In this series, Science@NTU gets to know the 2023 CoS valedictorians. They give a quick overview of their time in CoS, and also offer a few words of advice on transitioning into the next phase of life. Finally, we meet Shawn Ang from the Asian School of the Environment.
How did you end up studying Environmental Earth Systems Science and Public Policy & Global Affairs?
The climate crisis and environmental degradation that were hurting people and the natural world was something I care a lot about and wanted to be part of a solution for.
To do so would require knowledge and experience with both environmental and climate systems as well as human and societal systems, understanding the science to know what solutions are needed, and understanding people and society to know how to fight for the changes needed and to put these solutions in place.
ASE’s Environmental Earth Systems Science and Public Policy & Global Affairs was then a clear choice to me, as a union that gave me the opportunity to be trained in both fields.
What did you enjoy most during your four years in NTU ASE?
I enjoyed most the caring, passionate, and inclusive teaching environment at ASE, where many of our faculty and staff were driven and determined in their work to make a change for communities and the world.
It was evident in their teaching, and gave us the platform to engage them critically on these topics that all of us cared strongly about. Whether through the invaluable field trips to see, touch, and experience the landforms, ecosystems, and social systems we were studying that were a cornerstone of our ASE education, or bringing guest speakers and experts into the classroom, such wide-ranging exposure made our learning all the more holistic and comprehensive.
Coupled with the welcoming and inclusive atmosphere many faculty members created in their classrooms, the learning environment was conducive for us to broaden our worldviews, nuance our perspectives, and altogether help us become the more critical, compassionate, and intersectional environmental scientists and professionals we are today, and will be in the future.
Which experience had the greatest impact on you?
Dr Natasha Bhatia, one of our amazing lecturers at ASE, always told us at the start of each course she taught, to take chances and take risks, and three times I did that in my four years have become some of my most treasured times in university.
In my first year, together with some friends, we started NTU Divest, a group campaigning for NTU to divest its endowment fund from fossil fuels, that eventually led to Students for a Fossil Free Future in 2022. Stepping into this new role of an activist pushed all of us to grow, learn, and develop a myriad of skillsets, and hopefully we have shaped and pushed forward the climate crisis discourse in Singapore, and created more space for student activism.
In my second year, I was given a chance to join ASE’s inaugural Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion committee which I have been part of since. Besides working toward building a better ASE and NTU alongside incredibly passionate and driven people on the committee, these four principles have now become important values to me personally.
In my last year, I serendipitously discovered the welcoming community of NTU Lindy Hop and the African American partner swing dance of the same name. Having never participated in performing arts before and not in a million years ever thinking I would, breaking through my hesitation and taking that leap of faith to join the club turned out to be one of the best decisions I would make in my final year, where I would discover new possibilities and find a second family in NTU beyond ASE.
What’s your next step after graduation?
I’m currently interning at Conservation International, and I hope to embark on Masters studies in the University of Twente in the coming academic year, studying Geo-information Science and Earth Observation. In the coming years, I hope to become an environmental science professional and contribute to intersectional climate justice!
Any words of advice to students who intend to study Science?
Don’t limit yourself! If you’re considering programmes to pursue, read widely on possibilities in NTU, Singapore, but also the world – which is your oyster! Talk to seniors, faculty, and staff, reach out to strangers to ask questions, and make the best decision for yourself! If you’re considering a science programme but don’t have a strong background in science, don’t be quick to rule things out for yourself, figure out what possibilities there are to still study such programmes if that’s where your interests lie!
Take chances and take risks to try things you’ve never done before in your undergraduate years, find like-minded communities to pursue your interests and passions with, and you might find your university years being transformative, fulfilling, and full of growth! You’re about to embark on an incredible adventure, all the very best!
What advice do you have for your peers who are graduating this year?
To my ASE batchmates, I hope we’ll remember for a long time to come why we decided to study environmental sciences all those years ago, why we’re passionate about our own disciplines whether in ecology, geosciences, society, or beyond – including all the incredible places you all are going now, and what are the things we care for! I know wherever we go, we’ll be transformative, we’ll be forces of change, and we’ll do everyone at ASE, each other, and our loved ones proud.
Provide a quote that inspires you.
“Instead, I increasingly tap into my right to be idealistic, the right to be idealistic. I think of this as resisting cynicism and helplessness, and insisting on continuing to dream of, aspire for, work towards, the not yet possible. For me, this is what can keep us from wearing ourselves out trying to find signs of hope. We are working towards the not yet possible – recognize this, keep moving. We cannot say when or how our dreams will finally come through, but we can wake up every day and know our purpose, and our purpose is simply this: there is work to be done. … There is work to be done, and so we will do it. In cynical times, this is our radical act, dreaming still, of the not yet possible.”
Teo You Yenn, from Bonus Episode: Saga 10th Anniversary Speeches – Saga, a podcast by Association of Women for Action and Research (AWARE)