Contents 1 President’s Forward Club Activities 21st Management Committee 2 Annual General Meeting 5 Investiture 6 Subcom Bonding Night 7 8 Relax Corner 9 Professor Interview 11 Intra School Games 14 Student Sharing
President’s Forward
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hank you for picking up our first issue of LETS CEE (11/12). As always, the first issue of every year is always filled with many exciting features and elements that our new editor has created together with her team. Embracing the spirit of change, this issue has made improvements both in terms of content and design. All of these are while done keeping in mind of the needs our students have for current information, CEE events and happenings around our school. As part of the tradition, we have included updates of CEE activities such as CEE intra-school games and CEE Club Investiture. At the same time, you can enjoy our new features – such as the interview with CEE Professor to find out what how our professors spend time outside our classrooms. In this issue, you will also find out about the newly elected 21st CEE CLUB committee. The 21st committee will be organizing a slew of events throughout the year with the aim of looking after our students‘ academic and well-beings. I would like to take this opportunity to let you know more about our organization and projects.
LI ANG President
21st Management Committee Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) Club Nanyang Technological University
The 21st committee is consisted of 18 main committee members and 97 subcommittee members. We have 8 portfolios namely the usual business, social, welfare, publicity, publication, sports, logistic, as well as the newly formed Special Project portfolio. This year, CEE is proud to be the hosting school of the Combined Engineering Charity Event 2012. The special project portfolio will be full focused to make sure this year‘s charity event a meaningful and successful one.
Other then the addition of a new portfolio, our committee has also done a review of the existing products we are providing to our students. Social, welfare, and sports have each come up with their own new projects, namely, CEE Movies Night, CEE Seminar and CEE Campus Run. Business, publication and logistic have also designed ways to improve on their portfolios. At the same time, you can be sure that your favorite projects such as the exam welfare goodies bags and the Peer Mentoring Schemes are there to have students get some relief from the hectic studying. As your exams are drawing near, I would like to send you our best wishes on behalf of the editing team. We wish you will continue to keep yourself updated through our LET‘S CEE. Best Regards, Li Ang
20th MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE
Annual General Meeting TEXT & PHOTO Luo Jing
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he 20th management committee annual general meeting of CEE Club was conducted on 13th September 2011 in the CEE clubhouse. During the meeting, previous appointment holders addressed speeches concluding what they have done in the last year, expressing the expectations towards the new comers as well as the growth of CEE Club. During the event, the CEE clubhouse was packed with subcommittees from different divisions. As the meeting commenced, the president of the 20th CEE Club committee made an imposing statement, daring ―to say that the CEE Club is the only club that has provided highly developed educational and career exposures to its students……‖. Just as Setiadi had mentioned, in the past year, the 20th Management Committee has had excellent performance in organizing various CEE Events like the following, just to name a few●
Investiture night
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CEE day and night
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―CEE GOT TALENT‖
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Mr and Ms CEE competition ●
Various site visits
Peer Mentoring Schemes and formulating PYP solutions ●
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Exam welfare day
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Intra and inter school games
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Let‘s CEE publication
All these activities have been warmly received from the student population and hence promoted the club to a relatively high level. All the achievements of CEE Club cannot be attained without the diligence and enthusiasm of our 20th Management Committees. Let‘s thank them again for their dedication and I firmly believe that the club will scale even greater heights!
TEXT Liu Ailing PHOTO Feng Yuyun, Zhu Kankang & Prithvi Poola
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eptember 16 was the day that marked the end of the one-year of service of the 20th Main Committee and the commissioning of their successors, the 21st Main Committee. That evening, the Investiture Ceremony was held in Lecture Theatre 8 for CEE to show its appreciation for the services rendered to the school by the 20 th Main Committee. The Guest of Honor was Professor Soh Chee Kiong, the Acting Chair of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
A video presentation was also played, showing memorable snapshots of the events organized by the 20th committee. This was followed by the playing of CEE club song, ― I CEE‖. A cake was also presented, marking the 21st Birthday of CEE club. Professor Soh was welcomed to give an inspiring speech. Following this, a certificate of appreciation was presented to each of the 20th Committee by Professor Soh. The ceremony ended with a speech by the president of the 21st committee.
