STUDENT ACHIEVEMENTS & STUDENT LIFE
CDE students clinch 12 awards at NUS Achievement Awards 2026
“What happens beyond the classroom is not separate from education. It is where you apply what you know, take responsibility for others and turn your capabilities into meaningful contributions,” said Professor Aaron Thean, Deputy President (Academic Affairs) and NUS Provost, who was the Guest-of-Honour at the NUS Achievement Awards (NAA) 2026 on 25 October.
At this year’s NAA, themed “Step Up, Stand Out,” CDE students were recognised for their outstanding contributions beyond academics, receiving one Distinction, two Merit and nine Commendation Awards!
Organised by the NUS Office of Student Affairs, NAA is NUS’ only institution-wide award celebrating achievements in student life beyond academics, including competitions, sports, arts, community service and student leadership.
Among the award recipients was Team BumbleBee, which received a Distinction Award in the Competitions category for its achievements at RoboSub 2025. Leong Deng Jun (Computer Engineering, Class of 2026), who led Team BumbleBee in 2025, shared that the highlight of the competition that year was deploying and operating two underwater vehicles together, ensuring that they worked in tandem without colliding or interfering with each other. Despite everyone in the team juggling multiple tasks against tight deadlines, the team pulled together seamlessly and was crowned champion – a recognition that this was never an individual accomplishment, but rather a wider team effort. Team BumbleBee will next compete at the Maritime RobotX Challenge 2026 from 8 to 14 November, testing its capabilities across maritime surface, subsurface and aerial technologies.
Other CDE students and teams were also recognised for their achievements in sports, competitions and student leadership.
Merit Awards
- Nicky Melvin Singh (Industrial Systems Engineering and Management): Sportsman of the Year, a professional footballer playing for FC Jurong
- Cayden Thong Kit Hoi (Mechanical Engineering): Sports Team of the Year – NUS Varsity Football
Commendation Awards
- Danish Haziq (Electrical Engineering) – Arts Group of the Year, NUS Arts Production Crew
- Shiu Jerome Millian (Architecture) – Competitions
- Arnav Salkade (Computer Engineering) – Competitions
- Sun Yu (Architecture) – Competitions
- Dina Ardieana Putri Romzi (Architecture) – Competitions
- Ling Xing Tze (Built Environment) – Leadership, President, CDE Club
- Abirami Baskaran (Electrical Engineering) – Leadership, President, ECE Student Council
- Wang Boyu (Electrical Engineering) – Leadership, President, NUS Chinese Society
- Brien Lim Chong (Computer Engineering) – Sportsman of the Year, NUS Swimming
Stay tuned to CDE’s social media channels as we share more about the award recipients, their achievements and experiences!
Nicolette Wong wins Singapore James Dyson Award 2026 for innovative breastmilk feeding system
Nicolette Wong Su-Ann (Industrial Design ’26) has been named the Singapore National Winner of the James Dyson Award 2026 for mömigo — a feeding system born from a simple question: how could bottle feeding breastmilk on the go be made easier and more seamless for parents?
Developed for her undergraduate thesis, mömigo emerged from observing her sister navigate early motherhood. She saw how breastfeeding extended beyond feeding itself, involving a cycle of pumping, storing, warming, transferring, washing and planning. Conversations with lactation consultants and parents showed how feeding on the go compounded these challenges.
In response, Nicolette reimagined these fragmented steps into one continuous experience centred on a reusable silicone bag that lets breastmilk be stored, warmed and fed from the same container.
Designing one container for multiple functions meant balancing compact storage with structure for warming and feeding. Instead of optimising each stage separately, Nicolette evaluated every iteration by how well it connected the entire feeding journey.
For thesis supervisor Assoc Prof Christophe Gaubert, mömigo reflects Nicolette’s ambition to use design “to meaningfully improve people’s lives”. “By broadening her view to encompass the full context of breastfeeding, Nicolette arrived at a powerful conviction: get to the essentials, simplify, and use that simplification to redefine an object once thought immutable, the baby bottle.”
On the recognition, Nicolette shared, “mömigo grew from listening closely to mothers and understanding the small, everyday challenges they face. Through this project, I have seen how much opportunity there is for design to respond to experiences that can easily be overlooked, and I am grateful that the James Dyson Award has given mömigo a platform to share that perspective more widely.”
The national title earned Nicolette S$8,620 to further develop mömigo before competing in November’s international round for the S$51,700 grand prize. Looking ahead, Nicolette welcomes opportunities to bring her design to real-world use.
