BRAINSTORMING, BUSINESS AND BALL-PITS IN BERLIN - DRIVING AWAY THE ZZZS WITH AI - SUTD
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ISSUE 02
DRIVING
AWAY
THE ZZZS
NO MORE WITH AI
FREE SPACE? PAGE 8
SUTD AT VENICE BIENNALE
PAGE 32
BREAKFAST’S
PACKED,
LET’S BEGIN!
A DAY IN SUTD
PAGE 7
BRAINSTORMING,
BUSINESS AND
BALL-PITS IN BERLIN
PAGE 16
CONTENTS SUTD’S GREAT FIGURES
1 10 $3700,
3
2009,
19 ASIAN LEADERSHIP Established in We’re Our graduates earn the highest starting salary of
PROGRAMME
St
SUTD’S GREAT FIGURES 20 ALP THEMES AND PROJECTS
on the
4 22 SIGHTS AND TECH IN HANGZHOU
we’ll be be celebrating our
list of
10
THE FUN, THE LAUGHTER, 23 A TRANSFORMABLE SPACE the top
THE SWEAT FOR A HISTORICAL PLACE th
anniversary emerging engineering schools
in the world.+ highest among NUS, NTU, SMU and SIT.*
6 24 WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS next year.
100 7
IS A LITTLE NAP
HOUSE GUARDIANS, 25 FOR BOB THAT VIS
AT YOUR SERVICE! With close to The number of years SUTDents have access to the
our SUTDents designed Fabrication Lab, a world-class maker
24/7
26 A SUMMER IN TOKYO the Chinatown CNY space for the next big invention
7 27 HOW HALF A YEAR
light-up. They also
participate in other
BREAKFAST’S PACKED, IN SWEDEN CHANGED ME festivals like i Light
LET’S BEGIN! Marina Bay and
28 A TRULY KOREAN EXPERIENCE Singapore Night
Festival every year.
8 Fifth Row clubs,
1
29 THE SPIRIT OF SILICON VALLEY AT EIA
2
PROJECT SENTIENCE SUTDents get
Our SUTDents can start building
Day With close to
500
30 ROBOTICS FEVER IN JAPAN
a better world through access to
10 31 WAVING THROUGH THE
FUTURE OF MOBILITY
research opportunities from
HISTORY BENEATH OUR FEET
32 VENICE BIENNALE
sqm
11 33 THE PALLADIO STUDIO
afternoons each week to
of incubation space, SUTD is an
entrepreneurs’ heaven and the
MEASURING THE
Source: The Straits Times © Singapore Press Holdings Limited.
pursue their passions.
34 birthplace of over 30 start-ups.
Permission required for reproduction.
UNMEASURABLE
100
INTERNSHIPS One success story is Codomo -
%
40
12 We take pride in attracting a
the brainchild behind the coding
% card game Potato Pirates.
35 IT’S OK TO BE SCARED
SUTDents AROUND
THE WORLD 36 INTERNSHIP AT GRAB
14 GLOBAL LEADERSHIP 36 CREATING A CORE DATA of our scholarships
STRATEGY AT BP
PROGRAMME female cohort yearly. are bond-free.
34
$250K
15 ADVENTURES IN 37 A FIRST LOOK INTO
HEALTHCARE ARCHITECTURE • Raised over within
Down-
THE GOLDEN STATE
5000
SUTDents have worked on 10 hours of launch on Kickstarter
16 BRAINSTORMING, 38 DESIGNING WHAT COMES NEXT • Sold more than
BUSINESS AND
BALL-PITS IN BERLIN 39 TAKING THE PATH LESS TRAVELLED Town 10,000 decks
within 6 months
Line
2012
18 WHAT’S IN MY ROOM? life- • Awarded the
improving SG Good Design Mark
sutd.edu.sg design The Upper Changi Station with a Special Mention
projects
Check out more exciting SUTDsingapore since is right at our doorstep. • Translated to 21 languages
stories on #WeAreSUTD blog
at wearesutd.sutd.edu.sg SUTDsg
+Source: ‘The global state of the art in engineering education’, a study * Median gross monthly salary. Based on the results of the annual Joint Graduate Employment
commissioned by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Survey conducted by SUTD and four other autonomous universities - NTU, NUS, SIT and SMU
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STUDENT GOVERNMENT
THE FUN,
They say that all work and no play
makes Jack a dull boy. Well, not The SUTD Student Government, also known as ROOT, is dedicated to enriching
here at SUTD. With a vibrant range student life and acts as a bridge between the student populace and school
of dynamic Fifth Row clubs, there
THE LAUGHTER,
management. ROOT is divided into the following committees: Communications
is really no time for Jack to be dull. and Public Relations, Events and Welfare, Student Initiatives, Orientation and
Fifth Row refers to CCAs, where Finance. Each has their own specialised set of tasks but they all ultimately come
we get our Wednesday and Friday See Yan Chee together to foster a spirit of innovation and openness to new ideas.
THE SWEAT
afternoons off to do the things we
love! Today, there are close to 100 Benedict
Junior What makes ROOT stand out from the other Student Unions here in Singapore is
Fifth Row clubs ranging from arts that our SUTD family is a very close-knit community, thus no voice goes unheard.
St. Andrew’s Junior
to sports to special interests. We are always open to your suggestions and would love to work hand-in-hand to
College Alumnus
make life here at SUTD better than ever!
ARTS AND CULTURE SPECIALIST SPORTS
CRUX 2018 BY SUTD CLIMBERS
SKETCHERS
Deep water soloing is a form of rock climbing
I started sketching from the Urban Sketching FLIPSIDE EXHIBITION where climbers scale a climbing wall, over a
module in SUTD. From there, I joined the BY 3DC X SUTDIO water body, without harness or rope. Upon
Singapore Urban Sketchers community and completion of the climb, climbers will descend
was impressed by what people from different 3DC is the Digital Design and Development
Club. We work on cool ISTD-related projects into the water. Deep Water Soloing is also SUTD VOLLEYBALL AT
walks of life shared. I thought… why not start known as “Psicobloc” which means psycho
a community in our own backyard, and that’s and spread our passion for programming WORLD UNIVERSITY GAMES
throughout SUTD! I joined 3DC out of an bouldering.
how SUTD Sketchers was born. I was first introduced to volleyball by my
SCRATCH! unscratched itch to work on something
interesting outside of class. At that time, ROTARACT@SUTD CRUX 2018 was held at Toa Payoh Swimming eldest sister during primary school. It used to
Being a fan of electronic dance music, I joined Every year, we organise an overseas trip to Complex in August. The event, which was in its be one of our daily bonding activities.
