FoS, FoE and SoC students showcase research projects

Kelvin Lim | kl@nus.edu.sg
the ridge news
A NUSSU Publication

Feb. 5, 2008

Students of science, engineering, computing and dentistry will not be unfamiliar with the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Programme (UROP).

This year, the Faculty of Science, Faculty of Engineering and School of Computing come together for the 13th National Undergraduate Research Opportunities Programme Congress hosted on Feb. 1 at the Faculty of Science.

Photo by Kelvin Lim

Under the programme, students will conduct research under their supervisors during the semesters and occasionally during the vacations. The research could be further developed into their Final Year Projects and even extended to graduate studies levels.

At the opening speech, guest-of-honour Dr Andre Wan, deputy executive director of Biomedical Research Council at Agency for Science, Technology and Research, congratulated participants by acknowledging the congress as a culmination of months of research.

Even though not all participants may eventually choose a career in research, participating in the programme would still be meaningful as a training of the mind, Wan said.

Photo by Kelvin Lim

After a brief opening speech, a whole day’s presentation by students and academics were rolled out starting with Chemistry student Priscilla Ang Kailian’s presentation on her team’s project on biosensor.

Other projects also include research on cancer cells, robots and biodiesel and reality games on mobile devices.

According to UROP website, the programme was designed to provide undergraduates the opportunity to participate in active research in their respective fields of study. Academic Credits will be awarded and research paper may be published in international journals.

Photo by Kelvin Lim

Besides taking up research projects in NUS, overseas ones are also available. Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships is one of them and is by-invitation-only. Selected students will spend ten weeks doing their research at the California Institute of Technology with subsidized fees.