{"id":9095,"date":"2021-07-06T17:26:41","date_gmt":"2021-07-06T09:26:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cde.nus.edu.sg\/cee\/?page_id=9095"},"modified":"2022-09-27T10:56:28","modified_gmt":"2022-09-27T02:56:28","slug":"commencement-speech-2020-2021","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/cde.nus.edu.sg\/cee\/alumni\/commencement\/commencement-speech-2020-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"Commencement Speech 2020 &amp; 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<ul id=\"menu-alumni\"><li id=\"menu-item-14023\"><a href=\"https:\/\/cde.nus.edu.sg\/cee\/alumni\/commencement\/\">Commencement<\/a>\n<ul>\n\t<li id=\"menu-item-14024\"><a href=\"https:\/\/cde.nus.edu.sg\/cee\/alumni\/commencement\/commencement-speech2015\/\">Commencement Speech 2015<\/a><\/li>\n\t<li id=\"menu-item-14026\"><a href=\"https:\/\/cde.nus.edu.sg\/cee\/alumni\/commencement\/commencement-speech-2016\/\">Commencement Speech 2016<\/a><\/li>\n\t<li id=\"menu-item-14028\"><a href=\"https:\/\/cde.nus.edu.sg\/cee\/alumni\/commencement\/commencement-speech2017\/\">Commencement Speech 2017<\/a><\/li>\n\t<li id=\"menu-item-14030\"><a href=\"https:\/\/cde.nus.edu.sg\/cee\/alumni\/commencement\/speech\/\">Commencement Speech 2018<\/a><\/li>\n\t<li id=\"menu-item-14032\"><a href=\"https:\/\/cde.nus.edu.sg\/cee\/alumni\/commencement\/commencement-speech-2019\/\">Commencement Speech 2019<\/a><\/li>\n\t<li id=\"menu-item-14033\"><a href=\"https:\/\/cde.nus.edu.sg\/cee\/alumni\/commencement\/commencement-speech-2020-2021\/\">Commencement Speech 2020 &amp; 2021<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\t\n\t<h2>\n\t\tCommencement Speech 2020 &amp; 2021\n\t<\/h2>\n\t<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/cde.nus.edu.sg\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2021\/07\/Chin-Chi-Leong-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"Chin Chi Leong\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" \/><\/td>\n<td>Commencement Guest Speaker:\nMr. Chin Chi Leong<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><strong>Speech by Mr Chin Chi Leong, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION AUTHORITY at the National University of Singapore, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Commencement Cermony on 29 June 2021<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Prof Aaron Thian, Dean of Engineering, Prof Richard Liew, Head, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering,Distinguished Guests,Parents and Graduates<\/p>\n<p>I am honoured to have been invited to speak to you on this important day of your lives.\u00a0 Congratulations to all of you.\u00a0 Well done!<\/p>\n<p>Let us take a moment to acknowledge the people who have worked with you and supported you to make this possible.\u00a0 The faculty and staff who have created the conducive learning atmosphere for you to get here.\u00a0 And, also, your loved ones who have supported you through these past years.\u00a0 Do show them your appreciation.<\/p>\n<p>I would like to cover two areas in my speech, which I think would be relevant for you.\u00a0 Firstly, the Built Environment Landscape and Opportunities in the industry.\u00a0 The past year has been challenging for all.\u00a0 The construction sector was hard hit as a large proportion of the sectors&#8217; workers were unable to work, impeding progress at many sites. Even as the sector recovers, it will have to adjust to working in a new norm.\u00a0 While we will have to bite the bullet and ride through tough times, the challenges will also bring new opportunities to speed up transformation in the sector, which in turn will be opportunities for you.\u00a0 Let me elaborate in the areas of technology adoption &amp; evolving engineering landscapes.<\/p>\n<p>The BE sector has seen great strides in the use of new technology in making our work more efficient.\u00a0 It has embraced Design for Manufacturing and Assembly in the past few years, where our HDB flats and Condominiums are being assembled like Lego blocks, with many of the preparatory and finishing works done in factories.\u00a0 We are also pushing our buildings to be more environmentally sustainable, through the Green Mark recognition scheme for buildings and through more Super Low Energy buildings in Singapore.\u00a0 The sector has also embraced Building Information Modelling, a tool that helps us visualize the entire building process and plan better. These are just some of the exciting technological innovations that await you.