EVENTS & OTHER HAPPENINGS
The Department of the Built Environment hosts delegation from Tsinghua University and buildingSMART China
The Department of the Built Environment hosted a delegation from Tsinghua University and buildingSMART China on 20 March 2025 for a discussion on Building Information Modelling (BIM) and automated code compliance checking technologies.
The delegation comprised Dr Gao Ge, Prof Gu Ming, Dr Du Xinyi, and Mr Wei Lai, Secretary General of buildingSMART China. We look forward to future opportunities for meaningful collaboration with Tsinghua University and buildingSMART China.
CNA documentary "Growing Wild" features students from the Department of Architecture
Students from our Bachelor and Master of Landscape Architecture programmes were featured in the Channel NewsAsia documentary series, "Growing Wild." The series addresses critical issues of food security and sustainability, highlighting innovative solutions for a sustainable future.
Our talented students were involved in the design and development of a floating farm system. Their work, showcased within our MLA1/BLA4 option studio themed "Long Island Singapore," was featured in the first episode. The project is supervised by Dr Terrence Tan Chun Liang.
In addition to their work, several of our students had the opportunity to travel internationally, learning about farming techniques in countries such as Portugal, Japan, and Malaysia. Nicole Ler (Architecture, '24) and Anderson Wong (Architecture, '24) travelled to Semporna, Malaysia to learn more about the floating farms and meet the community there. Nicole also had the opportunity to travel to the Saga prefecture in Japan to learn about their aquaculture and oyster rearing.
Weiyi Jiang, who travelled to Lisbon and Aveiro to learn more about saline crops and halophytes, shared her key takeaways from the visit. She is currently doing her Master's in Landscape Architecture here at CDE.
"(The) most important learning point is that every species has its most suitable environment and ecosystem so I think it is important to conduct detailed research about the site, " said Weiyi. "From there, I can choose what kind of plants are suitable to grow and what can be successfully grown."
Catch the episode on Channel News Asia and watch our students as they contribute to sustainable solutions for our planet here.
Environmental and Sustainability Engineering lab tour for pre-university students
Recently, 36 prospective students from various pre-university institutions visited three laboratories in the Environmental and Sustainability Engineering (ESE) programme.
During the tour, the students interacted closely with professors and researchers, who shared their research projects and highlighted the research opportunities available within the programme. The tour provided valuable learning experiences, demonstrating how these projects can lead to real-world impact. Students gained a deeper understanding of the work done by ESE students and the facilities and resources available at CDE.
“I have a strong passion for innovation and hope that I can also create something new that is useful and positively impacts the world,” said Jaeden Seah Min-U, a prospective student.
Another prospective student, Sun Zhouran, appreciated the “interesting practical aspects of the course, like the lab work and water analysis at Botanic Gardens,” which sparked her interest in making positive changes in Singapore and potentially other countries.
Laboratories featured in the photos:
- Prof He Jianzhong's lab uses novel microorganisms to support sustainable development. Her team aims to clean the planet and protect human health with new environmental microbiological technologies.
- Assoc Prof Olivier Lefebvre and his team are addressing pollution to enhance environmental sustainability.
- Prof Hu Jiangyong and her team focus on advancing water science for a sustainable future by creating sustainable methods to purify and protect our vital water resources.
Environmental and Sustainability Engineering Symposium 2025
“There are a lot of opportunities in the sustainability sector, and the industry is waiting for you.” This was the advice from Mr Matthias Ong, co-founder of The Sustainability Service, as he addressed final-year students and invited guests at the Environmental and Sustainability Engineering (ESE) Symposium 2025.
Held on 9 April 2025 by the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Centre for Water Research, the annual symposium is a platform for final-year BEng Environmental and Sustainability Engineering students to share their capstone projects with faculty, fellow students, researchers, alumni and industry members, covering topics in Emerging Pollutants, Sustainable Cities, Waste and Resource Circularity, and Advanced Process and Treatment.
