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VISIONTo be among the world’s best in science education and research

MISSIONTo provide quality education, foster the spirit of enterprise and

conduct leading-edge research to advance knowledge in Science and Technology for the benefit of Singapore and the global community

FACULTY OF SCIENCE | ANNUAL REPORT 2019

EDITORJanice QUAH

EDITORIAL TEAMClarissa FONG, TAY Ket Ling

CONTRIBUTORSLAU Pei Rong, LIM Jia Jia, LIM Kim Yong, Carine NG, ONG Mui Hong, Murugesan SETHU,

SOH Kok Hoe, Kase TAN, TAN Ju-Li, TEO Chwee Hoon, YONG Lai Cheng, Department Heads

PHOTOGRAPHERAhmal SUKRI Bin Tukimin

ADVISORSGOH Say Song, Peter HO, Susan TAN

If you would like to make a donation to support our mission, please contact scisec@nus.edu.sg.Please send your feedback to corpcomms.science@nus.edu.sg.

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CELEBRATING STUDENT ACHIEVEMENTS16 SERVING

SOCIETY18

DEAN’S MESSAGE

DEANERY TEAM

ADVANCING GLOBAL COLLABORATIONS

GROOMING FUTURE-PROOF GRADUATES

ATTRACTING YOUNG TALENTS

VALEDICTORIANS: CLASS OF 2019

LEARNING FOR LIFE

DEPARTMENT REPORTS

RECOGNISING EXCELLENCE

DARING TO DREAM

MAKING A MARK

REALISING DREAMS

FACTS AND FIGURES

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LEADING TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH21

YEAR IN REVIEW7

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DEAN’S MESSAGE

We seek to move students from merely acquiring knowledge to creating

new knowledge…and to build on our significant

achievements in fundamental, translational

and multidisciplinary research.

Transformative Education

I am proud to report the elevation of the Food Science and Technology Programme, situated within the Department of Chemistry, to a full-fledged academic department. This is indeed a milestone event for the Faculty and attests to the fact that science is an ever developing and growing discipline with huge potential for its graduates. The Department of Food Science and Technology (FST) will further enhance education and research in the areas of food science and human nutrition, in support of the growing food market. FST will go a long way in meeting Singapore’s priorities for food security, sustainability, human health and nutrition. We also launched a unique undergraduate specialisation for

At NUS Science

Food Science and Technology Programme’s 20th anniversary

Physics Majors in Quantum Technologies. Students will be equipped to take on jobs in this fast-growing area.

To support NUS’ lifelong learning initiative, we have offered more than 80 credit-bearing SkillsFuture Singapore-funded courses to adult learners, a significant increase over last year. Many of these courses are industry-relevant and highly suitable for learners who need more advanced knowledge to complement and enhance their professional skills. These include courses that are stackable towards graduate certificates and Master degrees in Food Science and Human Nutrition, Pharmaceutical Science and Technology, and Industry 4.0.

The Faculty of Science continued to strengthen its positionas the premier tertiary institution for high quality science

education and research in Singapore and the region. Our undergraduate education features both depth and breadth in knowledge, and emphasises nurturing capabilities and developing skill sets to prepare students for lifelong learning. In graduate education, the focus at the Masters level has shifted to upskilling professionals, while our focus at the Ph.D. level remains as training in fundamental and translational research.

We continue to pursue fundamental research that advances the frontiers of scientific developments. At the same time, we have created research clusters based on broad themes combining blue-sky research with translational research that is interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary in nature. Many of our professors are recognised internationally as leaders in their respective research fields, and research outcomes have been translated to industry, especially for areas with local relevance. In the long run, we aspire to attain global leadership by building a culture of excellence, developing and integrating strength in niche areas, and recruiting and retaining talent.

DEAN’S MESSAGE

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We have also gone beyond the shores of Singapore to influence the development and teaching of science in the region. Together with Temasek Foundation, we launched the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) Programme for University Educators in ASEAN, starting with a symposium where more than 100 ASEAN academics came together to dialogue on the challenges faced in STEM education. The participants attended teaching workshops by our award-winning educators, who shared on innovative teaching pedagogy and curriculum. In a separate but related vein, we held an inaugural Asia Pacific Science Communication Conference to bring together academics from the region to discuss science education and communication.

Transformative Research

Fundamental research remains as our strength. It is vital to, and undergirds all other forms of research activity. We have made significant achievements in fundamental, translational and multidisciplinary research. We are also pursuing more collaborations and building deeper partnerships with industry and other universities, particularly those in Asia. This year, the Tianjin University-National University of Singapore Joint Institute in Fuzhou, China was set up. Our scientists from the Department of Chemistry, in particular, are key contributors. The institute will focus on research in novel and transformative technologies in optoelectronics, flexible electronics, and advanced manufacturing, amongst others.

Locally, our scientists have received a National Research Foundation Singapore (NRF) grant to establish the Singapore National Laboratory for Mass Spectrometry (SingMass), and SingaScope. We are also forging

2020 and Beyond

Rapid global changes demand that we be innovative and creative to stay ahead as leaders in our field. In education, we will open more pathways to allow our students to broaden, as well as better integrate, what they learn in their classes and to apply these to the workplace. To help them become lifelong learners, our science education must move students from merely acquiring knowledge to creating new knowledge, and from application to self-discovery and innovation. We will also widen research in fundamental science that advances frontier developments, as well as translational research that impacts lives and contributes to a sustainable future.

Prof SHEN ZuoweiTan Chin Tuan Centennial ProfessorDean, Faculty of Science

partnerships with the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine to conduct joint research in health-related issues that affect our local population. Collaborations with industry are on the increase. For example, we are collaborating with DNV GL to leverage on its industrial expertise and our scientific know-how in data and information technologies.

Singapore National Laboratory for Mass Spectrometry

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DEAN’S MESSAGE

Prof

GOH Say SongVice Dean

Outreach and Admissions

Prof

SHEN ZuoweiDean

Prof

Peter HODeputy Dean

Education and Research

Ms

Susan TANDirector

Administration

Prof

LU YixinVice Dean

Graduate Studies and Safety

Prof

CHEW Fook TimVice Dean

Undergraduate Studiesand Student Life

Prof

Thorsten WOHLANDVice Dean

Research and Space

DEANERY TEAM

DEANERY TEAM

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We affirmed our standing as a faculty at the forefront of transformative science education and cutting-edge research. The year’s milestones included the establishment of the

Department of Food Science and Technology, new academic and research collaborations, and several inaugural events.

YEAR IN REVIEW

NUS’ internationally accredited Food Science and Technology (FST) Programme celebrated its 20th anniversary on 8 August with a new milestone - its elevation to a full-fledged academic department in the Faculty. This is timely to support Singapore’s renewed focus on, and growing economic opportunities in food science and technology, and human nutrition. The department will play a pivotal role in bringing together expertise across different faculties in NUS to foster research collaborations that advance the food industry and contribute to Singapore’s food resilience efforts. It is the first department of its kind at the university level.

New Specialisation in Quantum Technologies This undergraduate specialisation, which is unique worldwide, is offered to Physics Majors from Academic Year 2019/2020. Students will be introduced to the fundamental features of quantum mechanics and their applications in information processing, cryptography, communication and sensing. The specialisation will equip students with knowledge and skills for careers in the fast-growing field of quantum technologies in academia, industries and defence (pg 31).

Design Your Own Module (DYOM)Under this new initiative introduced in Academic Year 2019/2020, nine students from various Science disciplines, namely Chemistry, Life Sciencesand Physics, designed a module on Introductory Machine Learning under the guidance of their supervisor. This module on core principles of machine learning was curated from EdX lectures and implemented using Python. Another group of seven Computational Biology and Physics students designed a Mathematical Systems Biology introductory module to explore biological circuits and design principles governing the structure and behaviour of biological systems. This initiative enables students to take charge of their learning and pursue interests outside their disciplines.

The inaugural cohort from the multidisciplinary Master of Science in Food Science and Human Nutrition programme graduated in July. The one-year full-time programme equips students with in-depth understanding of food bioscience, modern food processing, functional foods, modern analytical science and human nutrition. Our graduates are therefore well-placed to meet the evolving demands of the fast-growing food and nutrition industry, and its enhanced focus on health and wellness (pg 20).

NEW ACADEMIC PROGRAMMES

NEW DEPARTMENT

PIONEER COHORT OF GRADUATES

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YEAR IN REVIEW

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National Mass Spectrometry Centre NUS together with the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) received a National Research Foundation Singapore (NRF) grant to establish the Singapore National Laboratory for Mass Spectrometry (SingMass) in April. SingMass integrates expertise and mass spectrometry platform technologies in quantitative proteomics, lipidomics and structural proteomics to provide a one-stop national platform for analytical research (pgs 21 and 23).

SingaScopeSingaScope was created with the support of an NRF grant to strengthen bioimaging research and applications in Singapore and the region. It is a virtual facility that brings together light microscopy facilities in Singapore, initially from NUS, the Nanyang Technological University, A*STAR and SingHealth, to provide academia and industry easy access to the most advanced microscopy techniques, as well as educational and professional bioimaging services (pgs 21 and 23).

DNV GL partnership We are collaborating with DNV GL, a global quality assurance and risk management company, to mutually leverage its industrial expertise and our deep knowledge of data and information technologies. Through internships, our students gain experiential training opportunities where they can develop digital solutions for businesses. Our Data Science and Analytics undergraduates worked on DNV GL’s real-world challenges in a sense-making case analysis module, where they were actively involved in data analytics for predictive maintenance of industrial assets as well as Artificial Intelligence (AI)- and blockchain-empowered bunker fuel trading applications (pg 34). The partnership also includes application-driven data analytics research and development of new decision models.

NEW COLLABORATIONS

NEW FACILITIES

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Joint research programme We are collaborating with the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine to establish a joint programme, bringing together researchers to address major health-related focus areas which help improve the long-term health of the local population. One of the projects will study human ageing and related cognitive diseases, while another project will develop personalised nutrition for blood glucose control.