CDE students’ jellyfish-inspired robot wins national runner-up at 2026 James Dyson Award
Observing coral reefs up close can risk disturbing the very ecosystems researchers seek to understand. Seeking a gentler alternative, Electrical Engineering students Navin Sivakumaran, Afham Shahril, Darrel Yu and Wallace Wee developed JellyBot, a jellyfish-inspired underwater robot named national runner-up for the 2026 James Dyson Award.
Developed as their final-year Innovation & Design project, JellyBot is designed as a quieter, less invasive way to monitor reefs than using divers and conventional remotely operated vehicles (ROVs). Inspired by the pulsatile motion of jellyfish, its pneumatic system pumps air into chambers within its soft silicone tentacles, causing them to contract and return to their original shape when the air is released, thereby generating thrust without propellers.
The team also integrated sensing, onboard control, and visual observation capabilities, turning the biomimetic propulsion concept into a practical monitoring platform.
The team was co-supervised by Assoc Prof Lim Li Hong Idris (Engineering Design and Innovation Centre) and industry mentor Dr Wang Yuzhe, Senior Scientist at the Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology, A*STAR.
Assoc Prof Lim commended the team’s approach: “The JellyBot team set out to solve a problem that demanded restraint as much as ingenuity, and their soft, jellyfish-inspired propulsion system is a thoughtful answer. This recognition reflects the rigour and care they brought to every stage of development.”
Reflecting on the accolade, the team shared, “Being recognised by the James Dyson Award is an incredible validation of the hard work and passion we poured into JellyBot. Seeing our idea resonate with the judges gives us greater confidence in the potential impact of our design.”
Next, the team hopes to test JellyBot in more realistic marine conditions, and improve its buoyancy, navigation, and endurance.
With a target cost of approximately S$1,000, compared to commercial ROVs that can cost between S$20,000 and S$60,000, JellyBot could make reef monitoring more accessible for local researchers and conservationists.
Giving expression a voice: EmotiMate wins national runner-up at the James Dyson Award
For deaf and hard-of-hearing people, expressing what they want to say can be one challenge; conveying how they want to say it can be another. Designed to support more expressive communication, EmotiMate, a project developed as part of the Engineering Design & Innovation programme, was named the national runner-up for the 2026 James Dyson Award.
Recognising that many existing communication tools help users convey words but not necessarily tone, emotion or intent, EmotiMate started as a year-long project involving Engineering Design & Innovation students Li Xincheng, Li Jialu and Zhang Jiayang.
During the project, interviews with a sign language teacher, deaf job seekers and frontline workers revealed a broader need for language-learning environments and context-aware support. These insights shaped EmotiMate into a system that turns short text into context-aware sentences and expressive speech.
Users enter a short message and select the situation and intended emotion. A camera-based facial-expression model detects emotion cues, and an AI language model combines these inputs to create a natural sentence. The message is then displayed as text and spoken aloud using text-to-speech with a matching tone.
Following feedback from over 50 testers, EmotiMate now supports long-term learning by recording chosen expressions, analysing their emotional meaning, and generating practice scenarios. Going forward, Xincheng, who submitted the project for the competition, plans to have more users try EmotiMate in everyday scenarios, using their feedback to further refine the system and understand how it can create meaningful real-world impact.
Xincheng shared that this recognition “validates the potential of inclusive design to go beyond basic accessibility and give users greater control over how they express themselves and how they are understood.” Supervisors Associate Professor Loh Ai Poh, Associate Professor Mark Philip De Lessio, and Dr Aleksandar Kostadinov have commended the project’s human-centred approach, thoughtful use of AI and how it brings engineering and design together to create meaningful value for users.
Architecture students and alumni win four awards at PlanEX 2026
Architecture graduate students and alumni received four awards at PlanEX 2026: Islands of Tomorrow, organised by the Singapore Institute of Planners and held on Sentosa on 19 September.
In the Urban Planning Award category, a Master of Urban Planning (MUP) team and a joint Master of Architecture (M.Arch)/Master of Arts in Urban Design (MAUD) team received Silver Awards for Johor's Blue City and Soolarpunk Isle, respectively. Another MUP team received a Bronze Award for The Living Industry City.
In the Urban Research Award category, a MAUD team received a Bronze Award for Optimisation of EV Charging Station Location Using a Genetic Algorithm in San Francisco.
The awards recognise the students' and alumni's achievements in urban planning, design and research.