expose ourselves to a different environment. I already had programming experience and I joined Rotaract@SUTD because I like the
SUTD Scratch! in 2016 with no prior experience freedom of being able to propose community second year, was part of GetActive! Singapore
In 2017, we went to Jakarta and later this year, wanted to work on a hardware project next.
in DJ-ing. When I heard that Scratch! members projects that will benefit the underprivileged. and Singapore National Games 2018. This In 2015, I was scouted to represent Singapore
could join and learn the art from the ground we are heading to Muar. Sketching is a way for year, we attracted about 150 competitors in the Sea Games. Earlier this year, I made the
me to calm my mind, relax, and discover new SUTD is a tight-knit community and we have As part of our International Service Projects,
up, I decided to give this unique form of art a we organise yearly trips to villages in Vietnam which includes both National and International decision to switch to beach volleyball and
things that I have never noticed before. The classmates who are active in SUTDio
try. Not only was I able to explore my passion and Laos to understand their problems climbers. represented both Singapore and SUTD in the
process of creating a sketch will open your (another Fifth Row club that aims at building a
in a safe environment, there were also many and provide solutions to improve their World University Championship (WUC). It
mind to see the world in a different perspective close-knit, holistic and collaborative architecture
opportunities to perform at events. My most circumstances. Crazy ideas were welcomed, CRUX has revolutionised the Singapore was an amazing experience and definitely an
and now, we have a community within SUTD community in SUTD). They found out that 3DC
memorable performance was at the St James like installing solar panels and water filtration climbing scene. Organised by SUTD students, honour to be able to don the Singapore flag
to do it! had done a similar project before - wiring up a
Power Station. It was truly an eye-opening systems for the villages. we made use of technology to create our on my chest and represent SUTD in such a
staircase to play music, so they approached us
experience to be able to take control of the own live scoring system and laser engrave our prestigious competition. I managed to make
to collaborate on an installation at Esplanade,
energy on the dance floor. event logo. Our club even painted the climbing heaps of new friends and learnt more about
Hendriko Teguh which was to be bigger and better! We turned a Fundraising, pre-trip preparations, and local
new cultures along the way.
Senior staircase at the atrium of Esplanade into a piano Community Involvement Projects were some wall ourselves. CRUX 2018 is a grand example
DJ-ing is a skill often associated with males of the really cool things that bonded our of how hard work, innovation and a whole lot
Innova Junior College Alumnus using eight infrared sensors, one on each step, to
and there are far fewer female DJs, but that team. Our local projects include the YEAH! of passion can allow one to make the wildest With a training schedule of at least six sessions
detect the presence of a person stepping, and a
doesn't mean it's any harder for female DJs Programme, where we help to tutor students of dreams come true. weekly, it is definitely a struggle with very
Raspberry Pi to play the piano notes.
to bring on a great party! I'm proud to be a and Newton’s Cradle, a science and technology limited time for my studies. However, I realise
DJ and hope to inspire ladies to learn the art workshop promoting a spirit of learning the importance to work around that and to
The other part of the installation was a James
of DJ-ing as well! Anybody with a passion for through fun ways (like Lego EV3) to children capitalise on whatever remaining time I have.
Bond-style tunnel made out of painted
DJ-ing has the potential to master the skills from lower income families. Presently, I’m really motivated and looking
cardboard, with lasers that you couldn’t touch,
needed to rule a dance floor. forward to participating in the next WUC 2019
otherwise an alarm would go off. SUTDio even
in Spain.
had a smoke machine to fog up the tunnel!
Michelle Chandiari Charlene Boo Hsueh Ling
Sophomore Teo Yi Liang
Junior Nikos Chan Wai Senior
Kingsley Tay Zi Hao
Catholic Junior College St Andrew’s Junior College Alumnus Sophomore
Junior Singapore Polytechnic
Alumnus Raffles Institution Alumnus Temasek Polytechnic Alumnus
Dance Derivativez Ballroom Dance Alumnus
Cuesports Club
(@dancederivativez) (@sutdballroom)
(@sutd.cuesports)
Bands Vocomotives Taal Indian Dance Club Chinese Orchestra Grub Club Energy Club eSports Club Greenprint Club Judo Ultimate Diver Jonathan Chan Fan Keng,
(@sutdbands) (@sutd_vocomotives) (@sutdtaal) (@sutdco) (@sutdgrub) (@sutd_energyclub) (@sutdesports) (@sutdgreenprint) (@sutdjudo) (@sutdultimate) SUTD pride at #AsianGames2018
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02
01
HOUSE BREAKFAST’S
GUARDIANS, PACKED, 04
AT YOUR LET’S BEGIN! 03
SERVICE! 01
Loo Jun Wen
Junior
Gan Jia Min 01 Floor event - A simple hangout session with
floormates Anglo-Chinese Junior College Alumnus
Junior 02 Coffee painting interest-based event 04
Sunway College KL Alumnus 03 Stamp carving workshop
04 Polaroid photo of summer HGs and the new
01 Final term 5 crit session with more profs than
batch of HGs
0815hrs my hours of sleep
Rise and Shine 02 Bright lights and stage fright for Channel U’s
We are a bunch of passionate kids intent on As the sunlight lifted my eyelids, the day Hey DJ Top 10 finals
providing a lively, homely and memorable started with a simple cup of coffee in my 03 Glacier-deep and snow-capped peaks at
hostel life for our fellow students. favourite tumbler and some peanut butter
Siemienova Glacier Base Camp, Kyrgyzstan
04 4-month internship with colleagues who are like
bread to eat along the way to class! my family in Sandowichi (SANDWICH) in Kyoto!
Our role as House Guardians (HGs) aren’t
05 Ripped my jeans but totally worth it for our
just limited to ensuring the wellbeing of 0900hrs wind tower
residents, but also to contribute to the 20.212 - Digital Design
vibrancy of the hostel through exciting and Fabrication Lecture
initiatives and to be their mouthpiece in Finishing my breakfast as I entered the lecture Life at SUTD
managing any hostel-related matters. theatre, Prof. Stylianos Dritsas revealed the • President of SUTD Mountaineering
brief for our upcoming project, to build a wind Club - climbed five peaks and led three
In short, we serve the residents in every tower as high as possible using wood! My expeditions including Mt. Dafeng in
possible way by being a friend, a listening bread almost took a u-turn back up my throat 05
Sichuan, Ong Teng Cheong and Ong
ear and a voice for them. as being the first batch to ever embark on this, Siew May Peaks in Kyrgyzstan as well as
we aren’t sure if this 1:1 model we are making 1800hrs Mt. Rinjani in Lombok Indonesia.
