CNYSP Homecoming 2022 happened on 25th February 2022. It was unfortunately still held online due to the prevailing Covid-19 situation. Alas, it was a light-hearted evening filled with laughter from our alumni who happily shared and reminisced their time in CNYSP. The theme for this year’s Homecoming is Vibrance – signifying the vibrant life alumni had during their undergraduate years and even now.
There were a total of five alumni who have very kindly volunteered their time to share more about their journey and experiences with us! They are Alvin Lee, Mohammad Zaidi bin Ariffin, Yap Chor Yen, Alvin Chan, and last but not least Koo Kwan Yee. The sharing sessions were delightful and engaging with many undergraduates actively asking questions during the QnA segment.
The night ended with a wholesome conversation between the alumni and undergraduates during the free and easy segment where all of us engaged in a conversation filled with chuckles and wisdom imparted by our alumni. It was very interesting for us, undergraduates to see how our alumni have flourished and adapted well in whatever endeavours they are doing now, be it in industry or academia.
Overall, all of us had a great time attending the event and we certainly hope that next year’s Homecoming will be an offline one with a buffet dinner where all of us can freely walk around and chat with everyone!
Centre for Strategic Infocomm Technologies (CSIT) has never been too well-known of a
defence technology organisation amongst most Singaporean youth, with the likes
of Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA) and Defence Science Organisation
(DSO) taking precedence in terms of reputation. This is due to the highly
classified nature of CSIT’s work which deals with cybersecurity and other
highly sensitive technologies which naturally are a cause for secrecy. However,
on the 8th of October 2019, we were fortunate to be given
the opportunity to visit CSIT as part of their open house event. As a
computer science undergraduate, I was excited to learn more about the
‘strategic technologies’ that CSIT was working on.
Our visit started off with a welcome talk in an
intimate setting of what was not more than 40 students from the various local
universities. The speakers shared about the nature of work they carried out at
CSIT and how CSIT fitted in amongst the various defence technology organisations
in Singapore. We were split into various tables and every table had an
attached person from CSIT so that we could ask any questions we
had. I found this first segment of the visit to be quite eye-opening as I
was better able to understand the complex defence ecosystem that Singapore had
and how all the various acronym-laden government organisations worked together
to bolster Singapore’s defence.
The second segment of the visit was round robin of the
booths of the five main technology areas of CSIT: cyber-technology, software
engineering and analytics, communications technology, systems and network
infrastructure, and crypto technology. Each booth had its own fun activity for
us to get a better understanding of what the area encompassed, from looking at
how virtual machines are designed and deployed almost instantaneously, to how
to sniff data packets that were being sent to an attacker in order to find out
more information about a cyber-attack. The booths were very engaging, and I was
really awestruck by the technology showcased, as even though it may not be
anything ground-breaking, we rarely get to see such things unless we are
involved directly in such work.
Finally, we ended off the visit with a dinner and
closing address by the Chief Executive of CSIT, who shared his own
views on the security landscape in Singapore and how the career
progression was like in CSIT, which is based on meritocracy rather than other
means, unlike other similar organisations. Overall, it was a very enjoyable and
possibly once-in-a-lifetime experience at the CSIT open house, and it definitely helped us to better understand the nature of work that
CSIT does.
Kicking off the first industrial visit of the school year, 10 CN Yang Scholars visited Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School located near Singapore General Hospital to learn more about its unique MD, MD-pHD and pHD curriculum.
What sets Duke-NUS apart from other medical schools is its central “Clinician-First, Clinician-Plus” vision. They believe that graduates are first competent clinicians, and beyond that, build on their other capabilities to become more than just simple clinicians, but clinician-scientists, leaders and innovators. Therefore, Duke-NUS welcomes students from different disciplines and academic backgrounds as they believe that they provide a different perspective and expertise to the study of Medicine. There are graduates with majors in Engineering, Business and even Law!
Fortunately, this aligns with the multi-disciplinary nature of the CN Yang programme which equips scholars with the skills and knowledge from multiple fields. Scholars also had the opportunity to ask key questions during an informative Q and A session with past NTU alumni who are now on the prestigious MD-pHD programme. The seniors encouraged them to engage in more diverse fields of research and explore their interests in those areas to gain greater perspectives in the process of scientific inquiry.
NTU and NUS alumni who are current students in Duke-NUS shared on their experiences in the programme
Scholars also had an exclusive peek into the different laboratories in Duke-NUS where despite the cluttered outlook of the benches, the scientists there are engaging in cutting-edge research at the forefront of science. It is not uncommon to see students and scientists working together hand-in-hand and engaging in intense discussions over their research work. It was indeed an eye-opening experience for us to experience the research culture of laboratories beyond NTU.
We had the chance to handle some samples from the labs!