Mr Ong was one of five presenters from the sustainability sector who were invited to speak at the symposium, covering topics ranging from starting a career in sustainability, to advances in water and waste management.
Amongst the projects on display was Rockson Liu’s final year project, which studied the fate and transport of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), an emerging pollutant in Singapore’s waterways. Rockson was inspired to pursue this topic following his stint with UROP, where he worked with Prof Karina Gin’s team to study emerging pollutants.
For more information on the ESE Symposium 2025, read the full article here.
ISEM students present innovative solutions to address industry challenges
“Nothing is impossible if you are willing to share and develop new technology to help the community,” said Ms Nguk Lan Pang, Director of Special Projects at the CMB Office of KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH), during the Systems Design Project (SDP) Industry Showcase and Poster Exhibition on 11 April 2025. Ms Pang was one of the industry partners of this year’s event.
Working over nine months, students forming a total of 21 teams presented practical solutions to real industry problems. Supported by industry partners such as KKH, Micron Technology, and SingHealth, the exhibition provided a platform to showcase our students' capabilities in addressing real-world challenges.
Tai Chen Jie, a Year 4 Industrial and Systems Engineering student, shared, “The industry advisors provided us with transparency and trust, guiding us in navigating complex healthcare workflows and understanding operational constraints.” His team collaborated with KKH to optimise resource allocation, streamline patient flow, and improve efficiency in the KKH Delivery Suite. They aimed to reduce waiting times, alleviate overcrowding, and enhance patient care by developing a digital twin using historical data.
Other solutions showcased included a user-friendly web application that integrates tool commissioning and provides a summary of Bill of Materials (BOM) changes to improve budget-related business activities for Micron Technology, an optimisation model to identify the most efficient delivery routes for Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs), enhancing order fulfilment and increase efficiency in Micron's warehouse operations, as well as a system model tool for decision-makers at SingHealth to forecast future hospital capacity needs.
For more information on the ISEM SDP Industry Showcase and Poster Exhibition 2025, read the full article here.
Insights from Espressif's entrepreneurial journey
“Timing is important, and there are a lot of opportunities in life. If you can turn problems to your advantage, you may find ways to make the timing work in your favour,” shared Mr Teo Swee Ann, CEO and Chairman of Espressif Systems, at the Unlocking Innovation & Entrepreneurship with Espressif’s Visionary Leader talk held on 16 April 2025 at CDE’s LT7A.
Organised by the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and IEEE Computer Society Singapore Section, the talk attracted over 300 students and guests.
Mr Teo is the founder and CEO of Espressif Systems, a Shanghai-listed semiconductor firm known for its widely adopted ESP8266 and ESP32 microcontrollers. He and his team develop cutting-edge Wi-Fi and Bluetooth solutions, focusing on low-power Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT) technologies. As advocates of open source, they also provide software to foster the advancement of AIoT technology.
He shared his experience as an entrepreneur and explained how he used humourous facts in designing recruitment posters to attract team members who appreciate humour, can think out of the box, and are willing to take risks.
He added, “Even at 49 years old, I make it a habit to read technical papers to stay updated on trends to be the first to build something new. I am not worried about competitors copying my work. It shows that they lack engineers who can think.”
Siddhi Ganapathy Prakash, a Year 2 Electrical Engineering student, reflected after hearing Mr Teo’s speech, “It was very inspiring to hear from Mr Teo, who is also an alumnus of NUS, to share about his experience on entrepreneurship. When we undertake larger-scale projects or consider expanding them to a start-up, we often have many questions and uncertainties. He addressed these concerns in detail, and it was great to hear his honest insights.”
ECE Project Showcase 2025
“It was heartening to see such a vibrant display of innovation — from foundational course projects to advanced Capstone and MSc research — all brought to life with such passion and clarity,” said Professor Biplab Sikdar, Head of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the ECE Project Showcase. “This event truly reflects the spirit of our department, where hands-on learning and real-world relevance go hand in hand.”
This inaugural event, held at the EA Atrium on 16 April 2025, celebrated the creativity of ECE students by showcasing over 50 innovative projects nominated by students and faculty.