02
will actually stand! Excited yet intimidated, Dinner Break
I gulped down my coffee and uncertainties. • Peer mentor and active member of SUTD
How do HGs welcome freshmores? 1930hrs Ambassadors.
On matriculation day when the freshies are floormates. We also have interest-based 1000hrs Mountaineering Training
moving in, the HGs provide a mini “concierge events almost every month to connect 20.202 - Architectural Structure Whether we are training to scale the icy • Represented SUTD and emerged as
service” by welcoming the residents, and residents with similar interests and hobbies and Enclosure Design peaks in China/Kazakhstan or just keeping the 1st runner up in Channel U’s Hey DJ
showing them how to access their rooms and through workshops or outdoor activities. 03
To make sure our tower don’t end up like the fit, our training ground stretches from the competition.
the communal spaces. These include stamp carving, magic and one in Pisa, we were all intently following the hostel stairs to SUTD’s state-of-the-art
coffee painting workshops. computation and simulation class taught by Sports Centre where the fitness corner and • Led the design of the Chinatown CNY
Over the first two weeks of the term, while Prof. Sam Joyce, making sure our grades stand track are our usual hangouts! Lightup 2017 for the year of the Rooster,
giving out matriculation gift packs to the new Apart from these, we also have hostel-wide as tall as our tower! as well as workshops for Park(ing) Day
residents, the HGs of the respective floors take events where residents get to meet many 2130hrs 2016.
the chance to introduce themselves and get to other residents, participate in action-packed 1300hrs Shower and Back to Studio to work
know the residents. Through the floor events, game rooms and even get free food and Lunch Break on Core Studio! • Interned at SANDWICH, an arts and
the freshies get to meet their fellow floormates photos! All in a single night. Lunch at this hour is usually the most hectic Powered up from training and a refreshing architecture studio by renowned artist,
and interact with seniors. This helps them to but having my favourite laksa yong tau fu with shower, time to return to my Studio as Core Kohei Nawa, based in Kyoto, Japan. Was
adapt well to the hostel life and get valuable What do you think is unique about SUTD’s my ASD classmates and freshmore friends Studio work awaits with many more MOMA part of the architecture team, working
advice for the years ahead in SUTD. student housing compared to other made the day less scary, knowing that we are (Museum of Modern Arts) floor plans and on the Familiar Flagship Store in Kobe,
universities? in this together. designs pending to be realised on paper designing furniture, materiality and colour
What are some key events organised by HGs? All students reside on campus in their and models. Gonna start working! rendering of the restaurants, salons, café
Each term, we have at least six events ranging freshmore year. We have all the opportunities 1500hrs and main departmental store.
from small to large-scale ones. to build strong friendships, join various 20.222 - History, Theory and Culture (HTC) 2 0100hrs
events or fifth rows together or mugging We delve deep into the history of architecture, Sleep Pursuing my passion
Floor events, held two to three times per term, without the worry of missing the last train etc. from the ancient Egyptian, Greek, Gothic, Turning in to rest for the next day which
include simple activities and supper hangout • Founder and Pastry Chef of Baker.J, an
Thus, it creates a strong sense of community 04 Victorian, Bauhaus style all the way to is hopefully filled with new ideas and a online pastries platform.
sessions which foster interaction between and enriches our experience as students. Brutalism and modern architecture! miracle to complete all my work!
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PROJECT
SENTIENCE
Loh Jian An Lionell
Sophomore
Hwa Chong Institution Alumnus
OPTICAL
Drowsy driving accounts for countless accidents around the world SYSTEM
and Sentience is an AI-powered solution to combat that. We use a Measures and tracks eyelid
camera and computer vision algorithms to detect fatigue in drivers movement of drivers in real-time
and to respond accordingly to keep them safe on and off the road.
The core team behind Sentience is myself, who is in charge of the
software, Bryan, who does the hardware engineering and Aaron,
MAKING A
who looks at the overall design of the product. We were supported
by an extended team of three – Jia-Yee, Wen Qiang and Yue Yi.
BRINGING IT
DIFFERENCE A STEP FURTHER
THROUGH DESIGN At SUTD, you have ample opportunities
to turn your design ideas into reality. An
example would be through Design Odyssey,
Design is literally everywhere at SUTD,
established by the SUTD-MIT International
with design experiences incorporated
Design Centre (IDC), in partnership with
throughout the SUTD curriculum. At
the JP Morgan Foundation. An integration
Freshmore year, 3.007 Introduction to
of academia, industry and society, it aims
Design introduces you to the concepts of
to provide students a seamless transition
design at a variety of scales and through
to professional practice by developing
both engineering and architecture
a human-centric focus rooted in design,
disciplines. You will also be exposed to
innovation and social awareness.
core technology and design themes
including principles, design processes,
modes of thinking and analysis,
relationships between form, space, We joined Design Odyssey to get access to
structure and materiality, and the social more funding to prototype Sentience, as well
and cultural aspects of design. as advice from industry mentors. We first met
our mentors, Jonathan and Aditya in a weekly
mentorship session on 6 November 2017. In
an hour’s meeting, they helped us reorganised
When we first started the 3.007 journey, we our pitch into a Design Thinking framework.
were both excited and apprehensive at the We realised there were many missing steps,
same time. Many of our ideas were guided by missing data, and unsupported assumptions
constraints like “Can we possibly build this?”.
Naturally, many of our ideas were limited VIBRATION that we have made. There was more work
to be done in justifying Sentience then blind
and unimpressive because our skillsets were
limited too. Fortunately, the most initial
+ SOUND engineering.
ideation stage was about throwing caution to Physical stimuli is applied as a last The week of 6 November was crucial
the wind. It was guided more by the problem resort to wake sleepy users that because we had signed ourselves up for three
we wanted to solve than what we could cross the fatigue threshold high-stakes pitches - Design Odyssey funding,
solve. We gravitated towards solving big, Create4Good and STARTUP AUTOBAHN.
wicked problems because we all agreed that In a short span of time, we made many
motivation was crucial for this project. adjustments to our slides and looked at the
different ways we could pitch Sentience for
As time passed, we rose to the occasion different purposes. This iterative process
and each learnt the skills needed to develop helped us understand what Sentience could
various aspects of Sentience. Be it designing,
video-making or engineering, it was amazing COMPANION really be and how we want it to develop into.
to see everyone redefining themselves.