The ceremony commenced with Setiadi Juan, the president of the outgoing 20th Committee, delivering his address. In his speech, he exhorted the new committee to serve the student population of CEE with compassion and not just duty. He also paid tribute to the outgoing committee for their hard work throughout the year. Subsequently, the 20th Committee was presented with a gift prepared by the upcoming committee from the respectively portfolios.
The ceremony was indeed very touching, as we saw the outgoing committee expressing their well wishes to their successors. Surpassing their predecessors in serving the student body can be a daunting task, however, the new committees are filled with confidence and they are not deterred by the challenges that lie before them. With the encouragement and support from the professors and students, the 21st Committee has much to look forward to in their bid to serve the student body well.
”The fun is afoot.” TEXT Yan Jing PHOTO Zhu Kankang
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he subcomm night this year was an exhilarating event. It commenced at 18:50 at lecture theatre 8, initiated by the president of the 21st management committee of the CEE club, Li Ang. It was a night where the activities broke the ice for the subcommittee members of CEE club, where bonds were forged and friends were made. It was truly a relaxing and enjoyable night. The ice-breaking event was a detective role play of sorts. The photos of the crime scenes were displayed and there were 5 suspects. The subcomm members were separated to 6 groups and the mission of each group was to find out who was the murderer through the clues offered by relevant personnel and by inspection of the crime scene. The person who got killed was a photographer who was cast by Hendrie, the current Honorary General Secretary. He was a subordinate of Li Ang, who role-played as the boss of a company. He was in a bad relationship with his wife and had an affair with a colleague. His boss often quarreled with him. On that fateful day, he was found dead in the dark room where he intended to take some photos and leave the company. Cause of death: Blunt trauma on the back of the head. Time of death: 4:10pm. The people in different groups firstly introduced themselves and subsequently moved to stations to obtain clues for the case. At each station, a trail awaited them. The games began in an atmosphere of tension as every group raced to discover the truth as quickly as possible. There were various games at different stations around benches near the schools of CEE, MAE and chips stick on their faces. The crime scene that was actually located at the clubhouse was inspected and there were some photos on the table and a
profile case of photos. The murder weapon was in a dustbin, although our group did not manage to find it. The people at the stations were the main committee members and they played the roles well, seemingly having a flair for acting. At the end of the games, the groups went back to lecture theatre 8 to report their results. The truth was then revealed. It turned out that Li Ang was the murderer because he had some secret drug dealings, which was in turn discovered by Hendrie. They quarreled and Hendrie tried to blackmail Li Ang. Feeling threatened, Li Ang used a water bottle to kill him. The secrets of the drug dealing were hidden in the photos. The photos were numbered but only number 2 was at the crime scene, the murderer took the rest away. Publications‘ main committee Pey wen‘s group was the fastest and got the prize. The subcomm night ended with a riotous photo taking session of the individual groups and of the club, as a whole.
While one may feel daunted by the challenges in the core modules ahead, let‘s just say that the professors will make your life slightly easier by the things they say or do. Who ever thought the profs had a relaxed side too? As this is our first issue, we're still in the process of finding some more stuff that the profs say, hence the list below isn't exhaustive. No worries, we'll update it as we go along. Stay tuned to this page :D The best time you can find a partner, is in university. When you go to work, you won't find this kind of standard. Assoc Prof Tay Joo Hwa (Environmental Engineering) Today I will teach you about the father and son structures. The father is a good father, so whatever the son carries, he will carry for him. But the son is not a good son, as whatever he carries he will throw to his father. (Teaching about stable and unstable structures) Assoc Prof Li Bing (Structures I) The walers and struts are like girlfriends and boyfriends. When your girlfriend sits on your lap, she has to sit comfortably or she will fall. You help me I help you, you know? Assoc Prof Chiew Sing Ping (Steel Design)
Relax Corner
Illustrator Li Ya
Quick quiz! Wanna win a prize? It‘s very simple! You just need to answer a question that related to our magazine. The question is: Who is the guest of honor for CEE Investiture 2011?
Hint: A professor with ―special‖ hair color
Text your answer to +65-98994633 now. The first two persons will get a
THUMBDRIVE!!!
