{"id":627,"date":"2017-07-11T13:47:47","date_gmt":"2017-07-11T05:47:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cde.nus.edu.sg\/ece\/?post_type=nus-news&p=627"},"modified":"2024-07-31T16:35:17","modified_gmt":"2024-07-31T08:35:17","slug":"engineered-for-success","status":"publish","type":"nus-news","link":"https:\/\/cde.nus.edu.sg\/ece\/news\/engineered-for-success\/","title":{"rendered":"Engineered for success"},"content":{"rendered":"

Associate Professor Ho Ghim Wei<\/strong> from NUS Electrical and Computer Engineering<\/a> knows she chose a career in a male-dominated field but it has never held her back. \u201cI was once told not to waste my time in a Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) industry. That just spurred me to work harder than my male colleagues to prove my competence,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Her foray into the field began with her father, a Structural Engineer. \u201cMy dad would bring me to construction sites and talk to me about his projects. His enthusiasm for science and engineering made me love it too!\u201d said Assoc Prof Ho.<\/p>\n

After some encouragement from her supervisor Professor Andrew Wee, NUS Vice President (University and Global Relations), the gutsy scientist went on to graduate from Cambridge University in 2006 with a PhD in Electrical and Electronics Engineering, before returning to her alma mater as one of the pioneer faculty associates of the Engineering Science Programme<\/a> at NUS. \u201cBesides being a renowned institution with a good reputation for conducting groundbreaking research, NUS has always been where I belonged,\u201d she said. Beginning her academic career fresh out of completing her PhD, she had to learn how to write research proposals to secure grants, set up and manage her own research lab and team, supervise students, publish scientific papers, and give lectures and tutorials, by no means an easy feat.<\/p>\n

Somehow she managed, and today Assoc Prof Ho leads The Ho Research Group<\/a> at NUS, which aims to create novel nanostructured solar conversion devices for energy and environmental sustainability with two main research thrusts \u00a0\u2014 photocatalysis for pollutant degradation and\u00a0hydrogen generation \u2014 which tap on concepts from electrical engineering, chemical engineering, materials science and physics. It is important work as the world begins to see greater legislation demanding the resolution of energy and water issues without greenhouse gas emissions.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, she hopes her research will bring about affordable and viable solutions to remote regions and satisfy the increasing demand for integrated sustainable technologies that meet human needs without disrupting the integrity of the natural ecosystem.<\/p>\n

Assoc Prof Ho\u2019s numerous accolades are testament to her ability and desire to break barriers and pave the way for other women in science. Among others, she was a Great Women of Our Time Science & Technology winner in 2016, Honoree Winner in JCI\u2019s Ten Outstanding Young Persons Award (Scientific and\/or Technological Development category) in 2015, and received the L\u2019OREAL UNESCO for Women in Science Fellowship in 2014.<\/p>\n

\"Ap<\/p>\n

“People have started to realise that when it comes to a job in science, it is talent that matters, not gender. Furthermore, a diversity of views in science is necessary to solve complex and multidisciplinary problems.”<\/strong><\/em> –\u00a0Associate Professor Ho Ghim Wei<\/p>\n

In spite of her successful career, she says without hesitation that her proudest achievement is giving birth to her two sons, whom she loves spending time with during her down time, in addition to a spot of gardening.<\/p>\n

While she stills feels the pressure to work doubly hard to achieve recognition in a male-dominated profession, Assoc Prof Ho also believes that women have made great strides in science today. \u201cPeople have started to realise that when it comes to a job in science, it is talent that matters, not gender. Furthermore, a diversity of views in science is necessary to solve complex and multidisciplinary problems,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She hopes to bring about greater recognition of women in engineering through her work. \u201cTo women in STEM I say, don\u2019t set limits for yourself and you can reach heights greater than you could ever imagine.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is the final installment of a five-part series <\/em>by NUS News profiling some of the University\u2019s prominent females making waves in STEM.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Associate Professor Ho Ghim Wei from NUS Electrical and Computer Engineering knows she chose a career in a male-dominated field but it has never held her back. \u201cI was once told not to waste my time in a Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) industry. That just spurred me to work harder than my male<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","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":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","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":""},"news_category":[37,48],"class_list":["post-627","nus-news","type-nus-news","status-publish","hentry","news_category-ece","news_category-ece-in-the-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cde.nus.edu.sg\/ece\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cde.nus.edu.sg\/ece\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cde.nus.edu.sg\/ece\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/nus-news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cde.nus.edu.sg\/ece\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cde.nus.edu.sg\/ece\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/627\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15020,"href":"https:\/\/cde.nus.edu.sg\/ece\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/627\/revisions\/15020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cde.nus.edu.sg\/ece\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cde.nus.edu.sg\/ece\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news_category?post=627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}