The Comic Scoop turns the news into comics for young readers
For many children, current affairs can feel distant or difficult to understand. The Comic Scoop, founded by NUS students Samuel Lee Cong (Biomedical Engineering ’26) and Neo Yi Xin (Business Administration ’26), takes a different approach by presenting news topics through comics designed for young readers.
The platform produces current affairs comics for primary school children. Its aim is to introduce children to local and global issues in a format that is easier to follow, while encouraging reading, vocabulary development and critical thinking. The Comic Scoop currently has almost 300 active, paid subscribers, including educators who use the comics in their classrooms.
The idea emerged during the founders’ year on the NUS Overseas Colleges Silicon Valley programme, where they attended events and met people from different backgrounds.
“After going to events and meeting people from all over the world, we realised how much current affairs matter when you’re trying to connect with someone from a different background,” said Samuel. “But back home, many Singaporeans don’t have the habit of keeping up with the news. We felt this starts young — there simply isn’t enough news content that is engaging and accessible for children.”
Read more here.
Graduate Gordon Yong receives SPM Best Student Book Prize
Gordon Yong (MSc Project Management, Class of 2026) was recognised as the Best Student in NUS' Master of Science in Project Management programme, receiving the Society of Project Managers (SPM) Best Student Book Prize for his outstanding academic performance.
The award was presented by Ms Indranee Rajah, Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, Second Minister for Finance and Second Minister for National Development, at the SPM Annual Dinner 2026, held on 15 September at Shangri-La Singapore.
Nadiah Ong represents Singapore at Asian Games 2026
“Embrace the challenge, trust the process and believe in yourself!” That is Nadiah Ong Kia Hwee’s message to fellow CDE students pursuing their own sporting ambitions. An Environmental Engineering student and national women’s hockey player, Nadiah carried that same mindset onto the international stage at the 20th Asian Games Aichi–Nagoya 2026, where she was “incredibly grateful” for the opportunity to represent Singapore.
For Nadiah, competing at Asia's pinnacle sporting event was an opportunity to test herself and see how far the team had come. The Singapore women's hockey team finished 10th at the Asian Games after going up against some of the world’s highest-ranked teams, including Japan and India, who had just returned from the 2026 FIH Hockey World Cup.
“This experience has proven our potential and ability to compete with the world's best,” she shared. “We leave the Games with greater confidence and trust in ourselves.”
Pursuing sport at this level alongside her studies has not always been easy, but Nadiah believes the demands of both have shaped her along the way. “We grow to be more tenacious and disciplined with each experience,” she said.
She also credits her sporting journey to the people around her – her family and friends for their constant support and encouragement, her professors for their understanding, and her coaches and teammates for being alongside her throughout.
PhD student Wang Qiqing wins first place in IEEE Three Minute Thesis competition
PhD student Wang Qiqing, under the mentorship of Assistant Professor Yang Kaidi, won first place in the Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition organised by the IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems Society Young Professionals & Women Committee on 17 September 2026.
CPR Raja Rani makes CPR training accessible
Around 200 participants in Bengaluru, India, recently learnt the basics of hands-only CPR by building their own training dummies from cardboard, aluminium foil, a sponge and a smartphone.
The hands-on session introduced participants to CPR Raja Rani — known as CPR Heroes in Singapore — a DIY training simulator developed by Department of Design PhD student Anagha Ramesh through the Interactive Materials Lab, led by Asst Prof Clement Zheng (Design).
Held as part of Heart-A-Thon, a running event organised to promote heart health and encourage healthier lifestyles, the session aimed to make CPR education more affordable and accessible beyond formal training settings.
The dummy costs less than US$2 to produce, and uses a sponge to simulate chest compression depth and aluminium foil as a stylus. When connected to a smartphone, an interactive web app detects compressions through the phone’s capacitive touchscreen and provides feedback on their rhythm, helping learners practise the recommended rate of 100 to 120 beats per minute.
The idea first took shape during Anagha’s Master’s studies in Asst Prof Zheng’s STE*MPunk class, where students explored how conductive materials could be used to create physical-digital interfaces for science education. It later received third place in the Singapore Civil Defence Force Lifesaver Innovation Challenge.
Following Heart-A-Thon, Anagha also deployed the simulator at a local university hospital, gathering feedback to inform future iterations of the project.
For Anagha, the aim is for participants to take their handmade dummies home, continue practising and share what they have learnt with family and friends. She said, “I hope to see many more CPR Rajas and Ranis in the coming days, each one helping to take CPR awareness a little further into their own communities.”