As Sentience developed across various DEVICE / APP Today, we have made many pitches in different
contexts but the core and the fundamental
forms, we realised it had a competitive Enables admins to view compiled flow of our pitch is always the same.
position among similar products because statistics and perform macro fatigue Some time ago, we relooked our archived
of its user-centric design and we decided to management documents and saw the first pitch we ever
bring it out of school to test it. made. It was radically different. Looking back
at the iterations that were made in the week
Looking back, it was indeed important to of 6 November as we figure out our project’s
be aware of our skills and limitations, but identity, the story we tell for Sentience today
perhaps we could reframe the question was heavily influenced by the support Design
from one of “Can we build this?” to “Can we
learn to build this?” If you decided that the MILESTONES Odyssey gave in our first meeting.
answer to the latter is “yes”, then kudos for
having the courage to take the first step. 2017 2018
To actualise it, you will need a whole lot of
hustle and grit to bring you there. For us,
there were countless nights when we stayed
up, feeling worried and slightly helpless as 5 Nov 8 Nov 10 Nov 11 Nov 28 Feb - 8 Mar 23 Mar 1 May 4 May 14 - 15 May 25 May
we each faced our own obstacles. All we
had then was each other, shreds of resolve, A memorable Sunday Pitching at Design Create4Good STARTUP AUTOBAHN, Had an unforgettable Design Odyssey IdeaSinc 2018 Create4Good Finals Exhibited at Tech Won tickets to Runway
night where the three Odyssey - awarded semi-finals presentation organised by Daimler AG - Barcelona trip with - won Best User - finalist - won third prize and In Asia Conference, to RISE at Hong Kong at
good Spotify playlists and Google sensei of us gathered to talk $800 in funding – successfully entered won the special prize and the Daimler crew Research award $20,000 in funding Singapore a pitch competition
to consult. It will be tough, but teamwork about our aspirations Finals and awarded three tickets to exhibit our
always makes it easier and you will evolve in for Sentience $10,000 in funding project at the Mobile World
ways you did not imagine at the end of it all. Congress in Barcelona
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HISTORY
BENEATH
OUR FEET 01
Dr Sandeep Ray
Senior Lecturer 04
Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
(HASS)
We have now spent 14 weeks analysing A visit to experience history
that period of violent rupture in Southeast We made a trip to the former Ford Factory,
All SUTDents take HASS subjects, covering Asia, when Japan took over politically and now a repository for the history of the
disciplines such as philosophy, fine arts, militarily across Malaya, Burma, Indochina, the Japanese Occupation.
sociology and economics. These help Philippines and Indonesia.
develop critical thinking and an awareness Led by veteran guide Jeremy Koh, my
of the social role and impact of technology Airplanes frequently appear outside our students quietly walked through the carefully
and design innovations. Dr Sandeep Ray classroom, low on the horizon, preparing for curated exhibit, pencil in hand, fact-checking,
shares about the popular HASS elective descent. We are close to Changi Airport and comparing their notes.
“Southeast Asia Under Japan: Motives, Changi beach.
Memoirs, and Media” and a recent field trip Coming face-to-face with material objects was
to the Old Ford Factory.
One is a spectacular meaningful.
02 05
Imagining the Japanese Occupation
modern edifice, the The evanescent feeling of history is hard to
evoke in a classroom, the visceral realisation
other a former site of Our short school trip brought us to so many
01 Osaka - View from Umeda Sky
in the classroom that events in the past actually happened right Observatory places! An observatory building whose
wartime mass killings. MEASURING THE
Early 1942 was a historically confounding beneath our feet. 02 Inujima - Waiting for the ferry
backstory is “a spaceship that flew away”, the
time for Singapore. The Imperial Japanese 03 Inujima - C Art House
04 Inujima - A Art House interiors of restored machiya guesthouses
Army had rapaciously made their way down Careful not to oversentimentalise, the students
UNMEASURABLE
05 Kyoto - Collecting data of and, of course, the art house projects on
Malaya, crossing the Johor Causeway within Given that they are all training to become are vigilant in considering how the past is unparked bicycles Inujima guided by the architect herself, Pritzker
weeks. Malay nationalists entering from engineers or architects, this is an opportunity presented in the present context. 06 Kyoto - Map of illegally parked Laureate Kazuyo Sejima. It’s inspirational to
the north with the Japanese troops dreamt for them to be historians for a few months. bicycles visit a country like Japan and experience their
of a new nation while others watched - Later, they reflect on various aspects of the design and culture. There’s so much to learn
bewildered by the sudden attack, the likes of We don’t memorise dates and proper nouns; exhibit. Most conclude that it is challenging to Mardhiany Puteri Junadi in this world and we should make the most
which the peninsula had never seen before. students can check online sources any time, accurately represent the complexities of a war Junior of opportunities like these (which are aplenty
even during exams. but that the very effort is a step in the right St Andrew’s Junior College Alumnus within SUTD).
Days later, a gaunt Arthur Percival, leader of direction towards healing.
the British forces, walked across the island We look at films depicting that period—
in khaki shorts and surrendered the Union carefully curated newsreels, documentaries The students have since submitted their final
Jack to General Yamashita, much to the and fiction.We read and discuss diaries of papers. The topics were diverse and probing. In January each year, students are free to
shock of Winston Churchill. survivors and aggressors. Weekly reviews pursue their personal interests. During this
of military history provide us with a useful How does the Hollywood film The Bridge on Independent Activity Period (IAP), some
The British Empire had never fallen more scaffolding to discuss events as we grapple the River Kwai compare to historical accounts ASD students choose to use their skills to 03
spectacularly. Then, after a brief pause in with the social consequences of war. of the construction of the death railway? What contribute to the world or to gain more
the assaults, a systematic murder of local were the effects of the Japanese interregnum exposure through overseas workshops
Chinese began. Many questions are debated: Was the on nationalism in Southeast Asia? What was such as this 10-day workshop held in You might probably be thinking, how the
Japanese invasion purely an act of aggression the role of ‘fake news’ during this time of war? Japan. It aims to examine data to better hell are we supposed to tackle these big
Nothing washes away the memory of spilled based on a top-down societal structure? understand the utility of spaces in the questions within 10 days? Well, the main
blood, divided loyalties, and a lowered flag Given knowledge of atrocities in Manchuria Chen You Liang, a sophomore, feeling city, and the spatial relationships between takeaway from this workshop is just the first
more effectively than a robust GDP and the and Nanking, can one ethically justify the constrained by books and films, has been human actions and space. step in understanding human interactions
promise of enduring peace. Singapore has collaborations of Aung San, Sukarno, and interviewing survivors in Chinatown while with the environment – by collecting
risen. Subhas Bose? playing chess with them. information about a place, then visualising
it concisely into a map. Mapping itself can
Older citizens, nearing the end of their lives, Who are the forgotten armies in post-war One of his subjects, Lim Boon Seng, a roadside So what has data and technology got to do be a profound activity of representing
walk around in a gleaming metropolis of portrayals of the Japanese Occupation—have barber, begins his interview as follows: “The with architecture? Today, everything that we something complex in a simple and
steel and concrete with uncanny normalcy. we glorified certain heroes and neglected British started firing at the Japanese near my do inevitably contributes to data. No matter indicative way.