Tianjin University-National University of Singapore Joint Institute NUS Chemistry scientists are contributing to this new joint institute in Fuzhou, China, which houses three research centres to promote research in novel and transformative technologies in optoelectronics, flexible electronics, advanced manufacturing, energy materials and advanced catalysis. They will focus on research in flexible electronics and emerging optoelectronics, two dimensional materials, quantum dots and functional nanomaterials at the Emerging Optoelectronics and Flexible Electronics Centre; green and renewable energy and environmental research at the Energy Materials and Catalysis Centre; and advanced manufacturing research and technology development at the Advanced Manufacturing Centre. There are over 35 graduate students from the Faculty of Science in the first batch of doctoral students hosted under the institute. The opening ceremony was held on 31 August in Fuzhou, and the institute will be located in the new Tianjin University (Fuzhou) International Campus at the Binhai area.

Photo credit: DNV GL

YEAR IN REVIEW

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STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) Programme for ASEAN University Educators Over 100 university educators from ASEAN and local institutions attended a symposium on 24 and 25 May, which marked the launch of the programme. This was the first time the Faculty, together with Temasek Foundation, brought together academia in ASEAN to dialogue on the changing face of STEM education, through plenary talks, panel discussions and interactive sessions. This is followed by science communication workshops to be held in 2019 and 2020 in Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia, and a Master Trainers programme where our professors share pedagogical and research practices with young academic leaders. This programme will run for three years, until mid-2021.

First mathematics-themed arts festival In celebration of its 90th anniversary, NUS’ Department of Mathematics partnered the NUS Centre For the Arts from 15 to 23 March on a festival - A Game of Numbers - to explore the parallel thought and processes of the seemingly diverse disciplines of arts and mathematics. Mathematics faculty, including Emeritus Professor Louis CHEN, Prof CHAN Heng Huat, Prof Victor TAN and Prof ZHAO Gongyun shared their knowledge and insights on various mathematics topics with the performing artists (pg 28).

Launch of 200: a natural history exhibitionOn 3 June, as part of Singapore’s Bicentennial celebrations, the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum launched an exhibition documenting significant natural history events in the 200 years that shaped our cultural heritage since the founding of modern Singapore. A thematic book categorising 200 natural history events was also launched. Ms Grace FU, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth, was the Guest of Honour. The exhibition will run until June 2020 (pg 35).

Key Events

Inaugural Asia Pacific Science Communication ConferenceThe conference, held from 19 to 21 November 2018, gathered academics, researchers, alumni and educators from Singapore and the Asia Pacific region to exchange views on science communication best practices in different countries. Speakers from the Faculty, Science Centre Singapore (SCS) and the Australian National University shared their experiences on their universities’ science outreach programmes, the challenges of incorporating science news in Singapore’s secondary school curriculum, and SCS’ role in facilitating science learning and appreciation beyond the classroom. The conference was part of the 10th anniversary celebrations of the Joint Master in Science Communication programme, the first postgraduate degree of its kind in Singapore.

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KEY EVENTS

YEAR IN REVIEW

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Over 80 courses this year

This year, we further significantly increased our offerings of credit-bearing, SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG)-funded courses to adult learners, in support of NUS’ initiatives and Singapore’s lifelong learning movement. We have expanded the suite of skills-based, industry-relevant courses available to learners in data science and analytics, food science and technology, pharmaceutical science, forensic science, physics, chemistry, and others. We now offer Graduate Certificates and Master of Science programmes in Industry 4.0, Food Science and Human Nutrition, and Pharmaceutical Science and Technology in stackable options to suit individual learners’ needs. We will continually refine our offerings, deepen linkages with industries, and develop timely courses to meet the changing needs of the workforce and industries.

Master of Science in Industry 4.0 This interdisciplinary graduate degree programme helps students keep pace with the changing nature of industries amidst technological disruptions. The Faculty is one of five academic units contributing to the programme. The curriculum is specifically designed to support Singapore’s drive to become a Smart Nation. In addition to the Data Analytics for Sense-Making core module (pg 33), there are three graduate certificates offered: Data Mining and Interpretation; Deep Learning for Industry; and Quality Assurance and Yield Optimisation. The programme admitted its first intake in August 2019 (pg 20).

NUS FoodTech Challenge The inaugural competition from 10 to 17 July aimed to nurture innovation among students, for the food technology industry. Polytechnic and university students developed proposals or prototypes of alternative proteins under the theme Sustainable Protein, Beyond Soy. The winning team, Seedling, comprising five Food Science and Technology (FST) students, combined environmentally-friendly sustainable protein and zero waste concepts in their prototype. The event was organised by the FST Society and NUS Enterprise in partnership with Nestlé, Ingredion and JR Group.

Expansion of Global Science Summer Programme (GSSP) Over 90 attendees

CONTINUING EDUCATION AND TRAINING

INAUGURAL STUDENT EVENTS

YEAR IN REVIEW

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The programme, which blends practice-based learning in cutting-edge scientific topics with a cultural immersion component offering exposure to Singapore’s multicultural society, was enhanced this year. New courses in Biotechnology and Biotherapeutics, Medical Physics, as well as Cosmetics and Perfumes, were introduced. The programme from 15 to 26 July drew both local and international students (pg 34).

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The Department of Pharmacy also established a student research exchange programme agreement with the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Copenhagen (UCPH) for three years, with effect from 1 May. NUS Pharmacy / Pharmaceutical Science undergraduates will undertake a semester of Final Year Projects in UCPH. Our students will benefit from UCPH’s expertise in biopharmaceuticals, and research in the areas of biologics and biostructure, which are key research focus areas in pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences. UCPH is often ranked as one of the best universities in Scandinavia (pg 29).

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New student exchange programme partners

The Department of Pharmacy established a student research exchange programme agreement with the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Trinity College Dublin (TCD) for three years, with effect from 18 January. NUS Pharmacy / Pharmaceutical Science undergraduates will undertake a semester of Final Year Projects or a special term of the Overseas Summer Undergraduate Research Opportunities Programme in Science in TCD. This allows our students to conduct research and learn from TCD scientists in fields like cancer, ageing, immunology, and inflammation and infection. TCD is the top ranked university in Ireland (pg 29).

Joint educational programme The Department of Mathematics established a 3+2 joint educational programme agreement with the School of Mathematical Sciences, South China Normal University (SCNU) for five years, with effect from 1 July. This programme allows selected SCNU B.Sc. students to complete their last year of undergraduate studies, and continue their M.Sc. studies in NUS. The programme covers the areas of mathematics, statistics, quantitative finance, and data science and analytics. Students who complete the programme will receive a B.Sc. degree from SCNU and an M.Sc. degree from NUS.

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ADVANCING GLOBAL COLLABORATIONSThe Faculty collaborates with reputable universities to develop various study abroad programmes which provide students a unique international educational experience.

Photo credit: University of Copenhagen

ADVANCING GLOBAL COLLABORATIONS

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Tan Kit Yung Leong Kim Whye

GROOMING FUTURE-PROOF GRADUATESThe Faculty continually enhances our suite of programmes to provide students the breadth

and depth of educational training, specialised domain expertise and critical soft skills for the fast-changing workplace.

Pioneer cohort

Over 800 students gained overseas experience

Our suite of Study Abroad Programmes opens the door to a globallearning experience, exposing students to different cultures and academic environments, thereby broadening their intellectual and global outlook.

Nicole ONG, Life Sciences Year 4, was part of the inaugural batch taking up the Joint Degree Programme in NUS‘ Life Sciences with University of Dundee’s Biological Sciences / Biomedical Sciences. She said, “The depth andbreadth of teaching, and practical lessons helped me to gain useful knowledge of the biopharmaceutical industry.”

ANG Xiao Jun, a Year 2 student, opted to read the new Pharmaceutical Science programme to pursue her dream of developing medicinal products that reduce cancer-related fatigue. She said, “I have a passion in pharmaceutics, and I believe the programme will enable me to eventually contribute towards improving the quality of life of people around the world.”

Holistic global education

Nicole Ong

Ang Xiao Jun

Marken FOO, who just acquired his M.Sc. in Physics, enrolled in École Polytechnique under the NUS-Grandes Écoles French Double Degree Programme. He said, “Aside from depth andrigour in mathematics and the hard sciences, the French also emphasise breadth of thinking by engaging in other subjects. It is rare to be able to attack so many topics deeply in higher education, but the French experience delivers.”

LEONG Kim Whye, a fresh Life Sciences graduate, read molecular biophysics under the Concurrent Degree Programme with King’s College London. He said, “I gainedexposure in basic and translational research in biophysics through interaction with renowned European scientists. This allowed me to explore my interest, and together with the course, guided me towards my intended study of optical oncology.”

Under the NUS Overseas Colleges Programme in Beijing,TAN Kit Yung, Life Sciences Year 4, worked at two startups while studying at Tsinghua University. She said, “I practised developing an idea from scratch to a prototype in a team, and learnt how to communicate my ideas effectively.”

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Marken Foo

GROOMING FUTURE-PROOF GRADUATES

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Flexible curriculum

Experiential learning

Anastasia Tracy KURNIAWAN, Quantitative Finance Year 4, met Nobel Laureates during her SEP at the University of California, Berkeley. She said, “The professors always relate study material to current phenomena. This inspires me to take research very seriously.”

On taking up a Double Degree Programme in Mathematics and Computer Science, Way TAN, Year 3, said, “Each discipline lends additional perspective to their counterparts. Both disciplines require an abundance of abstract and creative problem-solving, and similar satisfaction upon solving a difficult problem.”

KOH Eu Fei, Life Sciences Year 2, participated in the new Eco-Biodiversity Field Studies in Taiwan and Singapore module, where he gained understanding of the resilient, yet fragile, nature of these habitats and the importance of field techniques in documenting biodiversity.

Celine LIM, Data Science and Analytics Year 3, interned at DSO National Laboratories under the inaugural run of the Data Science and Analytics Cooperative Education Programme, where students gain workplace experience by spending up to five semesters with reputable employers. She said, “The research learnings I gained from exposure to different projects and real-life challenges at DSO can be extended to other situations related to national security. This was a key takeaway for me.”

Our myriad course choices enable students to take ownership of their own learning journeys.

GROOMING FUTURE-PROOF GRADUATES

Through various experiential learning initiatives, our students get to apply their learning beyond the classroom.

