ExCEllence (ECE Project Showcase 2025), held on 16 April 2025 at the NUS EA Atrium, marked a major milestone for the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE). Designed to spotlight the ingenuity, technical proficiency, and creativity of our students, the event featured more than 40 diverse student-led projects, ranging from first-year undergraduate coursework to final-year Capstone projects and postgraduate research.
This was the first large-scale department-wide showcase dedicated solely to student projects, and the energy in the air was palpable. With student booths spread across the engineering atrium, attendees were immersed in a dynamic environment where innovation met real-world application. Projects tackled themes such as smart health monitoring, energy systems, robotics, embedded solutions, machine learning, computer architecture, and more. Many groups also demonstrated working prototypes and interactive demos, drawing enthusiastic engagement from faculty, students, alumni, and guests.
The showcase was held in conjunction with a special guest talk by Mr. Teo Swee Ann, CEO of Espressif Systems and distinguished NUS ECE alumnus. In his inspiring session titled “Building Espressif: From Startup to Global Tech Leader”, Mr. Teo shared his entrepreneurial journey, the evolution of Espressif’s technologies, and his perspectives on the future of engineering and innovation. The talk, co-organized with the IEEE Computer Society Singapore Section, drew a full house of over 300 attendees, including students, alumni, IEEE members, and members of the public.
Following the talk, Mr. Teo toured the project showcase alongside Provost Prof. Aaron Thean and ECE HoD Prof. Biplab Sikdar, engaging with students and exploring projects—many of which featured Espressif’s technology.
The event concluded with an Awards Ceremony recognizing the most outstanding projects across three competition categories: Capstone Posters, BEng EE/CEG Course Projects, and MSc Projects. The audience also had a chance to vote for their favorite projects in special themed categories.
🏆 Capstone Poster Competition
• 1st: Fabrication and Characterization of Magnonic Crystals for Spin Wave Manipulation – Lee Han Wei
• 2nd: State Estimation and Tracking of Maritime Surface Vessels using Ultra-Wideband Nodes – Marvin Pranajaya
• 3rd: Engineering Subwavelength Nanostructures via Multi-Layer Nanosphere Photolithography – Ip Wing Fai Ronald
• Merit: Green Apple: AI-Powered Fall Detection & Messaging for Seniors – Tan Yu Kai, Ishan Lokhandwal, Poh Shijie Alastair
📘 Category B – BEng EE/CEG Course Projects
• 1st: CG3207 – Implementation and Evaluation of a Pipelined RISC-V Soft-Core Processor with Multi-Issue Processing / Branch Prediction – Tan Hsien Rong, Ou Ningxiang, Ellia Tio Shu Yi
• 2nd: EE4218 – End-to-End Hardware Acceleration of a CNN on FPGA – Tan Hsien Rong, Ou Ningxiang,
🎓 Category C – MSc Projects
• 1st: Analysis of Memory-Runtime Trade-offs in Caching Strategies for Genetic Programming Symbolic Regression – Shi Jiaming
• 2nd: Exploring the Mechanistic Interpretability of Large Models Using Sparse Autoencoders – Ye Haoran
🎖️ Audience Choice Awards
• Most Inspiring Project: Development of a Smart Meter to Detect Power Quality Events (Capstone Group 17)
• Most Impactful Project: A Teleoperated Search and Rescue Robot for Lunar Exploration (CG2111A – Team B1)
• Most Sustainable Project: Wearable Health Monitoring Device (EE2028 – Team B8)
This showcase was more than just a presentation of projects — it was a celebration of what makes ECE students exceptional: their ability to apply complex engineering knowledge to solve meaningful challenges, their drive to innovate, and their willingness to engage with the broader community. The event also reaffirmed the department’s commitment to experiential, hands-on learning and industry relevance, preparing students to thrive in their future careers.
A huge thank you to all the student participants, faculty mentors, industry judges, student helpers, and event partners who made the ECE Project Showcase 2025 a success. We look forward to making this an annual tradition!