others? Should surviving comfort women school and so we climbed up a tree...” how significant or trivial the things we use and
“My grandfather does not talk about it”, receive reparations? consume are, that data can provide a deeper Being an architecture student in SUTD
says one of my students. “But I want to The 80 year-old’s animated face fills the understanding of ourselves. Architecture equips us with the necessary digital tools to
understand what happened.” Compared to my former students in the screen. The students watch the wrinkled man as a discipline has the responsibility of do that and, however small this may sound,
United States, this group takes the history of in the quiet peaceful lane, trying to imagine creating better environments for life. It thus exposes us to opportunities to be involved
Chronically underslept, the students - these the Japanese Occupation more personally, that moment from seventy five years ago. makes sense for design decisions to make in such a collaborative project, as well as the
overachievers in the sciences - have rarely perhaps because its legacy lingers at our improvements in response to the needs, chance of being able to interact with and 06
missed a class. doorsteps. Sometimes books aren’t enough. enabled by technology. observe Japanese architecture.
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U T D
Saround the world
ents PORTUGAL
Every year, our SUTDents take off to a world of possibilities out there. Some travel to a foreign country JAPAN European Innovation Academy
Farfetch
for academic and cultural exchange, or intern at their dream company. Others put their design ideas SANDWICH Misk
to the test, give back to the community or participate in international competitions. Here, you’ll have a The International Design Contest Unbabel
glimpse into some of the many exciting opportunities SUTDents can choose to pursue. Robocon 2018
Tokyo Institute of Technology
Internship Summer Programme Fall Exchange Other Adventures
SRI LANKA
Balmond Studio
NETHERLANDS
University of Twente
AUSTRALIA
Excite Holidays BRAZIL
Embraer
BELGIUM
Université catholique
SWEDEN
de Louvain KTH Royal Institute of Technology
SINGAPORE
CAMBODIA Those who stayed in Singapore also kept
busy, by interning in their dream companies
Golden West or contributing to various events such as
Humanitarian the PARK(ing) Day 2018, Singapore Night
Foundation Festival and organising the CRUX Deep
ITALY Water Solo Competiton.
CANADA European Innovation SWITZERLAND
Academy
WAVE Trophy Switzerland 2018
University of Waterloo Palladio Studio
Venice Biennale 2018
FINLAND SOUTH KOREA
Hanyang University
Aalto University
Neofect
Pohang University of Science and Technology
CHINA Sungkyunkwan University THAILAND
Sino-Singapore Undergraduate Exchange Yonsei University Mahidol University
Zhejiang University
FRANCE
ExactCure
UNITED STATES VIETNAM
Keppel Land Vietnam
OF AMERICA Koda Saigon Co., Ltd
GERMANY INDONESIA Leigh University Quodisys Co Ltd
TU Berlin Stanford University Studio Bo Cong Anh
Medico
World University Beach Volleyball University of California, Irvine Transform Architecture
Championship University of California, Berkeley Wilmar International Limited
BTS 12 BTS 13
GLOBAL LEADERSHIP PROGRAMME AT
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY
GLOBAL LEADERSHIP
PROGRAMME (GLP)
SUTD’s premier signature programme offers an 8-week, fully immersive
summer experience at TU Berlin, University of California, Berkeley and
Stanford University.
ADVENTURES
IN THE I am very grateful to have been able to take
GOLDEN
a road trip to one of the world’s most visually
powerful landscapes, the Grand Canyon. It was
an amazing experience to be able to see first-
STATE hand the plunging depths, temple-like buttes
and vast, multihued topography of the Canyon.
Brandon Joseph Lawrence
Sophomore
Anglo Chinese School (Independent)
Alumnus
Besides the opportunity to soak in the foreign
academic culture at UC Berkeley, most of the
great experiences that I encountered in GLP
involved taking road trips to explore the great
state of California. Before this, I had never
truly experienced going on long road trips.
On this trip, I learnt to appreciate renting a car,
squeezing in it with other passengers, playing
games during the drive to pass time and
stumbling upon amazing places in the process Our road trip to Big Sur was a truly
of losing our way. breath-taking experience as we got to witness
the 90-mile stretch of rugged and awesomely
Among the numerous road trips that we took beautiful coastline between Carmel to the
to the different parts of California, here are the north and San Simeon (Hearst Castle)
ones that stood out the most to me: to the south.
After the road trip to the Death Valley National
Park, I can now cross ‘going to the hottest
place on earth’ off my bucket list. Though the
heat was excruciating, the experience of being
A fun-filled day at the Six Flags theme park in San Francisco. in a real desert is one that I will never forget.
BTS 14 The Dish Loop Trail in Stanford, USA | Photo from Chiang Aiting Faye BTS 15
GLOBAL LEADERSHIP PROGRAMME AT
TU BERLIN
Start-up Crash Course:
Idea to Reality - Developing the Business
Offering a peek into how start-ups are
formed in the real market, this course
gave us free rein to add some business
meat to our personal start-up ideas. We
were first guided through a few sessions
of multi-pronged soul-searching to find
the overlap between passion, ability, and
service. After finding a workable business
idea, our eyes were opened to the multitude
of complex business considerations that
go into the realisation of any start-up. This
course allowed us to develop our own
individual ideas into business propositions
which we then pitched to a panel of real
angel investors and venture capitalists! Our
greatest takeaway? The start-up founder’s
mantra: Team, Product, Market! 07
01
08
BRAINSTORMING, BUSINESS 01 Walked into one of 48 co-working spaces
(they have ball pits) in Europe’s start-up capitol
02 Took a 2am bus to Dresden, another exciting
AND BALL-PITS IN BERLIN 02 German city
03 Classic view at the classic village viewpoint in
Hallstatt, Austria
04 On top of the world and above the clouds at
Obertraun, Austria
Tanvi Ravindra Thombre 05 Biked and had BBQ at a massive de-commissioned
Sophomore airport
National Junior College Alumnus 06 Make friends from every continent on the globe
07 Post-it till you make it
08 Being a student is just our undercover job
09 Visiting Lucerne, Switzerland
10 & 11 Party in the third “most colourful” city in the
Through the TU Berlin VIEW Programme, world
eight of us took off for eight weeks to 12 Shop like crazy! Get 11% tax refund on your
experience an international education shopping.
beyond just technical knowledge, diving 13 Take your idea from imagination to market-ready,
into innovation, entrepreneurship, human- 09 and pitch them!
centred design, business and leadership, all
while soaking in the rich culture of Europe’s
“Cheap but Sexy” start-up capital, Berlin. Leadership in the Entrepreneur’s World:
Developing Ourselves
“Why should anyone be led by me?” In search
03 04 of the answer, we dug deep into each other’s
Over two months, we took three different past experiences as leaders and followers,
courses: as we learnt about the four different types of
intelligence as well as effective team building
Innovation and Entrepreneurship: and decision making. Along the way, we spoke
Developing the Idea to entrepreneurs from the top 10 start-ups in
We rediscovered design thinking from a Berlin, and even got to visit their offices! At the
European perspective, and rethought the end of the two weeks, we each walked away
process of investigating opinions, defining with a personal leadership development plan
pain points, and developing human solutions. that will see us through our future endeavours.