Mavis Kang

Koh Eu Fei (second last row, wearing mask)

Celine Lim

Anastasia Tracy Kurniawan

Tan Zi Liang

Mavis KANG, a fresh Chemistry graduate, gained new insights into environmental chemistry from her SEP experience at Korea University. She said, “I was inspired to take up related research upon my return to Singapore. I also got to experience Korean culture at a deeper level.”

Michelle KO graduated recently with a Double Major in Life Sciences and Psychology. She said, “Life sciences provides in-depth understanding of diseases, while psychology gives breadth in understanding of the psychological and social implications of diseases on patients. They complement each other nicely.”

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On his overseas internship at Thales Nederland, Netherlands, fresh Physics graduate TAN Zi Liang said, “I now better understand how physical concepts are applied to real-world problems. During my time in the Netherlands, I enjoyed not just the work but the culture and people too.”

Our diverse Student Exchange Programmes (SEP) enable our undergraduates to experience an enriching semester or two at an overseas partner university, while earning credits towards their NUS degree.

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Department engagement activities

Some 1,000 attendees

The Departments of Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Mathematics, Pharmacy, Physics, and Statistics and Applied Probability, as well as the Environmental Studies, Food Science and Technology, Data Science and Analytics, and Pharmaceutical Science programmes, each hosted visits from 16 to 27 April to encourage prospective students who received admission offers to study Science at NUS. The customised programmes provided information on our courses, learning opportunities and the career prospects of science graduates through talks, laboratory tours, hands-on activities and meetings with faculty members, students and alumni etc.

ATTRACTING YOUNG TALENTSThe Faculty and our partners run pre-undergraduate research programmes, competitions, workshops, school visits, talks and the Faculty Open House. These programmes promote

interest in science and encourage students to read science at NUS.

Data Science and Analytics Day

ATTRACTING YOUNG TALENTS

Over 80 participants

Held on 16 March, the Department of Mathematics’ yearly event generates public awareness of data science, its applications and career prospects for graduates. The speakers included Prof Vincent TAN who discussed simple models of big datasets; Science alumnus Dr Murphy CHOY, SSON Analytics, who spoke on tackling fake news with data science; and Dr FENG Ling, Institute of High Performance Computing, who covered the representation of numerous datasets through various networks.

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Science talks and lectures

78 students completed SRP this past year

The Science Research Congress (SRC) and SRP, co-organised with the Ministry of Education, celebrate 31 years of nurturing budding researchers in 2019. 78 students from 14 junior colleges and Integrated Programme schools were mentored by NUS faculty and staff from other institutions on research projects. Their projects bagged six Gold, one Silver, four Bronze, six Merit and four Special Awards at the Singapore Science and Engineering Fair (2019).

Science Research Programme (SRP)

ATTRACTING YOUNG TALENTS

Some 800 student, parent and teacher attendees

As part of our outreach programme to pre-university and polytechnic students, the Faculty hosted a visit for students and teachers from Yishun Innova Junior College (JC) on 8 January. We also gave science talks to students of Anderson Serangoon JC, Jurong Pioneer JC, National JC, Nanyang JC, Meridian JC, Dunman High School, River Valley High School and Millennia Institute. The talks gave a glimpse of the diverse learning opportunities here, such as our multidisciplinary and cross-faculty programmes, undergraduate research programmes, internships, student exchange programmes etc., as well as the career prospects of science graduates.

YES, CAPTAINS! camp 30 beneficiaries

Young Educators in Science (YES) worked with the College of Alice and Peter Tan to launch the inaugural YES, CAPTAINS! camp for Chinese Development Assistance Council student beneficiaries from secondary schools. YES members designed a mathematics and science quest for participants, who also got to experience college and dormitory life. The camp was held from 2 to 4 June.

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CELEBRATING STUDENT ACHIEVEMENTSOur students achieve excellence beyond the classroom in areas ranging from sports to

community service. They contribute in meaningful ways to the NUS community and society at large.

For his scholastic and research accomplishments, fresh Chemistry graduate Garrick LIMwas conferred prestigious national accolades, namely the President’s Award and National Youth Achievement Award (Gold), both in 2012. His final year project was named the global winner at the Global Undergraduate Awards, concurrently winning the NUS Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher Prize. He was also a finalist for the 2019 Lee Hsien Loong Award for All-Round Achievement. Garrick has presented his research work internationally and will pursue his Ph.D. at Harvard University in 2020.

CELEBRATING STUDENT ACHIEVEMENTS

YOUNG RESEARCHERS

Six students received the Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher Prize (2019), whichrecognises the best undergraduate researchers in NUS.

Mavis Kang

Garrick Lim

Nicholas Ng

Yap Jit Wu

He Menglan

ALL-ROUND ACHIEVER

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Yeo Xi Jie

Chemistry’s Mavis KANG developed a novel layered bimetallic catalyststructure on porous carbon paper which can electrochemically convert carbon dioxide into cleaner fuels, like ethanol, with high selectivity and yields.

Chemistry’s Garrick LIM partnered computational modelling and bandgapengineering to design and synthesise complex multilayered core-shell nanomaterials emitting in the near-infrared for deep tissue bioimaging and light harvesting, for building integrated photovoltaics.

Life Sciences and Statistics’ HE Menglan studied how the cholesterol levelin neurons could affect the accumulation of alpha-synuclein, a protein that forms aggregates in brains of Parkinson’s disease patients.

Mathematics’ YAP Jit Wu studied nilpotent orbits, an important object inrepresentation theory. His work proved some formulae on the dimension of facets associated to them by DeBacker’s parametrisation.

Pharmacy’s Nicholas NG explored the inactivation of the drug-metabolising enzyme aldehyde oxidase, to further understanding of the metabolism of susceptible medications such as anticancer drugs.

Physics’ YEO Xi Jie demonstrated an experimental technique to compressthe spectral bandwidth of narrowband single photons. This enables the photons to match the spectrum of atomic transitions, which is required in many quantum information protocols.

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NUS’ Dragon Boat team manager Rowena LIM, Pharmacy Year 4,received the Athlete of the Year (Distinction) Award at NUS’ inaugural Student Life Awards (2019). In 2018, her team was the champion in both the Singapore Dragon Boat Festival and World University Dragon Boat Invitational Race at Weinan, China, where they beat 22 teams from nine countries in the Women’s 200m, 500m and 2km categories. Her team has participated in eight local and international competitions.

Rebekah ANG, Life Sciences Year 4, finds community service“enriching and meaningful”. She led the NUS Community Service Club’s flagship Grant A Wish XVI project, fulfilling the wishes of some 190 underprivileged children and the elderly from the Ang Mo Kio Family Service Centre Community Services Ltd and REACH Singapore through 14 beneficiary engagement events. She received the NUS Student Achievement Award consecutively in 2018 and 2019 for her contributions to the community.

Nur Marina CHAN Shi Min Alif Abdullah, Life Sciences Year 3, is amultiple gold medal record-holder in freestyle and butterfly swimming. She has represented Singapore at the Southeast Asian Games, Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, Youth Olympic Games, the Asian Youth Games and the World Championships. She is a recipient of the Singapore Olympic Foundation Peter Lim Scholarship for outstanding young athletes (2014), the Sports Excellence Scholarship (2014 to 2018), and the Sports Girl of the Year Meritorious Award (2015).

Physics Research Fellow Dr Cindy TANG received the Wang Gungwu Medaland Prize (2018), a cross-disciplinary award recognising excellence in doctoral level research at NUS. Dr Tang’s research shows that ultrahigh work function hole-doped polymers can be air-stable. This enables ambient-stable and lower cost solution-processing, so that materials can be better tailored to improve device efficiency. Her work resulted in three patent applications.

In 2018, Victor ZHU, Quantitative Finance Year 4, co-founded Hatch, a socialenterprise which trains youths in digital marketing and user interface/user experience design skills, and matches them to companies in need of talent. Hatch has trained 40 youths across all backgrounds for job placements in growth sectors. In the future, Victor plans to expand Hatch’s model to emerging verticals in the digital and design space.

Aspiring conservation scientist Rachel TENG, EnvironmentalStudies Year 3, worked with non-governmental organisation Terra Sylvestris in a remote island near Greece, where she set up camera traps in caves to monitor endangered monk seals and feral cats that could harm the ecosystem. She also recorded seagrass, a key species of the marine ecosystem. Her work helps to generate awareness of the importance of environmental conservation.

Marcus Wong, centre

Driven by a passion to enhance cultural appreciation in Singapore, fresh Pharmacy graduate Marcus WONG foundedThe Golden Era Guitar in 2017, a boutique dealership for handcrafted guitars. It has since gained international presence, with clients in Asia, Australia, Canada, Europe and the United States of America. Marcus also hopes to nurture the next generation of enthusiasts at NUS’ fingerstyle guitar interest club.

SPORTSCHAMPIONS

BUDDING ENTREPRENEURS

ENVIRONMENTAL ADVOCATE

COMMUNITY CHAMPION

POSTGRADUATE ACHIEVER

Rowena Lim, right

Victor Zhu

Rachel Teng

Nur Marina Chan Shi Min Alif Abdullah

CELEBRATING STUDENT ACHIEVEMENTS

Dr Cindy Tang

At NUS Science

Rebekah Ang, first from left

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SERVING SOCIETYOur students contribute to numerous meaningful causes, where they give back to society

and make a difference to disadvantaged communities in Singapore and beyond.

ALIVE! (Appreciating Lives, Initiating Volunteerism Everyday!)

70 beneficiaries

On 7 June, Science volunteers organised activities to bring together the elderly from the Caregiving Welfare Association and children from Fei Yue Family Service Centre. Centering on the theme Reminiscence, the event helped to bridge the generation gap between the seniors, children and volunteers, over traditional games and food tasting.

RAG (Receive and Give) and Flag

Over $11,100 raised

More than 300 Science students participated in Flag Day on 10 August. The proceeds will go towards 22 beneficiaries and charity programmes under the Community Chest. The Science Flag team raised the highest amount amongst NUS faculties and schools this year, while the Science RAG team clinched the Silver award for their performance, held for the first time in the heartlands, at Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park.