FREE
Professor Professor
Tan Kang Hai
TEXT Chung Ervin Zhu Kankang PHOTO Zhu Kankang
College of Engineering Professor Division of Structures and Mechanics School of Civil and Environmental Engineering Director of Protective Technology Research Centre Director of Office of Global Education Mobility Nanyang Technological University
Prof Tan (left) and his current PhD student in Protective Engineering Lab, NTU Protective Engineering Lab
fessors from both the Civil Engineering and Architecture Department. My partner and I worked through close to 50 hours (without sleep) to get the project done as our architecture partners only finalized their concept after 3.5 days into the week.
Office of Global Education Mobility NTU Q: What do you think is the difference in curriculum and training between University of Manchester and NTU? T: I am not so sure about the current curriculum of Manchester University for Civil Engineering. Back then in the 1980s and early 1990s, the emphasis in curriculum for these two universities was quite different. I had a 3year course for Bachelor of Science (in Civil Engineering) from University of Manchester. I covered courses like finite element theory including plate and shell theory, advanced nu-
merical method and structural dynamics. There was less emphasis on design subjects. That said, in the final year we had to do two design projects. The first project was on a structural design involving two Civil engineering students and three Architecture students, working together as a team to design a museum. We had the blueprints and functional requirements for the project. Within a week, we had to submit a formal design report, including the structural and architectural drawings, and give a formal presentation in front of pro-
The second project was on a civil engineering project - this involved the analysis, design, construction and instrumentation of a dam. We were given borehole information of soil and contours of the land on which the dam was to be built. Within a week, we had to present an excavation plan to suit terrain, location of dam on the map, detailed soil calculations using flow net analysis, slope stability analysis, design of channels, instrumentation of the dam, etc. During this project, we were required to make a lot of assumptions with regard to the various analyses conducted. I learnt a lot from working on these two open-ended design projects.
Here at NTU, design projects are more specific in scope and over a greater period of duration. This allows the students to have more time to gather the necessary design information and/or conduct various analyses. Civil Engineering content is more closely linked to practice and is wider in scope compared to my curriculum then. The training in NTU is geared towards engineering practice, so that students are better equipped for the local industries.
enrich the intellectual preparation of our students and fundamentally enhance the relevance of an NTU education. To advance this educational mission, OGEM strives to inspire students to think creatively and globally, and to challenge themselves intellectually by venturing beyond their cultural and linguistic zones of comfort through various mobility programs i.e. Study Exchange, Summer Programs, Work & Study and/or Research.
At the undergraduate level, whilst there is little coverage on finite element theory, this is more than compensated by a greater study depth in the structural and soil design. Recently, local NTU students with second class upper and above are encouraged to progress to PhD studies after their first degree. Conditions such as competitive remuneration and research in a conducive environment with state-of-the-art facilities make the pursuit of further studies very attractive.
Q: What do you think is your greatest achievement so far?
Q: In 1989, you received Henry Adams by the Institution of Structural Engineers (U.K). Can you share a little regarding the research you were working on? T: It was my PhD topic on sandwich panels for offshore structures. Shell, the oil company, wanted light-weight sandwich panels for accommodation modules in North Sea offshore platforms. The design requirements are that these panels should be able to resist operational forces in offshore platforms. I helped them to analyze and design sandwich panels to resist lateral static loads. I designed a test rig and an air-bag testing system, prototype sandwich panels, analyzed structural performance using finite element software and derived mechanical models for predicting structural behavior of these sandwich panels. Q: You are the director of Protective Technology Research Center. How is it like to work with the ministry of defense? T: It is very engaging. It is simply structural engineering research at the fore front. If you do normal research for steel structures, you usually only consider static loading from live and dead loads and even wind loads. For military structures, the focus is on structural resistance to dynamic forces. DSTA staffs have to manage the sensitivity of various research projects and carve them out in parcels such that we only know the necessary information to carry out the assigned research. Thus, DSTA-funded projects are like any engineering projects with well defined deliverables. Still, we are allowed some room such that we could break new ground with our research. Honestly, there is no textbook or step-by-step solution for these research projects. DSTA would not have approached us if this were so, since DSTA has many competent engineers on board too. Besides advising them on how to tackle some of these challenging questions, more importantly, how these approaches or solutions may be implemented. DSTA and MHA are not interested in pure academic research. They want practical solutions to challenging problems in the real world. With my colleague A/P Lee Chi King and our PhD students, we have developed a finite element program capable of simulating structural resistance to progressive collapse. It is now being tested by DSTA engineers. Besides PTRC responsibilities, I am also the Director of the Office of Global Education Mobility (OGEM), managing a 14-member team. OGEM plays a vital role in the university‘s internationalization strategy by encouraging and supporting students to undertake part of their degree overseas at one of NTU‘s industrial or university partner institutions. The office facilitates NTU‘s teaching partnerships and management of the various global immersion programs via more than 150 partners across 30 countries worldwide. Pursuing the vision of building global talents, this office believe that knowledge, skills and experiences gained through academic and cultural immersion offered by studying or working and living abroad