With more emphasis on developing the idea
than on delivering a tech-focused prototype, I loved the TU Berlin VIEW Programme. The
our international and multi-disciplinary eight weeks passed by in a flurry of school, new
teams were encouraged to approach familiar 10
friends and new activities. We learnt about our
problems from new angles. We had a really international friends’ countries and got different
great time stepping out of our comfort zones, perspectives from them. Listening to guest
from interviewing Germans out on the streets, speakers who were dedicated to their start-ups
to experimenting with new brainstorming was very inspiring as it made us think about
techniques, and finally to pitching the group’s what we could do with our lives as well. It was a
idea to a real venture capitalist! 11
whole new world exploring Berlin after school,
from abandoned airports to spy museums.
Being in Europe, we had all the freedom to
explore our neighbouring countries every
weekend (from a miniature wonderland in
Hamburg to towering mountains in Switzerland
to concentration camps in Poland). We love
you SUTD (and Ms Fideilis who came to visit
us) and TU Berlin (and your very nice Summer
University team)!
Special thanks to my teammates Safafisalam,
05 06 12 13 Jeremia, Vieri, Xiang Qian, Jia Juen, Jeremy and
Jinling who helped me with this article.
BTS 16 BTS 17
GLOBAL LEADERSHIP PROGRAMME AT
STANFORD UNIVERSITY
Pillow ASIAN LEADERSHIP
PROGRAMME (ALP)
Pillows (and bedsheets and blankets)
are not provided so be sure to get one
if you are a pillow user. They are readily
available at the department stores and
hypermarkets (e.g. Walmart, Target)
just a 10-minute drive away.
SUTD’s collaboration with Zhejiang University (ZJU) includes a 14-week
exchange where students work on hands-on projects revolving around a
number of design themes, with interaction and engagement activities in
Hangzhou. Students will also have a chance to interact with companies.
Running/exercise shoes
With a whole load of exercise and fitness
facilities around (and mostly free for use!), you
Laptop
will be missing out if you don’t try them out!
Having a laptop makes submitting work
Keep a pair of exercise shoes in your room so
online or accessing the various digital
you’ll be ever ready to work out and stay fit –
platforms that Stanford uses easier. It’s
it’s a good way to bond with new friends too!
great for videocalling home too!
Reusable bag
In efforts to be greener, nearly all shops will
WHAT’S IN
charge you for a plastic bag should you
request for one. Having a reusable bag will
thus come in useful for any purchases.
MY ROOM?
Hot water bottle
A hot water bottle is good for
when the nights get too chilly and
you need something warm to hug.
It can also double up as a pillow!
Chiang Aiting Faye
Sophomore
Raffles Institution Alumnus
While your room may not be where
you’re at most of the time, it’s always
nice to come back to a nice place after
a long day of work and play. Here are
some tips to maximise the comfort
Fan and coziness of your temporary
While the weather is great most of the abode for eight weeks in Stanford.
time – not too hot and not too cold –
there are occasional days where the sun
shines a little too brightly. A fan comes in Kettle
handy then to help you cool down! In our hall, hot water was not readily
Detergent available so this is perfect if you drink
Though washing machine coffee, tea or just need something
and dryer facilities are warm. It was really useful especially
provided at no extra cost, when we wanted to have cup noodles!
you need to get your own
detergent so be sure to
keep some in the room.
Plastic bag
Although we could
borrow a lofting tool
to lower our beds,
they were mostly set
pretty high up –
it was troublesome at
Snacks times to climb onto the
Make sure you keep your snack stash bed only to realise you
stocked up! It’s great to have something needed to come down
to munch on, especially late at night again to put your phone
when you’re too lazy to go out. Some Hangers aside. The solution: hang a
may argue too that having cup noodles Unfortunately not provided as well, it will little bag around one of the
in particular is great for the times when be good to bring hangers if you’re the kind bedposts and drop your watch,
you’re missing Singapore food! of person that uses them! spectacles etc. in for the night!
BTS 18 Forbidden City in Beijing, China | Photo from Benjamin Chong Mun Choen BTS 19ALP THEMES AND PROJECTS
01 02 03 04
AI EMPOWERED DESIGN SCREENS & BEYOND: USING MUSIC EMOTION DEEP LEARNING FOR DESIGN
Machine learning is one of the most important and successful MIXED REALITY TECHNOLOGY This project aimed to create an environment that encourages CONDITIONED BY BRAIN
technologies in current artificial intelligence science. The “AI
Empowered Design” team used AI to empower smart products
TO IMPROVE PARCEL deep experiential learning targeted at young children. Other
than providing them with a better reading experience, it aids in
SIGNALS
and create new ways for people to interact with AI. SCANNING EFFICIENCY developing better focus, visualisation and interpretation. This project aimed to make a significant difference in people’s lives
by capturing brain signals and processing them. The data recorded
In China, more than one hundred million parcels are processed allows users to better understand their consumers, and design
every day. This project was to design a mixed reality wearable according to their preferences.
system capable of scanning the overwhelming number of parcels
more efficiently.
1. Gathering Eeg Data 2. Classifying Eeg Data
EEG CAP
?
?
EEG DATA
?
3. Generative
Adversarial
RapidML Network
Partag
Brain Signals
SmartInsure
05
eMello
08
INTELLIGENT & INTERACTIVE
SLEEP ASSIST LIGHT CHINESE ARCHITECTURAL
06 ENVIRONMENT DESIGN
Students explored the relationship between users and lighting,
to create an intelligent and interactive lamp that aims to optimise STUDIO
the process of power napping through the use of smart technologies. 07
“WEREWOLF” AUGMENTED Students designed an archaeological studio which functions as a
rest point for visitors and a work studio for archaeologists in the
REALITY SYSTEM VISUAL DESIGN Liangzhu National Heritage Park.