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SERVING SOCIETY

Inaugural Project Meraki A team of 12 students from the Food Science and Technology (FST) Programme joined FST Society’s Youth Expedition Project (YEP) to Paksong, Laos from 11 to 23 May. They taught farmers simple food processing methods to extend the shelf life of fresh crops, and process unsold produce into new products to reduce wastage. They also participated in a cultural exchange programme and farm visits to understand the farmers' livelihoods.

Dispense-A-DreamFrom 30 May to 13 June, 22 Pharmacy students visited Laos under a YEP by the NUS Pharmaceutical Society, where they helped to construct a staircase connecting the village port and entrance. This provided safer and better access to the port. They also conducted English, sports, art and health education lessons for the children.

Project Angel XXII: Heart StringsFrom 19 May to 13 June, 19 student volunteers from the NUS Students’ Science Club went to Ha Giang, Vietnam, where they constructed a kindergarten classroom in a village, spent time at an orphanage, and conducted activities to build the children’s confidence and improve their communication skills.

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VALEDICTORIANS: CLASS OF 2019

STAY THE COURSE “The challenges and obstacles we encounter make us single-minded in pursuing our dreams.”

- HE Menglan, Honours (Highest Distinction) inLife Sciences with a Second Major in Statistics

EMBRACE THE UNKNOWN “Do not be limited by fear. It is in uncharted territories that we experience the greatest growth.”

- Melvin TAN, Honours (Highest Distinction) with a Double Degree inStatistics and Computer Science

VALEDICTORIANS: CLASS OF 2019

PURSUE YOUR PASSION WITH ZEST “Our passion in what we do is the constant that propels us forward and upward.”

- GOH Zhang-He, Honours (Highest Distinction) in Pharmacy

NEVER STOP LEARNING “Keep learning and use your knowledge to make a positive impact on society.” - Dr Mervin ANG, Ph.D. in Chemistry

CHART YOUR JOURNEY“As we welcome new horizons, remember the journey so far to know where we stand and how we are to progress.”

- Clive AW, Honours (Distinction) in Physics

OVERCOME CHALLENGES“There are many challenges ahead, but none of them will be insurmountable.” - ANG Yan Sheng, Honours (Highest Distinction) in Mathematics

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As our valedictorians start on a new chapter in their lives, they share the rich lessons from their educational journey at NUS that they will bring to the future.

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LEARNING FOR LIFEWe encourage our graduates to upskill over time, through executive and professional courses.

We also support our scientists to transform their research into deep technology startups. These initiatives enable our graduates to stay ahead as Singapore aspires to become an

innovation-led economy.

Inaugural cohort WANG Xingyi is amongst the pioneer batch of Master of Science in Food Science and Human Nutrition graduates (pg 7).He found the programme useful and timely, saying, “I gained a better understanding of food from a health perspective, as well as the relevance of food science and development to the rapidly changing food industry.”

NUS Lifelong Learners (NUS L³) Programme Pharmacy alumnus Fadhli Z I ADESTA, a Patient Careand Product Manager with a medical technology startup Nalagenetics Pte Ltd, read two modules - Pharmaceutical Marketing and Entrepreneurial Marketing - to complement his pharmacy training. He said, “The business skills I acquired helped me advance my career, from being a frontline pharmacist to a strategic business role. I am now better equipped to assess business plans and manage commercial clients.”

Master of Science in Industry 4.0Wesley HIOE, a School of Continuing and Lifelong Educationstudent, is part of the inaugural intake in August for the new Master of Science in Industry 4.0 degree (pg 10). He is reading the Foundations of Machine Learning and Visual Data Processing and Interpretation modules offered by the Faculty. Aspiring to be a data scientist, he said, “The modules balance the mathematical and application aspects of machine learning and data science well. I also learnt to apply computer vision methods which could represent similar projects in industry.”

Graduate Research Innovation Programme (GRIP)An NUS Biological Sciences team - Research Fellow Dr BAO Shengjie, Ph.D. student XU Tao and Head of Department Prof YU Hao -started up Singrow Pte Ltd to grow premium strawberries at affordable prices for local consumers. Using proprietary technologies, the team developed novel strawberry varieties adapted to humid weather. Dr Bao said, “We hope to offer pesticide-free fresh strawberries from farm to fork in the same day.” Singrow is supported by NUS’ new GRIP programme, which nurtures startups tapping on deep technologies.

Wang Xingyi

Xu Tao, left and Dr Bao Shengjie, right

LEARNING FOR LIFE

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LEADING TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCHThe Faculty conducts research to advance knowledge, industry and society. Our researchers

continue to win competitive public sector grants and collaborate with universities worldwide, government agencies and industry to develop high-value, high-impact

partnerships to translate scientific innovations into solutions.

Establishing national microscopy and mass spectrometry facilitiesThe Faculty is collaborating with other academic institutions and partners to establish national research clusters in microscopy and mass spectrometry. SingaScope is a microscopy infrastructure network that brings together local imaging platforms from various institutions to allow researchers and industry access to key microscopy resources. The Singapore National Laboratory for Mass Spectrometry (SingMass) is a national mass spectrometry consortium integrating analytical laboratories with complementary expertise to offer mass spectrometry solutions to researchers and industry (pgs 8 and 23). Both these initiatives are supported by the National Research Foundation Singapore.

Using environmental DNA to monitor invasive marine speciesThe Reef Ecology Laboratory led by Prof HUANG Danwei, Department of Biological Sciences, is partnering National Parks Board to use environmental DNA techniques to detect and monitor the Charru mussel, an invasive species that impacts local marine ecosystems. Rather than directly sampling the DNA from the organism, environmental DNA captures trace DNA isolated from seawater that contains the organism’s genetic footprint. This method can enable rapid species detection for marine biodiversity management and conservation.

Modelling plant responses to hydrological changesThe research group led by Dr CHONG Kwek Yan, Department of Biological Sciences, is partnering the National Parks Board to study the vegetation and ecosystem processes of the Nee Soon Swamp Forest, Singapore’s last substantial tract of intact freshwater swamp forest. The project will develop models to predict the ecological responses of selected plant species towards natural variability in hydrological conditions in the Nee Soon forest catchment. This would inform future conservation strategies.

LEADING TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH

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Designing multiparticulate-based tablets with controlled drug releaseThe GEA-NUS Pharmaceutical Processing ResearchLaboratory led by Prof Paul HENG, Department ofPharmacy, is collaborating with chemical company Asahi Kasei Corporation, to formulate multiple unit pellet system (MUPS) tablets for controlled drug release. These specially formulated tablets offer a combination of different drug release profile characteristics for oral administration. The project will study the compressibility and tabletability of the various grades of microcrystalline celluloses as fillers in MUPS tableting, along with preparing bilayered MUPS tablets.

LEADING TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH

Understanding the benefits of food fibres in beveragesThe research group led by Prof KIM Jung Eun, Food Science and TechnologyProgramme, Department of Chemistry, is partnering Nestlé to investigate the beneficial effects of different forms of food fibres in beverages. Increasing fibre intake has been shown to lower the risk of cardiometabolic diseases. This project will characterise the fibre in cereal-based products and formulate higher quality food products.

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Advancing the photoresponse of organic electronics The Materials Chemistry Group led by Prof CHUA Lay-Lay,Department of Chemistry, partners with Cambridge Display Technology Ltd, a subsidiary of Sumitomo Chemical Co Ltd, to develop organic small molecule acceptor materials to extend the photoresponse of organic semiconductor materials to the short-wave infrared region for photodetector applications. Her research group will investigate the assembly of these novel acceptors with selected donor materials, into the required ultrafine, intimately mixed donor-acceptor morphology, to achieve low dark current in the photodiode. They will also be deploying their photo-crosslinking, and self-compensated ultra work-function hole and electron collection layers technology to further optimise photodetector performance.

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DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCESEXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Life Sciences Plus (LS+) initiative recognises opportunities Life Sciences Majors can pursue beyond the primary discipline. From reading a Minor or Second Major, engaging in local or overseas research projects, or participating in internships or study abroad programmes, LS+ emphasises the critical need for undergraduate students to develop technical skill sets and professional attributes for the future workplace. We are also hosting the prestigious Amgen Scholars Programme for a four-year term, offering NUS and overseas undergraduates eight-week biomedical research opportunities in basic and translational sciences, culminating in a two-day symposium.

The Department of Biological Sciences (DBS) continued to enhance our curriculum to provide Foundation training in lifelong skills and expertise; Depthin scholarship in a chosen field; and Breadth in biological sciences to prepareour graduates for the ever-changing employment landscape. We launched our new Life Sciences Plus (LS+) initiative, and continued to make advances in our pursuit of frontier research. With the support of National Research Foundation Singapore grants, we established the Singapore National Laboratory for Mass Spectrometry (SingMass) and SingaScope National Virtual Facility to provide national platforms for mass spectrometry, and light microscopy, respectively (pgs 8 and 21). Biological Sciences was ranked 18th in the world and second in Asia by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) (2019).

RESEARCH ACHIEVEMENTS

Understanding how to controlmitochondrial qualityUnderstanding the dynamics of mitochondria, which integrate cellular metabolism and cell fates, is critical for human health. Two independent studies [Autophagy (March 2019); Nature Communications (May 2019)] led by Prof LIOU Yih-Cherngdemonstrated that two outer membrane proteins could play pivotal roles in regulating mitochondrial quality control and cell death. These studies also suggested, for the first time, that the modulation of mitochondrial quality control might not rely on conventional mitochondrial dynamics. This provides a new direction and novel concept for mitochondrial research in the future. The leading author of these papers, Dr XIAN Hongxu,was awarded the Chua Toh Hua Memorial Gold Medal (2019).

ProfYU Hao

Head

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EDUCATIONAL MILESTONES

Amgen Scholars Programme

DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES

AWARDS AND ACCOLADES

KEY EVENTS

DNA sequencing for species identification Singapore is home to more than 50,000 animal species. However, as biologists are unable to distinguish 50,000 different types of organisms, many identification problems remain unsolved. Traditional methods for obtaining DNA sequences require time and expensive equipment. A group of researchers led by Prof Rudolf MEIER has developed simple methods based on new handheld DNA sequencers(e.g. “MinION”). In particular, the team has developed methods for overcoming the high sequencing error-rates of such devices. DNA barcodes based on MinION sequences are currently used in Singapore for forensic and biodiversity projects. Their work was published in BMC Biology (November 2019).