<\/p>\n<p>In this new norm, we will need better tech tools, data and video analytics tools, that will help us better manage our manpower deployment.\u00a0 The CEE graduates that work in the sector today, therefore cannot look upon yourselves as going about our work in the traditional way. \u00a0We will have to continually look at smarter ways to improve our work.\u00a0 The graduating class is definitely a more tech savvy group as compared to my peers and me.\u00a0 Therefore, I urge you to rise to the challenge of transforming our BE sector, and change the way we build!<\/p>\n<p>Our graduates, today, will face a different engineering landscape as Singapore develops and matures.\u00a0 Singapore is already a densely built up city.\u00a0 As we continue to plan for our live, work and play areas, we will find that we will have to go higher and deeper and explore how we can make better use of our waterways.\u00a0 Even as we build more MRT lines, our tunnels are getting closer to each other.\u00a0 In addition, our engineers will also have to tackle the issues of ageing infrastructure and resilience of our buildings against climate change.\u00a0 Coastal protection has been a hot topic of late.\u00a0 And, making buildings more energy efficient alongside advancing our water sustainability will continue to be important considerations.\u00a0 To tackle all these challenges, we will need a strong engineering core and future graduates, like you, will enjoy different challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.<\/p>\n<p>Let me move on to the second area I wish to share.\u00a0 You as an engineer.\u00a0 \u00a0It is worthwhile to consider your ambitions and path in the next 5 years. I encourage all of you to develop deeper engineering knowledge in the early years of your working life.\u00a0 It would stand you in good stead, whatever path you may take in the future.\u00a0 For some, you may want to be a Professional Engineer or Specialist Professional Engineer and go deeper in your craft.\u00a0 In this regard, I would encourage you to keep your options open and do pursue the Professional Engineers Board&#8217;s FEE examinations if you have yet to do so! \u00a0This is a no regret move, even if you do branch off into other areas of work.<\/p>\n<p>As engineers, it is also important for you to keep abreast of developments in the field and continue to upgrade yourselves through the many continuing professional development courses offered by the Universities and the technical bodies, including the IES Academy and BCA Academy.\u00a0 Oftentimes, we always put this aside as we find ourselves caught up in our work, I would say to our detriment.\u00a0 I have found that my engineering colleagues who continue to hone their knowledge through learning or research projects have come up better in terms of their performance as they progress in their careers.<\/p>\n<p>Before I end, I would like to share a quote by the 31<sup>st<\/sup> President of the United States, Herbert Hoover.\u00a0 &#8220;There is the fascination of watching a figment of the imagination emerge through the aid of science to a plan on paper.\u00a0 Then it moves to the realization in stone or metal or energy.\u00a0 Then it brings jobs and homes to men.\u00a0 Then it elevates the standards of living and adds to the comforts of life.\u00a0 That is the engineer&#8217;s high privilege.&#8221;\u00a0 Your skillset as an engineer, to actualize the design of buildings and systems, is invaluable.\u00a0 It&#8217;s the engineer&#8217;s honour to bring about great positivity to society through his or her good work.\u00a0 And that is the tall order for all of you, civil and environmental graduates, sitting here today, to fill.<\/p>\n<p>And with that, I would like to once again congratulate the class of 2020 &amp; 2021 on your graduation today.<\/p>\n<p>Thank you.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Commencement Commencement Speech 2015 Commencement Speech 2016 Commencement Speech 2017 Commencement Speech 2018 Commencement Speech 2019 Commencement Speech 2020 &amp; 2021 Commencement Speech 2020 &amp; 2021 Commencement Guest Speaker: Mr. Chin Chi Leong Speech by Mr Chin Chi Leong, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION AUTHORITY at the National University of Singapore, Department of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":0,"parent":803,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-9095","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Commencement Speech 2020 &amp; 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