Implementing computer vision, cloud computing and artificial
intelligence on an augmented reality platform, students created a
OF A COMPREHENSIVE
comprehensive, all-in-one system that can read player emotions and
assist in game play for Werewolf, a highly popular game in China.
INTELLIGENT LARGE SCREEN
Students developed a data-driven interactive large screen for the
Bank of Beijing which will be deployed at the monitoring centre
of the new Nanjing branch. With the expansion of big data, there
is a need for a unified data platform to sort, manage and analyse
useful data to improve and monitor services and products.
Information Box
Bobvis
小睡宝 Werewolf AR System Mobile Workspace
BTS 20 BTS 21ASIAN LEADERSHIP PROGRAMME AT
ZHEJIANG UNIVERSITY
In Alibaba’s More Mall, a giant screen displays information such as the number of visitors
Before we had weather reports, people had and cars for the day, vacant car park lots, the age groups and gender distribution of visitors,
a slab of dali rock (大理石) in their homes. By the heat signature of the floor, store rankings based on popularity, and the environmental
feeling the moisture of the rock, they could tell conditions within the mall.
whether rain was imminent in the
coming hours.
A TRANS-
FORMABLE 01
SPACE FOR A 01 Our project team and teaching assistant at
Longjin Village, during the first of the many field
trips around Hangzhou
HISTORICAL 02 Working on our architectural scale model
03 Making friends at Changping Valley during our
self-planned trip to Sichuan!
PLACE 04 The final scale model of our transformable space
Cai Niao – the logistics arm of Alibaba, uses Benjamin Chong Mun Choen
algorithms to determine the most efficient Sophomore
Cycling is a way of life in Hangzhou; apart from conveyor belt path a box should take to collect
being a form of exercise, it is also a convenient its goods and the most optimum way of
NUS High School Alumnus
way to get around the city. Rental bicycles are arranging the collected goods within the box.
readily available almost everywhere in the city.
SIGHTS AND Covering 908.89 hectares, our site, Liangzhu
National Heritage Park, is located in Hangzhou,
TECH IN
02
Zhejiang Province, China. It encloses ancient
ruins belonging to the Neolithic Liangzhu
Culture dating back 5,000 years, and contains
HANGZHOU
We began by researching case studies and
numerous artefacts, from jade ware and existing solutions to understand what makes
pottery, to remnants of city walls and extensive them feasible and using that information
water drainage systems. to build our concept. We settled on an
Addison Chew Jun Wei expandable design which did not require
Our brief was to design a mobile disassembly, allowing for easy mobility. We
Sophomore archaeological studio which was both a then went through the tedious but necessary
Raffles Institution Alumnus rest point for visitors and a workspace for process of iteration, bouncing ideas around 03
archaeologists. The first main constraint was with our ZJU professor.
“HAPPYGO!” – a smile detector that uses allowing visitors to observe archaeologists Our final design tripled the original limited
facial recognition technology to detect smiles; My ALP experience gave me an insight as while they work, as a means of public One challenge we faced was having to hand-cut floor area and allowed for both visitors and
depending on how “good” a smile is, to what living in a smart nation entailed and education and interactivity. Secondly, as it had almost our entire model, as the material we archaeologists to have their own separate
Paper actuators take on different physical to be easily transportable via flatbed trucks,
it then issues discounts. here are some of my interesting discoveries. forms at different temperatures. Depicted in had to work with could not be laser-cut . While spaces within the building, while maximising
the studio could not occupy a space greater this proved laborious, it was a chance for us to the interactivity through a long glass screen.
the photo is one of the completed works for than 4x8x3.3m.
our Design Thinking module, where the dog’s think differently in terms of model fabrication.
ears and tongue would uncurl and become flat In addition to the hours we spent designing
as temperature increases. in the studio, one of the perks of our
project was the weekly field trips. We
visited numerous places of interest around
Hangzhou, such as Tangxi Ancient Town,
Longjin Village, Xihu Lake, and the Chinese
Academy of Arts. Through these visits, we had
a greater appreciation of Chinese society and
architecture.
At the end of the 14 weeks, it was bittersweet
leaving Hangzhou. ALP was a great
opportunity for us to see the world from a
Introducing “无人超市” – a concept store different perspective, enjoy local customs and
opened by Alibaba without cashiers or take part in new experiences. It’s one thing
salespersons. Exit gantry cameras scan Why queue at the counter to place your order to read about another country from books
customers’ faces and if they are holding and make payment when you can do so at the With toilet occupancy monitors like this or on the internet, but it’s a whole different
any merchandise, money is automatically comfort of your seat just by scanning the QR installed, one can instantly tell if a toilet is fully experience being part of it.
04
deducted from their Alipay accounts. code with your phone using Alipay or WeChat? occupied without entering the toilet.
BTS 22 BTS 23ASIAN LEADERSHIP PROGRAMME AT
ZHEJIANG UNIVERSITY
01
01 Large screen display for BOB
02 Our meeting with the
representatives from BOB on
the project brief
03 At BOB for our two-day
01 meeting
04 (Not)Praying at where the
01 Rendered CAD of 小睡宝
emperors used to live
02 Visiting Alibaba HQ for a workshop
03 Theme members, mentor and teacher assistant
during a company visit
WHAT THE 04 Prototype testing by representatives from Klites
05 Brainstorming session
06 Sketches of various designs during brainstorming 02
WORLD phase
NEEDS IS A
LITTLE NAP 02
Tan Mae-Sy
Sophomore
FOR BOB
St. Andrews’ Junior College Alumnus
THAT VIS
If there was anything that attracted me to this Zhou Zhi
project, it is the word “Sleep” - not only do I Sophomore
indulge in it (almost like a passion), I also feel Hwa Chong Institution Alumnus
that sleep is something that our busy society
04
sometimes underappreciates. As the project
name suggests, our project requires us to We were tasked to develop a large screen
design a lighting product or system that uses display for the Bank of Beijing (BOB) at their 03
modern technology that allows users to enjoy newly established Nanjing headquarters. This is
03
better quality sleep. probably one of the toughest yet more rewarding
challenges that I have faced. We can all plot
To add to the excitement of this project, we graphs and charts, but data visualisation isn’t as
also had a key stakeholder in this project, simple as that. It involved a whole new field of
which is Klites, a LED company in China. study into visual cognition, graphic design, data
This essentially means that we needed to processing, and lots of coding. This field is also
design a product that not only functions but where cross-discipline learning comes in handy.
also is marketable. The need for the design
to be marketable was the first obstacle that To be frank, it is a bombardment of knowledge.
our group encountered during the ideation Within the span of three months or so, we
process as the market for sleep assistive lights learnt three coding languages of JavaScript ,
is already highly saturated. Through weeks HTML and CSS, visualisation principles, banking
of ideation and looking at our project from industry jargon and more. And putting all these
different angles, we finally found an opening knowledge into the making of our screen from
which is for us to target naps rather than long scratch leads to my best and toughest times.
periods of sleep which many companies’ The endless debugging and revamping of design,
products focused on. 05
though often frustrating and demoralising,
sometimes brought the team new insights to
With that out of the way, we also had to put One week before we had our product launch, the problem and alternative ways of coding and
our prototyping skills to the test - namely we also made a visit to Klites where we design.