T: To me great achievement is in the likes of discovering a new theory and/or the enabling of a whole new approach to engineering problems. I have contributed much to the area of structural fire engineering. In the area of steel and composite steel structures, I have developed new mechanical models to simulate the joint behavior. With my former PhD students, I have developed a finite element program to simulate behavior of steel structures in fire. It is most satisfying to have some of my work in structural fire engineering presented as keynotes in international conferences and also to see them applied in engineering works in Singapore. I am pleased to have hosted one of the most prestigious research conferences in my field, the Structures-in-Fire International conference (SiF) at NTU in Yr 2008. Only 40% of the papers were approved for presentation while the rest are either rejected or accepted as research posters. Currently, I serve as one of the 6 track leaders in ―Steel Structures‖ for SiF 2012 to be hosted by ETH in Zurich. Besides structural fire engineering, my current research focus is in the area of progressive collapse of structures. Q: Has civil engineering changed a lot over the years? T: Civil engineering has shifted a great deal indeed. Still, it is a good industry to be in for local students. Due to globalization, some of the high-end manufacturing industries have migrated to China and elsewhere, where infrastructure and labor costs are lower. However, civil engineering works have to be managed locally as we cannot ship a precast flat from China to Singapore, although one may transport some precast components from JB to Singapore. To boost a talent‘s value in this industry, one must develop other engineering skills that link with M&E services, and cultivate an integrated view towards an engineering design project. This would mean that students need to see problems from different points of view and give value-added services to developers and architects. Q: What is your advice to undergraduate students? T: Students need to strike a fine balance between study and activities. It is good to be engaged in activities. But some students spend far too much time on activities. Also, students need to focus on acquiring negotiation skills, developing leadership traits, improving communications, rather than simply expanding their social network. In learning, students need to focus on theory and understand its applications in practice. Whilst design procedures change from time to time, theory seldom changes. Students tend to mistake ―the trees for the forest‖, that is, they concentrate too much on intricate details (the trees – design rules) such that they fail to see the overall big picture (the forest - theory). Take the leap and experience the world while pursuing studies at NTU. This shall provide opportunities for you as a young talent to develop global perspectives in your area of specialty. You may choose from a slew of global mobility programs e.g. Study Exchange, Summer Programs, Research and/or Work and Study etc. organized by OGEM or CEE. Stay curious. Ask lots of questions, not only on the practical ones but also on various assumptions in theory. More importantly, learn how theory is applied in practice.
TEXT Chung Ervin, Luo Jing, Chong Wanyoon PHOTO Luo Jing, Chong Wanyoon, Poola Prithvi, Zhu Kankang Excitement, enthusiasm-----and perhaps desire were growing stronger day by day. They had been anticipating for this for ages. And finally, the event came at last. Yes, it‘s the CEE Intra School Games 2011/12. Organized by the Sports Committee of CEE Club, which took place on 11 and 12 October, this event aimed to promote sense of affiliation and to foster strong team
bonding among the CEE students. Overall, this event was a success as it managed to attract much attention, both from the sports players—of course, and the non-players. In addition, the participation rate was relatively higher than the participation rate in the last year. During the first day, on which the sports matches car-
ried out, the event kicked start at 6.00pm at SRC outdoor and the indoor courts. This year, there were 4 sports games, namely futsal (street soccer), basketball, captain ball and lastly, table tennis. Street soccer and captain ball took place in the outdoor, while table tennis and basketball in the indoor courts. Basically, all the players in all games but table tennis were teamed up and there would be one winner team for each. As for table tennis, the participants could sign up without teaming up as individual players. The matches, competitions ended at roughly 9.00pm. The sports players had had an exciting as well as a tiring day. On the second day, the prizes presentation took place. It was on Wednesday evening, from 6.00pm to 9.00pm. Professor Soh Chee Kiong was our guest of honor. Instead of a speech, Prof Soh made a sweet three-pointer shootout to congratulate all the players. Subsequently, the winners were announced. All the prize winners or the representatives proudly received their prizes and soon after that, the ceremony ended. Overall, this event was a huge success. Apart from fostering stronger ties among the players, this event also managed to further cement the bonds between the committees. Lastly, congratulations to the winners and well done to all the committees who worked tirelessly to make this event a huge success!
