Dear students and colleagues

It was great to start the new semester with two events involving our CDE alums.

Alums Mr Tan Szue Hann, Head of Sustainability, Keppel Land (Architecture alum) and Mr Tan Chee Yong, Associate Director of Sustainability, Incendium Consulting (Environmental Engineering alum), joined Ms Heng Li Lang, Senior Director of Temasek Foundation, as panellists for the forum “How can we build a sustainable future?” held on 11th January. They swapped stories of how their experiences as students inspired them to embark on careers in sustainability. Even as they acknowledged the challenges they faced bringing together professionals from diverse fields towards a common goal, their passion for their chosen work was evident. Seeing alums making their mark inspired many in the audience. Davis Roy, a 4th year ME student, Co-Founder of Student Energy NUS, shared that he had “learned about the vast opportunities students have to change the world”.

On CDE Day, held on the second Wednesday of the semester (18th January), alums joined guests for the sustainability-themed carnival organised by the Student Life Office and the CDE student clubs. They also toured the award-winning SDE4 building and enthusiastically snapped photos of the exhibits of ‘CDE’s Awesome Projects’. It was heartening to see them, a few with their families, queuing for popcorn, trying their hand at the game stalls, and questioning students about their exhibits.

It is through such interactions that we strengthen our ties as a community. I hope that we all continue to reach out and make connections that matter.

Cheers!
Aaron
Dean, College of Design and Engineering

CDE GIVING

Examples of green aerogels developed by researchers from CDE from upcycled waste materials have gone on show at a public exhibition at VivoCity shopping mall. Titled “From Waste to Useful Aerogel: Upcycling for Sustainability, the exhibition showcases novel technologies for transforming everyday waste materials, such as scrap rubber tyres, metal, paper, textiles and pineapple leaves, into useful, high-value aerogels with a variety of daily and industrial applications. At the opening of the exhibition, Associate Professor Duong Hai Minh (Department of Mechanical Engineering), the lead researcher behind the development of the aerogels led a walkthrough of the exhibits for Mapletree’s CSR Board Committee and senior faculty members of NUS.https://cde.nus.edu.sg/exhibition-showcases-novel-aerogels-upcycled-from-waste/

DSC05368
Assoc Prof Duong Hai Minh (left), lead researcher behind the aerogels, introduces the exhibits to Mr Edmund Cheng (centre) Chairman of Mapletree, and Prof Tan Eng Chye (right), NUS President.