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CONTENTS 2 CONNExSCIONS 3 chair’s message 4 on campus Cutting edge research, international awards and creative fund raisers… students and faculty are making news and making an impact. iThink 12 The changing Face oF communicaTion Have we lost the art of communication, or just revolutionised it? Connexscions looks at how new modes of communication are changing the way we socialise. giVing Back To socieTY 20 green piece SCI profs are giving new meaning to the term “green campus”. 22 WhY noT. Physically challenged athletes competing against able-bodied athletes? Why Not? declare the students who pulled together a campaign to give recognition to disabled athletes. 23 pLasTic surgerY Three girls with one plan to use their Final Year Project in a [minus]plastic campaign is what it took to galvanise 1,000 youths into action. aLumni in The neWs 24 The WriTe sTuFF Wall Street Journal business writer Serena Ng started at the bottom and powered her way up. Connexscions finds out what it took, and what it cost, this determined young woman. 26 amaZing grace Amazing Race Asia 2 winner Collin Low spills the beans about getting stressed, getting lost and his one gripe as a pioneer SCI grad. 28 Where are TheY noW? Alumni from the last 10 years reveal how SCI prepared them for the real world and who really made an impression on them. CONNExSCIONS JaN – May 2008 Writing Team Team Leaders: Thaddaeus Wee, Ng Peiru, Tee Zhong Cheng, Lim Xinyi Writers: Kerrie Li, Rachel Tan, Goh Ji-en, Fergie Alwyn, James Ho, Giresh Prabhat, Ang Yiting, Chung Qingyun, Phay Sze Min, Liu Ting Ting, Christina Lim Layout Team Team Leaders: Darell Tea, Desy Indrawaty, Joanne Yan, Daena Ch’ng Layout Artists: Freddy, Verena Chua, Eugene Sng, Wong Chin Yen, Lim Chee Han, Winson, Kang Lee Peng (Summer), Cheu Eng Kiat, Lee Heng Leong, Edmund Tan, Wong Wai Leong Advisors Dr Yeoh Kok Cheow (K.C. Yeoh), Ms Juleen Shaw, Mr Christopher Yaw Special Thanks To Dr Ang Peng Hwa, Dr May Lwin, Dr Angela Mak CONNExSCIONS is produced entirely by students. Send us your news to include in the next issue at connexscions@ntu.edu.sg.
CHaIR’S MESSaGE GOODNESS OF FIT As I write this, it is the time of applications for admission into the School. The preliminary numbers suggest that we will have a bumper crop of applications. What we look for in the applications are the traits that would make a successful student. Or in statistical lingo, goodness of fit. Like the best universities, we do not just look at academic results. To be sure, they count for a lot. After all, the major examination results were achieved after almost two years of preparation. In contrast, the written test and interview take only a few hours. What we are looking for is, for want of a better word, Passion. The word Passion is used so loosely that sometimes it equates with “hobby”. As in: I was so mentally exhausted that my children told me to indulge in my passion—photography. The word Passion is from the Latin word “passus” and it means “suffering”. The idea is that one believes in something so strongly that one is prepared to suffer for it. (So the next time some one says he or she is passionate about you, ask him or her to prove it.) I have met many passionate (in the Latin sense) graduates from the School. Some have taken lower paying jobs so they can pursue their photography, journalism, non-profit organisation work, taking care of baby, etc. Singapore society tends to measure one’s worth on the toy index— the more toys the better. Lower paying jobs can only mean few toys. This year, I can think of a couple of final-year projects that had Passion. Two ladies did a photo exhibition about widows in India, a group that cannot afford much by way of toys. Another group of two ladies did a photo exhibition of the Karens, a hill tribe living in the Myanmar- Thailand border, a group that had whatever little toys taken away from them. I was particularly proud of Collin Low when he attempted to run the Amazing Race Asia 2 in an ethical way. That requires Passion because being ethical can easily result in short-term loss. passion means believing that what you are doing is so worthwhile and important that you are prepared to pay a price for it. This requires an optimism and an idealism. i have met many sci graduates like that. This year, the School ran a film festival. Originally, it was proposed that funding should come from the School because it was part of a practicum. In the end, we decided that the students should go out to raise funds. (We were giving them an opportunity to be passionate.) And although it was additional work, raise funds they did. Faculty in the School are also involved in projects that require Passion. Thanks to the Wee Kim Wee Legacy Fund, we will increasingly be able to expose students to overseas experiences uniquely available only to the best communication and information schools in the world. Such exposure, however, requires time and energy from faculty. Again, there is Passion. What Passion translates to is a belief that what you are doing is so worthwhile and important that you are prepared to pay a price for it. This requires an optimism and an idealism. We have met many of you who are like that. Let’s hope we will meet more like you among the incoming group. Ang Peng Hwa CONNExSCIONS 3
Page 1: coNNexSCIoNs Volume 4 Issue 2 Janua
Page 5 and 6: ON CAMPUS Student FilMS tAke oFF to
Page 7 and 8: Sci proF gueSt lectureS in HiStoric
Page 9 and 10: new fACe on CAMPuS Mrs Angeline Sim
Page 11 and 12: ON CAMPUS … And cHildHood MyopiA
Page 13 and 14: NICATION world, commuNIcaTIoN Is dI
Page 15 and 16: On Christmas Eve, 1906, Reginald Fe
Page 17 and 18: SMS is the messenger that cannot be
Page 19 and 20: you actually exist if you don’t h
Page 21 and 22: Mode of transport: Electric Bicycle
Page 23 and 24: PlaSTIC SuRGERY 1,000 YOuThS plEdGE
Page 25 and 26: Is the subprime crisis still your f
Page 27 and 28: What actually motivated you to join
Page 29 and 30: aLUMnI In THe neWs WHO lEFT A lASTI
Page 31: aLUMnI In THe neWs AS A STUDENT I W

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