2 October 2023. The event attracted over 70 alumni, representing a diverse range of career stages. The evening was characterised by informative insights and stimulating discussions on the theme of future-proofing careers and the significance of continuous professional development in a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) world. Alumni speakers, including Mr Wei Hung Leong, former Shell Eastern Trading President and current Adjunct Associate Professor at NTU (Class of 1993), and Betty T., Head of Innovation at AI Singapore (Class of 2012), shared their experiences and perspectives. The event was moderated by Associate Professor Saif Khan, Acting Head. The event was a testimony to the value of nurturing a community of learning and development among alumni, as well as a reminder of the importance of staying relevant and adaptable in an ever-evolving landscape.
Alumni Entrepreneurs Giving Back!
It's heartening to see how readily our alumni give back to the College in different ways. Recently, the Ideas to Startup class (EG4301A) hosted the CDE Founders Sharing event with CDE alumni startup founders, including Raimie Tang (BEng & BBA class of 2021, EDIC Accelerator 2021, CEO of Metafi), Qingyang Chang (CVE/IDP class of 2021, EDIC Accelerator 2022, CEO of ConcreteAI), and Amos Everett Heng (ME/IDP class of 2019, IDP Ideas to Startup 2019, COO of FathomX). The speakers shared insightful stories about capturing their first customer and market. Faculty and students from the Faculty of Entrepreneurship, Musashino University, Tokyo, also participated in the event and contributed to the sharing. It was great to see the students actively engaged in exchange and the expansion of the startup community in the College. The Ideas to Startup course is incubating its sixth cohort of final-year students this year. This module teaches aspiring founders how to build their market, product, and company. The course is taught by the founding lecturer, Eng Tat Khoo, and Jason Lin, both from EDIC.
ISEM Alumni Get-Together 2023
Together with the Department of Industrial Systems Engineering and Management, the ISEM Alumni Association held their Alumni Get-Together event on 28 October 2023. Alumni, fellows, students and guests joined this reunion. This year’s theme was sustainability, and it was a day of insightful sharing, presentations, and discussions from academia to industry. Everyone had the opportunity to lunch, learn, and network during this alumni gathering.