In August 2010, I went for the Global Immersion Programme (Study) at the Technical University of Denmark in Denmark. The 5-months exchange experience was life-changing. I had to learn how to take care of myself in a foreign country for the first time. As the food in Denmark was not cheap like those we can find in hawker centres in Singapore, often my cheapest option is to go to the nearby Netto (Famous grocery store in Denmark) to get some groceries for cooking. My cooking was not good but I was lucky to be staying with people with great culinary skills. International exchange students are allocated campus accommodation in the campus village, which we called 'The Containers'. Within each container, 8-10 students are sharing kitchen, shower room and toilet facilities. As I was living with people from different nationalities, I had the chance to taste Italian, Indian, Japanese and Korean cuisines while I was in Denmark. One of the most memorable time in Denmark was to cook and eat with my ‗container‘ mates and chat for long hours in the kitchen. Besides living, I had to attend classes with various Erasmus students from the other parts of Europe. Taking courses such as Solid Waste Management, Water Treatment, Water supply in developing countries, Human Resource Management and Structural Design, I was able to communicate with
Undergraduate Research Experience On Campus (URECA) program has given me a deeper understanding of what scientific research is all about. It gives me firsthand experience on the application of the fundamental theories we learn in university. Throughout the whole program, I have not only read a handful of journals, articles but also written my own technical paper and being able to present my result on an A3 size poster. I would not gain all these experiences if I did not take up URECA. Almost half of my URECA program coincided with my Industrial Attachment. In other words, I was not able to
the international students regarding our different learning experience in our home countries. We did various projects together and all of us managed to learn a lot from each other's expertise and background. At the end of the exchange, I managed to know environmental students from France, Italy, Spain, Denmark, Germany, Chicago, Canada and many more. I would say, It's really a great professional network! Other than that, I also took the opportunity during term breaks to go travelling around Europe with my buddy Yoong Shin, who's also a student from NTU CEE. We went to many countries and cities. It was really a great experience to eat the local food, watch Barcelona play football, enjoy orchestra in Vienna as well as just simply walking around and soaking up the local atmosphere.
carry out the experiment on weekdays. Therefore, I had no choice but to rearrange my URECA timetable to get the experiment done during the weekend while extracting and analysing the experiment data on weekdays. After some time, surprisingly, I realized that I have gained even more. The reason behind this was because analysing experiment data is very important in research. Data collected will not show you the truth without proper analysis. URECA was definitely a challenging program because it has enhanced many of my life skills such as time management, self-management, creativity and communication skills. It has also sharpened my ability to analyse data and improves my research skills, which comes in very handy when I do my Final Year Project (FYP). I am very thankful for this exclusive experience and I would like to express my utmost gratitude to my supervisor, Associate Professor Lim Siow Yong, PhD student, Miss Xie Chen, project partner, Andrew Julius Tionardy and all the lab assistants for their continuous and tireless support.
eficial experience with CPG, I had the chances to know about T.O.D, T.I.A, SIDRA Intersection Software. The five-month working experience enabled me to learn something new and enhance old knowledge as well.
Industrial Attachment Program is designed to expose third year students to the day-to-day work environment of a professional engineer. Compared with the way students study at school, on-the-job training will definitely provide a totally different learning experience. With completion of this special program, students will be more effective and productive in an actual working environment. The communication skills cultivated throughout will play an important role in their future working life.