CN Yang Homecoming Day 2019 happened on 8th Feburary
2019. It was nice evening of catching up with old friends (especially for the
alumni) and filled with good food and light-hearted banter. For us
undergraduates, it was interesting to see how our seniors have assimilated into
the “adult working world”, out of the CN Yang shell we called home for most of
our university lives.
CNYSP alumni catching up over buffet dinner and drinks
After dinner and Lou-hei (Because it was CNY!), we were ushered into
different meeting rooms for the alumni sharing session. I attended the talk by
Meldon, a current Year 1 PhD student in Chemistry. He shared about how OFYP and
research attachments outside of curriculum hours have cemented his resolve on
doing a PhD, and his struggles with finding the correct advisor to work for.
His passion and enthusiasm for Chemistry throughout the talk were evident, and
somewhat inspiring.
Meldon’s sharing session
It is always heartening to listen to our fellow CN Yang seniors’
stories, as it reassures us that no matter how though school might be, seniors
have done it before, we will also make it one day as well. Although life might
take us to different paths in the future, we were all bonded together once by
this CN Yang journey and I certainly look forward to day I attend Homecoming Day
as a senior!
As Jia Yong was not present for the other 3 sharing sessions, here
are the reflections by the scholars who attended them:
By Carissa (Year 1, CBE)
I attended the sharing by Jia Xuan, a graduate from NTU CBE who is
currently an analyst at data analytics firm SAS. His sharing caught my interest
because he was working in a different field from what he majored in, and I
wanted to find out why he made the switch. Jia Xuan shared about data analytics
and the SAS Business Intelligence & Analytics Program, which gives a “crash
course on data analytics” for those passionate in data analytics but do not
have much experience. He ended off by sharing how to decide whether data
analytics is for you, which included being willing to deal with numerical
results and enjoying challenging, open-ended problems. During the Q&A
segment, I asked Jia Xuan what made him decide to pursue data analytics despite
majoring in CBE. His answer was that based on his internship experience, he
preferred more of a desk job. He was also interested in coding and mathematics,
which eventually led to him pursuing data analytics. One interesting takeaway
from Jia Xuan’s sharing was that the NTU email is a good source for
opportunities like internships or other experiential programmes. Another
insight I have gained from his sharing is that we should be willing to explore
beyond our majors , and not feel limited to a particular field.
By Cerise Lim (Year 1, CBE)
I attended the sharing by Jowell, who was a CN Yang Aerospace
Engineering major, currently studying at Duke-NUS Medical school. As someone
who is interested in medical research, I was keen to hear what he had to say
about his experience. He started off by introducing Duke-NUS Medical school,
which offers 3 different tracks: MD (Doctor of Medicine) track in which Jowell
is enrolled, PhD program as well as a joint MD-PhD program. Jowell very
helpfully provided information on the admissions process for prospective
applicants in the room; he explained the rolling admission process and the
application requirements such as MCAT scores, essays and reference letters. I had the chance to ask him about the
differences between graduating from graduate medical school and undergraduate
medical school, to which he elaborated on the differences in curriculum
structure. Undergraduate medical students have more clinical experience and
more time to study the requisite content. However, graduate school students
make up for it with their mental maturity, research experience and soft skills
that they have developed with time. For those not interested in applying to
medical school, it was still interesting to hear about his switch from
Aerospace Engineering to Medicine. Jowell realised his interest in medicine
during semester exchange and made use of the research opportunities CN Yang
offers to get to know the medical field, which remains helpful and relevant to
his studies today. Overall, it was lovely to hear the valuable experiences of
the alumni and I really appreciate all the alumni for taking time to share
them!
By Ryan Soh (Year 2, BS)
During his sharing, Akshay described his journey through NTU and
CNYSP. Although he was from SCBE, Akshay told us how he was interested in
biomedical research and elaborated on the biomedical research he undertook as
part of the CNYSP curriculum, including his OFYP at Harvard Medical School. He
cheerfully answered the juniors’ numerous questions about the OFYP process,
including how to go about searching for projects and labs. Akshay also
described his internship experience at IQVIA, which was a consulting company
based on human data science, and half-jokingly remarked that the work there was
perfect for scholars from CN Yang! Throughout his talk, Akshay encouraged us to
pursue our interests and not to be afraid of trying out new things. When asked
about what he was going to be doing now that he has graduated, Akshay revealed
that he would be starting work at Abbott, a global healthcare industry, the
week after Homecoming. Indeed, Akshay has truly embraced the multidisciplinary
ethos of the CN Yang Scholars Programme!
The CN Yang Scholars’ Club (CNYSC) is set up and run by the scholars of the CN Yang Scholars Programme. The management committee is elected by the scholars on an annual basis.