Understanding chromosome segregation In humans, molecular errors in chromosomes contribute to birth disorders and cancers. Currently, little is known of chromosome segregation. Prof GAN Lu’s studies shed new lighton the molecular details of chromosomes and their segregation machines. Using electron microscopy to take cellular “CAT scans” of yeast cells revealed nanometre-scale details, such as more porous chromosomes and the segregation machinery. These molecular maps explain some long-standing mysteries about cell division and lay the groundwork for future studies of cells in pathogenic states. This work has been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (October 2018) and the Journal of Cell Biology (February 2019).

Dr Amy CHOONG participated in the first Southeast Asia Fungal Red List Workshop from 17 to 21 June which focused on the conservation of Asian fungi. It also encouraged the exchange of mycology knowledge at a regional level, to facilitate future collaborations and training on International Union for Conservation of Nature red listing.

From 17 January to 2 February, we hosted NUSS Professor George DIMOPOLOUS, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, who shared his insights on mosquito vector biology and mosquito-pathogen interactions.

Prof G V SHIVASHANKAR was elected as an Associate Member of the European Molecular Biology Organizationfor his contributions to the emerging field of nuclear mechanogenomics. Prof Antonia MONTEIRO was awardedthe National Research Foundation Investigatorship (2019) (pg 37).

DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES

Southeast Asia Fungal Red List Workshop

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NUSS Professor George Dimopolous, centre

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RESEARCH ACHIEVEMENTS

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

We secured SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) funding for seven undergraduate chemistry modules. The newly launched Computational Thinking module enables Chemistry, and Food Science and Technology Majors to apply computational thinking to discipline-specific content. Our internship programme was further strengthened through more industry partnerships. We are also looking to create more opportunities for our undergraduate students to participate in overseas field trips.

The Department of Chemistry remains top in Asia and seventh in the world, according to Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings (2019). Last year, we published over 400 papers and secured over $20 million in research funding. Our faculty members continued to receive local and international awards for research excellence. Seven of our researchers were named in Clarivate Analytics’ Highly Cited Researchers (2018).

EDUCATIONAL MILESTONES

Enabling site-selective boron installation with iron catalysts Borylation reactions provide a convenient platform to introduce boryl groups for easy diversification to a wide assortment of synthetically valuable organic building blocks. Prof KOH Ming Joo, together with postdoctoral fellow Dr YU Xiaolong and Ph.D.student ZHAO Haonan demonstrated that inexpensive and earth-abundant iron-basedcomplexes are efficient catalysts for site-selective remote protoboration of alkenes, a key class of feedstock chemicals. These results are likely to impact how important molecules are prepared.

RESEARCH ACHIEVEMENTS

Paving the way to healthy and sustainable foodsIn spite of a global trend towards healthy diets, billions of people continue to fall sick and die from consuming unsafe food. Prof LI Dan and her team are working on threeaspects of food microbiology and safety: improving rapid detection methods of foodborne pathogens; identifying and preventing emerging microbial threats; and developing novel and natural antimicrobial strategies. They are currently focusing on the microbial safety of urban agriculture. This work was published in Frontiers in Microbiology (November 2019).

Enabling direct hydrogen-atom transfer Currently, photocatalysts capable of performing direct hydrogen-atom transfer (HAT) are limited. Prof WU Jie and his Ph.D. student FAN Xuanzi recently discovereda unique property of neutral eosin Y, an effective HAT photocatalyst for carbon-hydrogen (C-H) activation. This catalyst is metal free, readily available, economical, and absorbs visible light. It has been applied to C-H and silicon-hydrogen (Si-H) bond functionalisation, enabling the diverse functionalisation of a wide range of C-H and Si-H bonds in a green and sustainable manner. This work was published inAngewandte Chemie International Edition (May 2018).

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ProfRichardWONGHead

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY

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Reunion at NUS Chemistry!Our inaugural Graduation Anniversary reunion in September 2018 was attended by 30 alumni from the Classes of 1978, 1988 and 1998, together with staff and students.

Prof CHNG Shu Sin received the Walter Shaw Young Investigator Award inLipid Research (2019) by the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Prof LIU Xiaogang and Prof WU Jishan were awarded NationalResearch Foundation Investigatorships (2019) (pgs 36 and 37). Prof WU Jieand Prof Rowan YOUNG were awarded the 2019 Thieme Chemistry JournalsAward.

Our undergraduates also did us proud. Year 3 Chemistry student POH Yong Rui was part of a multidisciplinary team that won the top prize in the MedicalGrand Challenge (2018). They developed a low-cost alternative to detect diabetic ketoacidosis, a complication of diabetes that currently requires costly inpatient tests for an accurate diagnosis.

Year 4 Chemistry student QUEK Siying represented Singapore in the WorldUniversity Games (2019) for the 30th Summer Universiade (Shooting) in Napoli, Italy. Fresh Chemistry graduate Max TAN and Year 4 Chemistrystudent Coco LI presented their research work at the American ChemicalSociety National Meeting and Expo in Florida, United States of America, from 31 March to 4 April.

The 51st International Chemistry Olympiad was held in Paris, France in July. The Singapore team, led by Dr TAN Wee Boon and Dr HOANG Truong Giang, clinched two gold and two silver medals, and were ranked fifthamongst 80 participating countries.

Conferences

The 10th Singapore International Chemistry Conference in December 2018, which covered the latest scientific developments in organic and inorganic chemistry, was attended by over 400 international participants. Over 200 lectures were delivered.

The 2nd Chemistry National Meeting Singapore was jointly organised by NUS and the Singapore National Institute of Chemistry in May. It brought together some 350 researchers and students to discuss the latest developments in chemical education and sciences.

We jointly organised the Asian Biological Inorganic Chemistry Conference in December 2018 with Nanyang Technological University. Over 345 participants attended, some 20 lectures were delivered, and more than 150 poster presenters shared their work.

Global Young Scientists Summit In January 2019, we hosted a panel discussion with three Nobel Laureates in Chemistry - Prof Aaron CIECHANOVER, Prof Michael LEVITT, and Sir Fraser STODDART. The Laureates shared their insights on the role of basic research in shaping modern society.

Food Science and Technology (FST) Programme’s 20th AnniversaryThe FST Programme organised a series of events and initiated the FST Alumni Bursary to support financially disadvantaged students. Over $430,000 was raised (pg 40).

AWARDS AND ACCOLADES

KEY EVENTS

Prof Chng Shu Sin, left

51st International Chemistry Olympiad

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DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS

Forecasting weather with mathematics Contemporary weather forecasts often involve models with more than a million prediction variables. Finite ensemble Kalman filters (EnKF) have been developed by geoscientists. It has been a genuine mystery why they perform so well with small ensemble sizes in large dimensions. Prof TONG Xin’steam provides the first rigorous stochastic analysis of finite EnKF under practice assumptions. Their work was published in Communications on Pure and Applied Mathematics (May 2018).

Many of our Ph.D. graduates from our diverse and vibrant graduate studies programme in fundamental and applied mathematics have thriving careers, especially in academia. This year, Dr GAO Fan (Ph.D. 2014) and Dr ZHAO Xiaofei (Ph.D. 2014) were among theaward recipients of China’s Thousand Young Talents Programme, which recognises young professionals with the potential of becoming leading scientific figures in the future.

Dr CAI Yongyong (Ph.D. 2012) gave a plenary speech at the International Conferenceon Scientific Computation and Differential Equations (2019), and Dr LI Xudong (Ph.D.2015) won the Best Paper Prize for Young Researchers in Continuous Optimisation at the International Conference on Continuous Optimisation (2019).

Dr CUI Ying (Ph.D. 2016) will join the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineeringat the University of Minnesota as an assistant professor.

The Department of Mathematics continued to make significant progress in its core mission of delivering quality education and research. Our faculty members continued to engage in frontier fundamental and interdisciplinary research, receiving recognition nationally and internationally. Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) ranked Mathematics at NUS top in Asia and 13th in the world in 2019.

Dr Li Xudong, left

Establishing unicity of harmonic current for foliations A generic polynomial ordinary differential equation in two complex variables defines a dynamical system. Its solutions describe a singular foliation in the complex plane whose leaves are Riemann surfaces which may be dense in the plane. In this context, Prof DINH Tien Cuong’s teamproved that there is a unique harmonic current of unit mass directed by the foliation. The results were published in Inventiones Mathematicae (January 2018).

Achieving tractability in search-based modelsIn many search models in economics, searches focus on the types of counterparties that offer greater gains from interaction. Independent directed random matching is the key to achieving tractability in those models. Prof SUN Yeneng and his co-authors Prof Darrell DUFFIE, Stanford University, and ProfQIAO Lei, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, demonstrated the existence of general models of independent directed search, thus placing a much needed mathematical foundation for such models. Their work was published in the Journal of Economic Theory (March 2018).

In line with NUS’ framework for continuing and lifelong education, we are offering a Graduate Certificate in Deep Learning, comprising two modules - Foundations of Machine Learning, and Deep Learning and Applications. Adult learners will get to strengthen their knowledge of data analytics and Artificial Intelligence, which is timely amidst disruptive technological change.

EDUCATIONAL MILESTONES

STUDENT ACHIEVEMENTS

RESEARCH ACHIEVEMENTS

ProfZHU

ChengboHead

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DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS

We celebrated our 90th anniversary this year with several commemorative activities in March, including a public lecture by Emeritus Professor Louis CHEN on rare events; a celebratory reception at the University Cultural Centre where colleagues, ex-colleagues and alumni were treated to the opening show of the NUS Arts Festival 2019: A Disappearing Number; and a 90th anniversary Distinguished Lecture series by Prof David VOGAN of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Prof Jean-Bernard LASSERRE of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. We collaborated with the NUS Centre For the Arts to organise Singapore’s first mathematics-themed arts festival, which uncovered and celebrated the infinite possibilities where arts and mathematics meet (pg 9).