The project reflects how design research at CDE can translate simple materials and everyday technology into accessible tools that respond to real-world needs.
NUS Bitscraps equips students with practical electronics repair skills
NUS Bitscraps, a student club focused on electronics repair, conducted a three-part training series at CDE's Linear Electronics Lab between 26 August and 9 September, equipping members with practical skills to diagnose, troubleshoot and repair electronic devices.
Open to members regardless of prior experience, the sessions introduced participants to soldering and circuit fault-finding, Arduino programming and laptop troubleshooting.
In the first session, members learnt to identify common circuit faults and practised soldering by assembling functional LED keychains. The second session introduced Arduino programming, with participants building reaction timers and learning to test and debug hardware and software. The final session focused on laptop disassembly, identifying internal components and diagnosing common hardware issues.
The training series provided members with a foundation for Bitscraps' upcoming repair sessions, where they will apply their skills to real-world electronics troubleshooting and repair.
Through hands-on learning initiatives such as these, CDE students are developing practical engineering skills while encouraging a more sustainable approach to electronic devices by extending their useful lifespan.
Team Bumblebee gears up to defend RobotX title with new autonomous fleet
Let’s wish Team Bumblebee all the best as they gear up for RobotX 2026! Fresh off their RoboSub 2026 victory, the team is returning to the biennial Maritime RobotX Challenge, where they clinched first place overall in 2024.
Taking place from 8 to 14 November at the Promontory, Marina Bay, this year’s challenge shifts from standalone tasks to coordinated missions across air, surface and underwater environments. Centred on disaster response, these missions simulate real-world maritime operations, such as restoring harbour operations and assessing underwater infrastructure.
Comprising 40 students from Electrical and Computer Engineering, Industrial Systems Engineering & Management, Mechanical Engineering, and School of Computing, Team Bumblebee has developed an autonomous fleet including surface vessel ASV 5.0, underwater vehicle AUV 5.0 and aerial drone Jellyfish 3.0.
To meet new size and weight limits, ASV 5.0 circulates seawater beneath its hull to cool its onboard computer. Upgraded with better ventilation and a gripper for handling objects, Jellyfish 3.0 will also identify safe routes and relay this information to ASV 5.0.
The team has held weekly pool tests since August, followed by tests at sea in October. Developing an entire fleet while balancing academic commitments has been no small feat.
“Building something new within a short timeframe always comes with setbacks, so our focus is not just on results, but on striving for engineering excellence and showing ideas that are uniquely ours,” shared team lead Chan Sheng Bin (Computer Engineering).
Ahead of the competition, the team received a warm send-off from Prof Teo Kie Leong, Dean of CDE, alongside Dr Yen Shih-Cheng, Director of the Engineering Design and Innovation Centre, the team’s technical advisor Graham Zhu, and other supporters. Here’s wishing Team Bumblebee every success at RobotX 2026!
Lee Wonn Kye helps Singapore secure seventh place at World University Sailing Championships
From picking up sailing at eight years old to representing Singapore on the world stage, Lee Wonn Kye (Mechanical Engineering) has spent much of his life navigating the waters of competitive sailing.
Most recently, he led Singapore’s undergraduate team to a seventh-place finish at the 2026 FISU (International University Sports Federation) World University Sailing Championships in Split, Croatia, emerging as the top Asian and non-European team among 15 competing countries. Joining him were fellow NUS student Seraphina Low (Medicine), and NTU students Annika Chui (Civil Engineering) and Dylan Ng (Sports Science & Management).
Having first competed in the championships in 2024 as part of the NUS Sailing Varsity Team, Wonn Kye returned in 2026 as part of an inter-university team. The return felt surreal for him, having gone from the youngest member of the 2024 team to the oldest member and team leader in 2026.
Competing in the Melges 20 boat class, the team worked to figure out the intricacies of an unfamiliar boat while racing against top university sailors. “We trained hard and did the best preparation we could in the lead-up, so going into the event I just wanted to trust the work we had put in,” he shared.
“I feel really proud of our team's performance as we showed resilience in continuing to adapt to the conditions, putting out our best race results on the final day of the competition.”
The championships left Wonn Kye motivated to improve, while the friendships forged with sailors from various cultures made the experience even more memorable. As he enters his final academic year, he hopes to continue competing and honing his skills.
For fellow CDE students balancing sporting ambitions alongside their studies, his advice is to make time for what matters. “I have no regrets, and these experiences have been important in shaping who I am.”