In addition, I understood how important effective and positive interpersonal skills are in the workplace. I got opportunities to train my communication skills through interactions and discussions with supervisors, colleagues and surveyors. I built up leadership skills by conducting briefing and assigning tasks to part-time surveyors from different countries with diverse backgrounds. I also strengthened my social skills through practicing active listening and try to understand people‘s point of view when doing projects.
In the course of this fruitful attachment, I have not only gained invaluable working experience but also picked up interpersonal skills and learnt the importance of team work in the industry.
Besides, I realized the value of teamwork through solving difficulties faced. With different targets assigned to different people clearly, we were managed to complete TIA ahead of a tight schedule. With collaboration and indivudual ideas contributed from each team member, we managed to solve problems encountered. With involvement and participation of every member, we were able to get more ideas on each other‘s working styles, and thus, had more effective communication and a more comfortable working experience.
Before I was attached at CPG Consultant Pte Ltd, I had very limited knowledge about traffic engineering and had no idea how to apply the university knowledge to work. Through the ben-
Last but not the least, the best benefit I think should be making many friends there. To exchange different reviews and ideas on work or life is pretty joyful. Their support, advices and encouragement are very precious for me.
Being in a developer company especially in my department as a project manager, is totally different from being in a consultant and contractor firm. Basically, we are the parties who coordinate with architects, consultants and contractors to oversee the project, review their designs and confirm everything goes smoothly within the schedule. In the past 6 months, I had the opportunity to meet with a lot of engineers from the various fields like civil, structural, mechanical and electrical, just to name a few. Architects and other marketing executives complete the other category of people whom I meet. As I was working more on planning, I didn‘t really do calculations over there. The learning experience gained contrasts with what I have learned in university, especially during meetings. You may expect that most of the time what I do in those
I went to the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) Summer School. Being a part of LSE Summer School, it gives me the opportunity to study and live in central London, at the very heart of the most ethnically-diverse capital in the UK. With well over 100 nationalities represented at the Summer School, we are exposed to different backgrounds and cultures, gaining new insights and outlooks through new relationships and networks. This mix encourages a truly global and international approach to intellectual discovery and academic life at LSE. I had an intensive three-week course, Human Resource and Employment Relations there. The programme was a learning experience made unique by a truly diverse mix of participants and with an eclectic range of backgrounds. The atmosphere around campus is convivial and interactive, enabling students to develop friendships and networks which will last well beyond the programme. ―Summer School, a school and not a holiday.‖ – quoted by my Summer School course lecturer. Despite the intensive course structure, I tried to make full use of the remaining time to discover most of the interesting places and must-do(s) in London. Lon-
meetings is simply observing, (the topic that they were talking are terms that I have never come across before), but I could observe how they worked out building‘s design criteria together, solve each party‘s concern. This is a precious experience that I would never learn from typical lessons held in NTU. They will also have a 3 days workshop to determine the final decision for all issues including design criteria and cost incurred. Sometimes my supervisor will pass me some preliminary design reports for my comments, and should there be mistakes I would point them out in the meeting. As it is a developer company, occasionally there will be presentations from other companies on their company profile or new technology, like facade wall, wind tunnel test and jump lift. I would say working in Keppel Land has broadened my horizon in the real engineering world.
don Underground Tube can get you to everywhere and is easy to navigate. However, the Tubes were usually packed and felt like a hot packed cattle as there is no air-conditioner in the Tubes and this makes me appreciate Singapore‘s MRT even more. Fantastic attractions like most of the museums, parks are all with free admission and this makes London a bit less terrifying in the budgeting department. Shopping is a real adventure in London too; from luxury goods to quirky finds, to large shopping centres, I can easily while away an hour, an afternoon or a whole day shopping in London. Although disappointed with the food (cold sandwiches and salads) in London sometimes, I can still sort the good from bad with right atmosphere and price after doing slight researches. There are also organised social programmes by LSE Summer School giving students an opportunity to meet and relax with course teachers and fellow participants. One of the activities is the Riverboat Cruise along the famous River Thames. It is a great way to get some good sightseeing and great views of all the landmarks along the way and meet with fellow summer school participants. Other activities that are done in this exciting city are watching musicals, football stadium tours, watching changing of guards in front of Westminster Palace and etc.