We have close partnerships with the mathematics departments of many leading Asian universities, including Kyoto University, Zhejiang University, and the University of Science and Technology of China, amongst others. This year, we held a joint workshop with Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) on Mathematics: Analysis, Partial Differential Equations and Probability at the KAIST campus. The three partners plan to organise additional joint workshops in the next two years, one at HKUST on applied and computational mathematics, and one at NUS on algebra, number theory and representation theory.

Tan Chin Tuan Centennial Professor SHEN Zuowei was named a Fellow of the Society for Industrial and AppliedMathematics (2019) for his contributions to approximation theory, wavelet theory and image processing. NUS President Prof TAN Eng Chye was honoured with the Wilbur Lucius Cross Medal (2018) by Yale University and the Yale Graduate SchoolAlumni Association. Provost’s Chair Professor DINH Tien-Cuong received the Humboldt Research Award (2018) in the fieldsof geometry and topology. Dean’s Chair Professor Vincent TAN received the NUS Young Researcher Award (2019) for hiswork in information theory (pgs 36 and 37).

AWARDS AND ACCOLADES

KEY EVENTS

INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATIONS

Prof Dinh Tien-Cuong, left

DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS

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DEPARTMENT OF PHARMACYEXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Department of Pharmacy’s vision is to lead in shaping healthcare and related industries through innovative pharmaceutical education, research and practice. In line with this vision, we launched our very first undergraduate programme in Pharmaceutical Science in Singapore. Our local and global standing - strengthened through alumni engagement, international conferences, workshops and exchanges - has led to new collaborations and partnerships for research, education and practice.

EDUCATIONAL MILESTONES

There is growing demand for the development of personalised medicines, especially for the paediatric, elderly and some special patient groups. 3DP is a technology that could potentially address this gap. Two of our alumni, Dr GOH Wei Jiang and Dr LIM Seng Han, founded Craft Healthto market their 3DP platform for personalised nutrition and medicine.

Three dimensional printing (3DP) of personalised medicines

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In 2019, our professors published seminal findings in the field of nanomedicine which provided insights into nanomedicine’s potential to alter disease states, and to enhance understanding of their role as effective therapeutics.

RESEARCH ACHIEVEMENTS

Improving cancer treatment outcomes with more targeted drugsProf Giorgia PASTORIN and her team from Chemistry(Prof ANG Wee Han) and Hebrew University ofJerusalem engineered a nanovesicular formulation targeting an anticancer precursor of cisplatin to mitochondria, which showed complete tumour remission within four weeks of treatment in preclinical tumour models. This has the potential to reduce cisplatin-induced kidney toxicity and improve cancer treatment outcomes. This work was published in Angewandte Chemie International Edition (April 2019).

Regulating traffic across blood vesselsIn joint senior authorship with Prof David LEONG, Faculty of Engineering, Prof HO Han Kiat and histeam found that nanoparticles made from gold, titanium dioxide, silver and silicon dioxide favoured the spreading of surviving cancer cells along the blood vessels found throughout the body. This can significantly accelerate cancer metastasis. This work was published in Nature Nanotechnology (March 2019).

Our new Pharmaceutical Science programme offers unprecedented depth of pharmaceutical science training through small classes, interactive learning and internships. Students will be trained in the foundational sciences. They will gain knowledge in drug discovery and development, and the pharmaceutical industry’s regulatory and commercial environment. This programme will open up new career options for our graduates across the spectrum of pharmaceutical industries.

We also expanded our repertoire of international partnerships for Final Year Project exchange programmes. We had five students heading out to University College Cork and two new partners - The University of Nottingham and Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Separate Student Exchange Programme Agreements were also signed with Trinity College Dublin and University of Copenhagen (pg 11).

ProfChristina

CHAIHead

Dr Goh Wei Jiang, left and Dr Lim Seng Han, right

DEPARTMENT OF PHARMACY

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Year 2 Pharmaceutical Science students Alanna WONG and SOH Han Qiang were selectedfor the Amgen Scholars Programme, a first for our department. This programme enables participants to engage in cutting-edge research at top educational and research institutions around the world (pg 23).

On 1 March, we held a reception and a movie screening for our alumni. On 23 May, our alumni and the Departmental Visiting Committee attended the inaugural Last Lecture series, organised in conjunction with the Faculty’s 90th anniversary this year. The first lecture was delivered by Prof LEE Chuen Neng from the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine and Faculty of Engineering. We published our first PharmConnect newsletter in April 2018 to better engage and connect with our alumni.

KEY EVENTS

STUDENT ACHIEVEMENTS

DEPARTMENT OF PHARMACY

From 26 to 29 September 2018, we organised Southeast Asia’s first Globalisation of Pharmaceutics Education Network’s 12th biennial conference (GPEN2018). More than 300 participants from over 50 universities and industry partners representing 21 countries attended the conference. There were podium and poster presentations by graduate students and postdoctorates on topics covering pharmaceutical science disciplines ranging from pharmaceutical chemistry and pharmaceutical biology, to pharmacokinetics and formulation technology. The GPEN Chair Prof Kenneth AUDUS, University of Kansas, as well as Prof Freddy BOEY, NUS and Prof Patrick J CASEY, Duke-NUS Medical School, delivered the opening addresses.

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Last Lecture series

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DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Department of Physics covers physics as a fundamental discipline, to understand nature through mathematics and concepts such as space, time, energy, force, particles and fields. Our key research focus areas include: physics of nanoscience; condensed matter and advanced materials; biological physics; physics of nonlinear and complex systems; atomic and molecular physics; computational and theoretical physics; quantum information; and graphene and two-dimensional materials. Faculty members made several research breakthroughs and serve as editors or members of editorial boards of top scientific journals. We are strongly associated with the Centre for Quantum Technologies (CQT) and Centre for Advanced 2D Materials through joint appointments.

RESEARCH ACHIEVEMENTS

ProfSOW

Chorng HaurHead

DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS

From quantum computers to quantum cryptography and atomic clocks, scientists’ growing control over the quantum behaviour of particles of matter and light is ushering in a new generation of technology. Our students now have the option to take a Specialisation in Quantum Technologies from Academic Year 2019/2020 (pg 7). This equips students with the knowledge and skills for the emerging field of quantum physics-based technologies, which offers job opportunities in academia and industry.

EDUCATIONAL MILESTONES

Strengthening cyber security through quantum key distribution CQT researchers and Singtel have demonstrated a technique to improve quantum key distribution (QKD), which keeps entangled photons in sync as they travel different paths through the optical fibre network carrying data to offices and homes. This breakthrough achieved by the NUS-Singtel Cyber Security Research & Development Laboratory boosts cybersecurity, positions Singapore as a hub for QKD research and opens up potential applications in time-critical operations. This work was published in Applied Physics Letters (April 2019).

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Self-assembling molecules with precisionProf Andrew WEE’s group demonstrated a novel method to self-assemblesingle molecules on an atomically thin layer of molybdenum diselenide (MoSe2). Clean monolayers of MoSe2 deposited in the laboratory by molecular beam epitaxy have regular triangular patterns of dislocations on them and molecules adsorb at preferred sites with molecular precision. This gives rise to porous nanostructures comprising a single layer molecular network, offering potential applications in site-selective catalysis or molecular sensors. This work was published in Nature Communications (June 2019).

Prof Artur EKERT was awarded the Micius Quantum Prize (2019) for his invention of entanglement-based quantum keydistribution, entanglement swapping and entanglement purification (pg 36). Prof Andrew WEE was appointed as Class of’62 Professor for significant and impactful leadership in research, teaching and service. Prof LOH Huanqian was recognisedby the World Economic Forum as one of the world’s best scientists under the age of 40, and also awarded the L’Oréal Singapore For Women in Science National Fellowship (2018).

AWARDS AND ACCOLADES

Prof Loh Huanqian, right

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Anions coming to the rescueProf CHUA Lay-Lay, together with Dr PNG Rui-Qi and Prof Peter HO, and their groups,have discovered that multivalent anions, such as oxalate, carbonate and sulfite, when dispersed as small ion clusters in an organic film matrix, can act as universal electron donors for semiconductors. They are capable of producing electron-doped films with work functions as low as 2.4 electron-volts, overcoming the longstanding challenge of combining ambient solution processability with ultralow work-function materials. This breakthrough will open the way to new low-cost, energy-efficient devices based on solution-processed semiconductor materials. The work was published in Nature (September 2019). A patent application has been filed and licensed.

DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS

RESEARCH ACHIEVEMENTS

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DEPARTMENT OF STATISTICS AND APPLIED PROBABILTY

Estimating signals consistently In face, writing and speech recognition problems or biomedical studies, important and defining features (signals) are often masked by noise. As a result, the data dimension (number of variables per observation) is large. An important first step is to estimate the number of signals consistently. Prof CHOI Kwok Pui and hisco-authors provided sufficient conditions under which selection methods, such as Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) or Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC), are consistent. The results were published in the Annals of Statistics (June 2018).

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

A new module, ST4299, enables Honours students to earn modular credits during statistics- or data-science related internships of between 16 to 20 weeks. This is to be taken as an alternative to ST4199, the Honours year final project module.

We also offer a Data Analytics for Sense-Making module, in support of Singapore’s drive to become a Smart Nation, as well as industry-relevant data science and analytics courses in support of NUS’ lifelong learning initiatives (pg 10).

The Department of Statistics and Applied Probability contributed impactful research on manifold structures in statistics, as well as towards greater fundamental understanding of high-dimensional statistics and quantification of information within data. Our faculty members hold editorships at top statistical journals, and continued to clinch prestigious research fellowships. We are placed top in Asia and ninth in the world in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings (2019) for Statistics and Operational Research.

EDUCATIONAL MILESTONES

RESEARCH ACHIEVEMENTS

Enhancing reliability of mutual informationQuantifying the dependence between two variables is a fundamental issue in data analysis. Recent studies have focused on mutual information (MI). However, reliable MI estimates from finite continuous data remain a significant and unresolved problem. Prof XIA Yingcun and his Ph.D. student ZENG Xianli used the kernelestimation of MI, and showed that the bandwidths involved should be equalised. This approach has appealing theoretical properties and stable numerical performance. Their work was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (October 2018).

