National University of Singapore

Teaching is something which Assoc Prof Ong Soh Khim (Faculty of Engineering) holds close to her heart. “My personal teaching philosophy is to teach with my heart, to teach with passion, to keep my teaching lively and inspiring and to have a positive attitude towards teaching and students,” she said.
   Having gone through the path of an engineering student herself has helped Assoc Prof Ong to craft her teaching methodology and advise her students well so that mistakes would not be repeated. “Engineering subjects must relate to application and practice and nothing is more convincing than showing students the application of each engineering principle,” said Assoc Prof Ong.
   Assoc Prof Ong’s area of research expertise is manufacturing engineering, which includes the application of augmented reality in the development of assistive technologies such as assistive, adaptive and rehabilitative devices for people with disabilities. Her research team has devised a virtual interface which will enable the physically handicapped to use as an effective interface to operate electrical appliances and computer functions fully. A patent has been filed and field tests have proven its feasibility.
   Her leadership in academia and groundbreaking research in manufacturing engineering have led her to win the 2009 Emerging Leader Award (Academia) from the US Society of Women Engineers – the first Singaporean woman engineer to be honoured with this award.
   “Winning this award sends a strong signal that a Singapore-trained engineer is at par with other nominees worldwide,” said Assoc Prof Ong. “It is also a recognition of my efforts and achievements during the last 15 years as an academic and researcher.”

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did… Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails.” Mark Twain’s inspiring quote has motivated Apoorv Agrawal (Faculty of Engineering/School of Computing/University Scholars Programme Year 1) to seize numerous opportunities which he might have otherwise foregone.
   Computing and IT aside, Apoorv harbours a keen appreciation of politics. “Politics plays a ubiquitous role in our lives – it shapes almost every other aspect of our lifestyle, economic status, mental and physical health, education and outlook”, said Apoorv.
    This interest drove him to participate in the Harvard National Model United Nations (HNMUN) 2010, one of the most reputed political conferences with a world class political simulation environment. The HNMUN 2010 attracted delegations from across the globe – from Tokyo to Los Angeles and Ivy League universities to military schools. NUS was the only delegation from Singapore. “Our representation marked the steady concern and participation of Singapore in world politics at university level,” Apoorv noted.
    Assigned to delegate for The Republic of Philippines, the NUS team presented their case on “Peacekeeping Operations” at the Legal Committee under the General Assembly of HNMUN. The resolution they had drafted gathered strong support from the ASEAN and EU delegations and was eventually approved by the committee.
    Having no qualms “sailing away from safe harbours”, this Dean’s List student has travelled to 12 countries in his first academic year at NUS. He also represented NUS at the 14^th International Summer Programme 2010 at Universität Ulm in Germany during the term vacation.