CADDING components and the exterior of presented our product in Chinese!
our table lamp as well as coding for an eyelid Data visualisation is a tool that helps us see and
tracking camera using OpenCV and Dlib. Looking back at my entire ALP journey, I have understand the patterns and trends within big
With our product heavily reliant on how well learned so much more than I expected myself data. For BOB, we helped them in visualising their
the software and hardware work together, to – both hard skills and soft skills. This is one revenue and assets. For us, it is a visualisation of
my group found ourselves troubleshooting project that I really enjoyed working on. I am our ability and potential. A big thank you to SUTD
from start to end - even right before our really lucky to have experienced something like 06
for giving us such an experience. And that too, 04
product launch. that during ALP. for BOB that we Vis-ed.
BTS 24 BTS 25CROSS BORDER ENTREPRENEURSHIP CULTIVATING PROGRAM AT GLOBAL EXCHANGE PROGRAMME AT
TOKYO INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY KTH ROYAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
with them, allowing me to better understand We also met up with Jun Wen, who interned
the Japanese design philosophy which in an architectural firm in Kyoto. He popped
emphasises simplicity and practicality! by Tokyo for a weekend, and we brought
him around to try a Tokyo specialty cuisine –
Meeting up with fellow SUTDents Monjayaki - a pancake-styled dish that bears
On our second day there, Jason, who interned resemblance to Okonomiyaki. It uses similar
in a robotics start-up in Tokyo, invited us to ingredients and is grilled over a hot plate, but
the NHK Student Robocon competition, the ingredients are chopped up and topped
where Japanese universities battle it out in off with a broth made of flour and fish broth,
a traditional Vietnamese game of Ném Còn. giving it a runny texture and consistency. It is a
The objective of the game is to shoot three unique dish that I would recommend everyone
shuttlecocks through a hoop, landing in to try when you’re in Tokyo!
designated areas within the court. To make it
more challenging, the teams had to design two
autonomous robots, one acting as the “passer”
to deliver the balls from the starting point to 01 Bringing Jun Wen around the campus of
the other robot, the “thrower” which then Tokyo Institute of Technology
attempts to score. It was a heated competition, 02 We tried Monjayaki, a Tokyo speciality
03 Streets of Asakusa lined with decorations
and the University of Tokyo nailed the for Tanabata festival
competition with perfect accuracy, completing 04 Robots competing in a game of Ném Còn at the
A SUMMER
the challenge in 15 seconds, a remarkable feat! NHK Student Robocon Competition
HOW HALF
IN TOKYO A YEAR IN
Leslie Tan Sheng
Junior SWEDEN 01
Temasek Polytechnic Alumnus
CHANGED ME
Each year, 50 students from differing
backgrounds, specialisations, universities Chua Yue Zhi, Russ
01
and nationalities are brought together Senior
under the team-oriented Cross Border Temasek Junior College Alumnus
Entrepreneur Cultivating (CBEC) Program
to deliver innovative solutions on a common
topic through in-depth user research and The Term 6 Global Exchange Programme
prototyping. (GEXP) offers opportunities for students
to take courses in world-class foreign
universities with deep expertise in various
This summer, two SUTDents – Justinian fields.
and I spent eight weeks at Tokyo Institute 02
of Technology under the CBEC Program,
which utilises a Project-Based Learning
(PBL) approach to inculcate Design Thinking, Tjena! There comes a time in every SUTD
Entrepreneurship, and Business Administration 02 03 student’s life where he or she dreams
fundamentals within students. We took to experience the “outside world”. As a
two modules, Entrepreneurship Theory Healthcare Engineering Design track student
and Engineering Design Project A (EDP-A), in EPD, I had the interest to pursue dedicated
where we had the opportunity to work with biomedical courses. My chance finally came
native Japanese students, as well as other in Term 6 thanks to my participation in the
Global Exchange Programme at the KTH Royal 03
international students from China, Germany,
Thailand and UK. Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden.
I took for granted such as cooking, cleaning
The theme for this year’s EDP-A module is While exchanges are thought to show a and grocery shopping all whilst studying for
Designing an Innovative Meal Experience. slower pace of academic life abroad, mine multiple master’s degree biomedical courses.
After rounds of research and interviews was anything but “comfortably paced”. As Over the course of the schooling term, I also
with local and foreign students, we found classes began in KTH, expectations were laid co-organised weekly collaborative cooking
out that students in Japan prefer eating out down immediately. Within the first week, I was and eating sessions with my many new friends
rather than cooking their own meals at home. already informed to: 04 from different countries. Witnessing their initial
Besides convenience, this lifestyle choice is taste of durian snowskin mooncakes was quite
due to many other factors, one of which is 1. Produce a working pulse sensor prototype the experience!
that students find it difficult to multitask and that communicates to a phone within two
prepare a nutritious meal given the limited weeks for the Medical Informatics course. Last but certainly not least, I took full
kitchen space available in a typical Japanese advantage of term breaks to travel around
apartment. Hence, my group came up with 2. Form pairs and ideate seminar topics for Europe. With considerably cheaper airfares,
a simple prototype that can be attached the Implants and Biomaterials course to study my friends and I travelled to popular tourist
to a frying pan, acting as a helping hand to and present on an actual implant that is used attractions and savoured a variety of different
assist the user in cooking multiple dishes in industry. cuisines. My exchange journey truly was a
simultaneously. life-changing experience!
3. Study for an exam within the third week,
Unlike students in Singapore, whom tend covering over 140 pages of textbook content
to focus on the functionality and viability of for my Medical Engineering course.
prototypes, students in Japan are encouraged 01 Arrival at the KTH main campus
to let their creativity flow, often coming Besides gaining opportunities to take a wider 02 Mingling party with other students
up with simple, out of the box solutions spectrum of academic courses, I enjoyed the 03 Dog sledding
tackling a specific problem. All in all, it was an 04
experience of living alone whilst abroad. Soon, 05 04 Collaborative cooking and eating sessions
insightful and enriching experience working I found myself managing many things that 05 Ice hotel in Kiruna 05
BTS 26 BTS 27You can also read