From Final Year Projects and course-related projects to award-winning external competition entries, students presented and demonstrated their work to peers, faculty and industry professionals. Industry representatives from Dyson, Silicon Labs and ST Engineering judged the projects based on project execution, technical clarity, overall project achievement, and presentation quality.
Here are the winning projects:
Capstone Poster Competition
Fabrication and Characterisation of Magnonic Crystals for Spin Wave Manipulation by Lee Han Wei, Year 4 Electrical Engineering
Supervised by Assoc Prof Vivian Ng
BEng EE & CEG Course Projects
CG3207: Implementation and Evaluation of a Pipelined RISC-V Soft-Core Processor with Multi-Issue Processing / Branch Prediction by
Tan Hsien Rong and Ellia Tio Shu Yi, Year 4 Electrical Engineering
Ou Ningxiang, Year 3 Computer Engineering
Supervised by Dr Rajesh Panicker
MSc Projects
Analysis of Memory-Runtime Trade-offs in Caching Strategies for Genetic Programming Symbolic Regression by Shi Jiaming, Year 1 MSc Electrical Engineering
Supervised by Assoc Prof Mehul Motani
Learn more about the projects here.
EDIC Project Showcase 2025
From solutions in healthcare to creating more comfortable seats for low-cost airline carriers and even projects dealing with space exploration, innovation from CDE students was on full display as part of the EDIC Project Showcase 2025.
Held on 16 April 2025, the showcase celebrates the completion of year-long projects by Year 4 students in the NUS Innovation and Design Programme (iDP) and students in the Master of Science in Engineering Design and Innovation (MSc EDI) programme.
NUS President Professor Tan Eng Chye joined us at the showcase and heard from students who presented their project posters and prototypes. "An absolute delight to join my colleagues and students from CDE at this year’s EDIC Project Showcase. Together, we celebrated the achievements and talents of our final year undergraduates from the Innovation and Design Programme, and students in the Master of Science in Engineering Design and Innovation programme. I enjoyed learning more about the ideas and influences behind their year-long project work. Glad that they are developing innovative solutions to address the pressing issues facing the wider communities. You are our future innovator-leaders. Go forth and seek collaboration with your peers and others. You will impact the lives of future generations in Singapore, across the region, and beyond!" said Prof Tan.
The full breadth of CDE’s innovation expertise was on show with over 40 projects being exhibited. Some of these projects include:
- The Mushroom Things: This project uses mycelium technology to reduce the amount of unrecycled biological waste incinerated in Singapore, creating mycelium furniture. The incinerated waste often releases harmful pollutants and carbon dioxide into the environment. (by Jasmine Xie and Pak Hong Chan)
- Re-designing economy class seats for low-cost carriers: The project redesigned economy class seats on low-cost carriers (LCCs) to eliminate discomfort factors, improve passenger experience and introduce a new competitive factor for comfort. (by Kiruba Sankar and Ramie Lim)
- Growth optimisation of cyanobacteria: This project studied how different lighting conditions affect the growth and carbon capture capabilities of cyanobacteria. These microscopic organisms can absorb carbon dioxide and produce sustainable biomaterials. (by Aaryana Pradhan, Pahaul Ahluwalia and Naadiah Ibrahim)
- EyeWonder: This tool was developed to improve the contact lens usage process for children by reducing the anxiety associated with lens usage and removal. (by Lakshmi S.)
- EasyConvo: Developed as part of CDE4301A (Ideas to Start-Up), EasyConvo was designed to bridge the gap in conversational practice by enabling educators to create scenario-based exercises in a no-code, low-prompt environment. (by A.Guhanavel S/O Ashok Kumar, Kedrian Loh and How Yong Yang)
- SmoScope: This project aims to enhance firefighter visibility and rescue efficiency by integrating thermal imaging with an intelligent smoke-elimination algorithm in an AR goggle mask.
To learn more about the projects, click here and read more about the event here.
HIGHLIGHTS
UPCOMING AND ONGOING EVENTS!