ProfCHAN

Hock PengHead

DEPARTMENT OF STATISTICS AND APPLIED PROBABILTY

Developing new methods for data on manifoldsInstead of real vector samples in a real vector space, modern datasets in many applications comprise samples of more complex structures which may be represented as points in a space with certain underlying geometric structures, namely manifolds. Prof YAO Zhigang and his team have developed a new method in the emerging fieldof manifold learning to estimate and quantify the underlying unknown manifold for high-dimensional datasets with a large number of features. The team also developed a principal boundary for datasets lying on manifolds for classification. Their work was published in the Journal of the American Statistical Association (June 2019).

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We had a year of brisk school and industry outreach events. This year’s Statistics Enrichment Camp drew over 80 secondary school and junior college students. Students learnt about a complex data processing pipeline, from data collection to visualisation, and analysis, by feeding their heart rate data under rest conditions, and after mental and physical exertion, through a single-board microcontroller kit.

The second annual Data Science Conference was held on 8 February. Themed AI: The Game Changer, the conference brought together industry experts and educators to discuss the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on businesses.

This year, the DACC also ran two data science courses in July for local and international students under the Faculty’s Global Science Summer Programme (pg 10).

The Data Analytics Consulting Centre (DACC) completed a joint project with global certification company DNV GL to perform a gap analysis of current bunker tanker operations against best practices, and develop algorithms to optimise bunker tanker operations (pg 8). In another project for COHU, a leading semiconductor testing provider, the DACC analysed the booking and shipment history of semiconductor supplies over four years and built a product forecasting system.

Prof Adrian ROELLIN was elected as a Fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (IMS) for the development ofStein’s method for multivariate distributions and the unification of the theory through Stein couplings. The IMS Fellows programme honours individuals who have demonstrated distinction in research in statistics and probability (pg 37).

KEY INITIATIVES

AWARDS AND ACCOLADES

Fong Wei Jie, right

Data Science Conference

Global Science Summer Programme

Statistics Enrichment Camp

The Singapore Prison Service gifted $15,000 to establish the Singapore Prison Service Data Science and Analytics Prize, which recognises the academic achievements of Year 2, 3 and 4 Data Science and Analytics undergraduates. Year 2’s FONG Wei Jie was one of the first students to receive the prize this year (pg 40).

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KEY EVENTS

Photo credit: DNV GL

DEPARTMENT OF STATISTICS AND APPLIED PROBABILTY

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As a research partner of RIMBA-Sarawak (Research for Intensified Management of Bio-Rich Areas of Sarawak), two surveys were conducted in 2018, at Nanga Bloh and Nanga Segerak. A Memorandum of Understanding was initiated with the Sabah Forestry Department in October 2018, which started off with an inland fish workshop in May at Sepilok, Sabah.

A book which thematically categorises 200 natural history events was also launched at our exhibition (pg 9). Visitors can purchase an 18k gold-plated coin, engraved on both sides with the exhibition logo, and a portrait of British naturalist Alfred Russel WALLACE and his assistant, Ali. Wallace’s discoveries in the Malay Archipelago – of which Singapore is a part – contributed greatly to thedevelopment of the theory of evolution by natural selection. Thiswas also a primer to the launch of our Wallace-Ali statue in August.

RESEARCH

OUTREACH

LEE KONG CHIAN NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM

We received funding for two research projects. An insect survey, funded by Mandai Park Development, seeks to document insect diversity in forests within the Mandai development precinct. The second project funded by the Global Biodiversity Information Facility will digitise butterflies of Singapore and Peninsular Malaysia.

Our staff published 74 peer-refereed papers (mostly indexed in the Web of Science), 20 non-refereed journals, general articles, local technical papers, etc., as well as four books.

At NUS Science

On 16 March, over 600 visitors learnt about marine biodiversity at our Marine Open House, our third consecutive and final year in collaboration with St John’s Island National Marine Laboratory. We conducted over 140 programmes for 11,000 participants from 124 schools. 200: a natural history exhibition

ProfPeter NG

Head

75 visiting scientists from 22 countries used our collections for research purposes, with 49 specimens on loan to 37 institutes from 17 countries. Our staff taught two University Scholars Programme biodiversity modules and concluded the field module for the Faculty.

The Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum (LKCNHM) launched a new exhibition on 3 June, 200: a natural history, documenting significant events in the past 200 years of Singapore’s natural history. The interweaving threads of animals, plants, events, places and people helped shape Singapore’s natural heritage. The exhibition is part of Singapore’s Bicentennial celebrations and is co-funded by the National Heritage Board. The exhibition ends in June 2020 (pg 9).

EDUCATION

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

LEE KONG CHIAN NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM

36

RECOGNISING EXCELLENCE

At NUS Science

RECOGNISING EXCELLENCE

INTERNATIONAL AWARDS

At NUS Science

Our faculty members are widely recognised by their peers for their achievements and enjoy high international standing. Our reputation for excellence was reinforced through various

prestigious awards for our faculty members’ exceptional contributions to science and research, and our administrative staff’s commendable service.

Prof CHNG Shu Sin, Departmentof Chemistry, was awarded the

Walter Shaw Young Investigator Award in Lipid Research (2019)

by the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular

Biology. This award recognises outstanding research contributions in the area of lipids by one young scientist each

year. Prof Chng focuses on understanding lipid

trafficking in the context of outer membrane biogenesis in

Gram-negative bacteria and mycobacteria (pg 26).

Micius Quantum Prize

Prof Artur EKERT, Departmentof Physics, was awarded the Micius Quantum Prize (2019)

for his invention of entanglement-based quantum key distribution, entanglement swapping and entanglement purification. Prof Ekert is a pioneer of quantum cryptography. He invented the entanglement-based quantum key distribution in 1991, when he was a Ph.D. student (pg 32).

Wilbur Lucius Cross Medal

Prof TAN Eng Chye, NUS President and a facultymember of the Department of Mathematics, received the Wilbur Lucius Cross Medal (2018), the highest accolade that can be bestowed on an alumnus by Yale University and the Yale Graduate School Alumni Association (pg 28). The Wilbur Lucius Cross Medal honours exceptional alumni in the areas of scholarship, teaching, academic administration and public service. Prof Tan also received an Honorary Doctor of Science from the University of Southampton, United Kingdom, in recognition of his passion in, and excellence as an award-winning educator and leader.

RECOGNISING EXCELLENCE

Humboldt Research Award

Prof DINH Tien Cuong,Department of Mathematics, received the Humboldt Research Award (2018). This award is granted in recognition of the winner’s entire academic record to date, whose fundamental discoveries, new theories or insights have had a significant impact on their own discipline. Prof Dinh is a leading researcher in complex dynamics in higher dimension, a 30-year old branch ofpure mathematics (pg 28).

Walter Shaw Young Investigator Award in Lipid Research

37

Commendation MedalMs YONG Lai Cheng, Science Dean’s Office, received the Commendation Medal in theNational Day Awards (2019) for her outstanding contributions to administration and service. This award is given by the Prime Minister’s Office of Singapore.

INTERNATIONAL FELLOWSHIPS

NATIONAL AWARDS

UNIVERSITY HONOURS

Emeritus Professorship A number of our faculty members have been conferred the award of Emeritus Professorship on their retirement to recognise their sustained and distinguished contributions in scholarship and service to NUS. Visit this link for more information.

RECOGNISING EXCELLENCE

Prof Antonia Monteiro Prof Liu Xiaogang Prof Wu Jishan

Associate Member of the European Molecular Biology OrganizationProf G V SHIVASHANKAR, Department of Biological Sciences, was elected as an Associate Member of the EuropeanMolecular Biology Organization in recognition of his academic and research contributions to the emerging field of nuclear mechanogenomics (pg 24).

Prof Shen Zuowei

Prof Adrian Roellin

Prof G V Shivashankar

At NUS Science

NUS Young Researcher Award Prof Vincent TAN, Department of Mathematics,

was awarded the NUS Young Researcher Award (2019). He is known internationally for his work on finite-length fundamental limits which shape the design of low-latency networked communication systems (pg 28).

National Research Foundation InvestigatorshipsProf Antonia MONTEIRO, Department of Biological Sciences, Prof

LIU Xiaogang and Prof WU Jishan, both from the Department ofChemistry, were awarded the National Research Foundation (NRF) Investigatorships (2019) (pgs 24 and 26). The NRF Investigatorship is awarded to established and innovative mid-career scientists for the pursuit of groundbreaking, high-risk research.

Fellow of the Society for Industrial and Applied MathematicsProf SHEN Zuowei, Department of Mathematics, was elected as a Fellow of the Societyfor Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) for his contributions to approximation

theory, wavelet theory and image processing. The SIAM Fellows programme honours members who are recognised by their peers for their distinguished contributions to the discipline (pg 28).

Fellow of the Institute of Mathematical StatisticsProf Adrian ROELLIN, Department of Statistics and Applied Probability,was elected as a Fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (IMS) for the development of Stein’s method for multivariate distributions and the unification of the theory through Stein couplings. The IMS Fellows programme honours individuals who have demonstrated distinction in research in statistics and probability (pg 34).

38

PointStar Pte LtdMs Michelle ALPHONSO (Pharmacy 2007) co-founded PointStar in 2008, one of the pioneerproviders of cloud solutions in the Asia Pacific. Since inception, it has helped over 2,500 businesses and institutions worldwide to realise the benefits of cloud computing. These include streamlined processes, lower operating costs and 24/7 access to business information. PointStar has extended its footprint to Malaysia and Indonesia.

DARING TO DREAM

Nanolumi In 2014, Prof TAN Zhi Kuang (Chemistry 2010) discovered that halideperovskites, a new class of semiconductors, light up brightly and efficiently when driven with electrical currents. This led to the invention of perovskite-based light-emitting diodes, and the founding of Nanolumi, a bench-to-market technology accelerator for advanced materials. It has received US$1 million to commercialise its technology for applications in consumer electronics.

Stendard (YNL 360 Pte Ltd)Mr Jason LIM (Life Sciences 2010) co-founded Stendard in 2016, whichdevelops enterprise software that helps businesses implement international compliance standards. It is the first startup of its kind. Today, more than 400 companies in the life sciences, medical technology, food and manufacturing industries from Korea, Germany, Australia, India and Singapore use Stendard SolutionTM as part of their compliance certification, saving time and money.

Some of our alumni have ventured into the unknown by starting their own businesses. Through hard work and determination, they overcame challenges and translated their

dreams into products and services that benefit society.

QuickDesk Ms Charmain TAN (Statistics 2012) co-founded QuickDesk in 2014 to help sales professionalsimprove productivity, by seamlessly managing the entire sales and marketing process. QuickDesk serves over 900 Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Singapore. It is now widening its footprint to Malaysia. Charmain was named in Forbes 30 Under 30 Enterprise Technology list (2019).

Dr Miao Weimin

Michelle Alphonso

Prof Tan Zhi KuangJason Lim

At NUS Science

CriAT Pte Ltd Dr MIAO Weimin (Mathematics 2013) co-founded CriAT in 2017, which specialisesin providing deep credit analytics to support investment credit decisions. Leveraging cutting-edge financial econometrics and machine learning techniques, CriAT transforms Big Data into actionable data that is accurate and transparent. CriAT’s solutions are adopted by Tier 1 banks and insurance companies in the United States of America, China and ASEAN.

Hub of All Things (HAT) Prof Irene C L NG (Physics 1986) created HAT in 2013, a worldpioneering innovation enabling individuals to own their data in a “HAT Microserver”. HAT has since spun out as a non-profit foundation and a commercial startup - Dataswift - which recently received £1.8 million in seed funding. Prof Ng built businesses in four countries and is now both the Chief Executive Officer of Dataswift and a Professor at University of Warwick. She also runs Innovorsa, a family office that incubates and invests in new startups.

Charmain Tan

DARING TO DREAM

39

MAKING A MARKMany of our alumni are leaders and game-changers in their respective fields. All of them

make impactful contributions, across industries and professions.

Ms Jamie NEO (Chemistry 1991), Director ofEngineering at HP Inc, is a career pioneer in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) field with an illustrious 28-year career spanning diverse roles, from quality assurance, to product engineering and manufacturing. She initiated and set up HP Inc’s Smart Manufacturing Application and Research Centre (SMARC). SMARC is supported by the Singapore Economic Development Board, and adopts Industry 4.0 technologies like three dimensional printing and advanced robotics to digitally transform manufacturing processes for global implementation.

A geneticist focusing on rare blood disorders, Dr Mathura SHANMUGASUNDARAM (Life Sciences 2011)has conducted and presented scientific research on oncology, hematology, genetic diseases and personalised medicine at top international institutions in Europe, the United States of America and Asia. As a Global Medical Affairs Manager at Sanofi Genzyme, she translates her scientific knowledge to create medical resources, and to educate medical teams and thought leaders on diseases and treatments, thereby bridging academia and industry.

Mr Eric TAN (Applied Mathematics 2016) is a DataScientist at GovTech (Government Technology Agency), where he designs and builds the next generation virtual assistant platform for the Whole of Government. Eric’s work contributes to Moments of Life, a national project where government services across different agencies are seamlessly brought together. This reduces inconvenience for users transacting with multiple government agencies.

Ms CHUNG Wing Lam (Pharmacy 2009), Principal Clinical Pharmacist at Watson’s Personal Care Stores Pte Ltd, takes joy inhelping patients and consumers. In addition to dispensing medications and educating consumers on health-related topics, she spearheads clinical services, collaborates on research projects with other institutions, provides pharmaceutical care to the elderly in the intermediate and long-term care sector, and represents the community pharmacy sector at national committees. For her contributions, she received the coveted Singapore Retailers Association Service SuperStar Award (2018) for service excellence; and the Pharmaceutical Society of Singapore (PSS)-LF Asia Community Pharmacist of the Year Award (2015).

Mr Muhd Saifullah Bin JUMARI (Physics 2018) is a Software Engineer(Intelligent Machines) at Dyson Operations Pte Ltd, a leader in high-end consumer products. He develops behavioural robot software, enabling him to build smart robotic vacuum cleaners that customise their behaviour to the home environment. This innovation reduces the burden of housekeeping for busy families.

Mr LOW Yee Loong (Statistics 2013) is a Senior Data Analyst at Grab,where he analyses massive booking-related datasets to identify new fraud trends and formulate fraud prevention mechanisms. These fraud combat measures help to reduce revenue loss, and improve trust between customers and partners on the platform.

Dr Mathura Shanmugasundaram

Chung Wing Lam

Eric Tan

Muhd Saifullah Bin JumariLow Yee Loong

At NUS Science

MAKING A MARK

40

REALISING DREAMSThe generous support of our benefactors has far-reaching impact. It enables our students to fully benefit from the Faculty’s holistic educational experience and to step towards a

brighter future.

Goh Choo San Science Merit Scholarship

At the Department of Chemistry’s 90th anniversary celebrations in conjunction with NUS’ Bukit Timah Homecoming on 6 July, a Science Merit Scholarship was named after Chemistry alumnus Mr GOH Choo San,an outstanding chemistry and biochemistry student who achieved international acclaim as a dancer and choreographer. His brother-in-law Mr Daniel TEO, a noted real estate developer and philanthropist, together with his family, contributed generously towards the scholarship.

Singapore Prison Service Data Science and Analytics Prize

In 2019, the Singapore Prison Service made an expendable gift of $15,000 to establish the prize, which recognises the academic achievements of Year 2, 3 and 4 Data Science and Analytics undergraduates. Year 2’s FONG Wei Jie was one of the first students whoreceived the prize this year (pg 34).

The Food Science and Technology Charity Golf event held on 26 March raised over $430,000 to help financially disadvantaged students reap the full benefits of the Faculty’s holistic educational experience. Nine sub-named awards were also set up (pg 26).

Please contact Ms YONG Lai Cheng at sciylc@nus.edu.sg if you wish to make a donation.

The Science Student Overseas Exposure Fund was setup in 2006 to enable financially disadvantaged students to participate in overseas programmes.

Disbursed over $430,000 to 87 recipients Disbursed over $160,000 to 109 recipients

REALISING DREAMS

Fong Wei Jie, right

FST Alumni Bursary

“The bursary lightens my family’s financial burden, allowing me to fully focus on my studies. It also inspires me to work even harder towards my goals.”- Walter LIMApplied Mathematics Year 4

“The generous support allowed me to participate in a summer exchange programme in Hong Kong, where I gained insights into real-life issues like poverty.” - Belle ENGLife Sciences Year 3

The Science Student Fund was established in 2008 toenable financially disadvantaged students to pursue their studies without financial worries.

At NUS Science

Mr Daniel Teo, second from right

41

FACTS AND FIGURES

AppliedMathematics

99

8DOUBLE DEGREE

PROGRAMME (HONS) GRADUATES*

192B.SC. (PHARMACY) & B.SC. (PHARMACY) (HONS)

GRADUATES

35B.ENV. STUDIES (HONS) IN

ENVIRONMENTAL BIOLOGY GRADUATES

GRADUATING CLASS OF 2019 UNDERGRADUATE STUDIES B.SC., B.SC. (HONS)

* Includes graduates from Applied Mathematics-Computer Science, Applied Mathematics-Economics, Mathematics-Computer Science, Mathematics-Philosophy, Physics-Economics, Physics-Materials Science and Engineering, Statistics-Computer Science

Includes Environmental Studies which is jointly hosted with the Faculty of Arts and Social SciencesIncludes Joint Minors (Environmental Biology and Environmental Chemistry) with the University of TorontoRefers to B.Sc. (Hons) & M.Sc. from NUS and Diplôme d’Ingénieur from French Grandes Écoles

4,658 UNDERGRADUATE

STUDENTS

13PRIMARY MAJORS*

7SECONDARY

MAJORS

16 MINORS**

13 SPECIALISATIONS

2STRUCTURED

DOUBLE DEGREE PROGRAMMES

6FRENCH

DOUBLE DEGREE PROGRAMMES^

2CONCURRENT

DEGREE PROGRAMMES

3JOINT

DEGREE PROGRAMMES

Total 1,043

Statistics115

Quantitative Finance

24Physics

52

Mathematics18

Life Sciences496

Food Science and Technology

36

ComputationalBiology

6

Chemistry197

At NUS Science

UNDERGRADUATE

*

**

^

FACTS AND FIGURES

42

M.Sc. in Applied Physics 4

M.Sc. in Chemistry 21

M.Sc. in Chemistry for Energy and Environment 19

M.Sc. in Food Science and Human Nutrition 4

M.Sc. in Industrial Chemistry 8

M.Sc. in Mathematics 23

M.Sc. in Pharmaceutical Science and Technology 16

M.Sc. in Physics 3

M.Sc. in Quantitative Finance 57

M.Sc. in Science Communication 17

M.Sc. in Statistics 86

Doctor of Pharmacy 12

GRADUATING CLASS OF 2019GRADUATE COURSEWORKPROGRAMMES

ASIA – FIRST^

ChemistryEnvironmental Sciences

MathematicsPharmacy &

PharmacologyStatistics &

Operational Research

GLOBAL – TOP TWENTY^

Biological SciencesChemistry

Environmental SciencesMaterials Science#

MathematicsPharmacy & Pharmacology

Statistics & Operational Research

1,367Research articles published

[Source: Web of Science]

89,121Citations received [Source: Web of Science]

32 New patent families filed

^ Research subject rankingSource: QS World University Rankings by Subject (2019)

# Includes contributions from materials physics and materials chemistry

53Research collaborations

with industry

15 Research collaborations

with statutory boards

$315 millionResearch income*

* For FY2014 to FY2018

At NUS Science

1,196 POSTGRADUATE

STUDENTS

18 M.SC. /

PHARM. D. PROGRAMMES

6 PH.D.

PROGRAMMES

5 JOINT PH.D.

PROGRAMMES

2 JOINT M.SC.

PROGRAMMES

GRADUATING CLASS OF 2019GRADUATE RESEARCHPROGRAMMES

Ph.D. M.Sc.

Biological Sciences 47 7

46 6

11 7

15 -

29 8

5 -

POSTGRADUATE

RESEARCH OUTPUT AND RECOGNITION

FACTS AND FIGURES

Pharmacy

Statistics and Applied Probability

Physics

Chemistry

Mathematics