Space Faculty’s manager, Gillian Chin and ISC Distinction winner, Natalie Ching, had the honour of meeting President Tharman last week during his visit to NTU’s Satellite Research Centre (SaRC).
Gillian and Natalie shared with him how programmes like the International Space Challenge (ISC) cultivates an interest for space and STEM amongst youths and allow them to develop the relevant skills needed to pursue careers in the exciting field of space.
The ISC, now in its 17th year, is a homegrown initiative with students from over 40 countries participating annually. This year, we’re tackling the theme “Living in Space,” exploring the challenges and opportunities of human space exploration and its potential to improve life on Earth.
ISC17 offers an unparalleled opportunity to connect with over 500 students from across the globe as they tackle these challenges head-on.
Miss Khiu Yi Wen and Miss Lau Shi Yun, both graduates of the National University of Singapore’s Physics Department and currently Physics teachers at River Valley High School, were each awarded the Best Mentor Award at the 16th International Space Challenge (ISC).
Prior to her role as a mentor, Shi Yun had participated in the competition back in 2013 when it was formerly known as the Singapore Space Challenge. A decade later, she has come a full circle with her colleague Yi Wen to be mentors of the best and brightest STEM students in Singapore.
Read on to find out more about Yi Wen and Shi Yun.
Having participated in the then Singapore Space Challenge (SSC) many years ago, how has the competition evolved in terms of the challenges presented, student approaches, and overall experience for participants?
Shi Yun: My participation in the Singapore Space Challenge 2013 remains a cherished memory. Our project focused on preserving bone mineral density, prompting us to delve into independent online research beyond our classroom curriculum. Crafting a simulation and compiling a scientific report proved both challenging and rewarding. Today, the SSC has transformed into ISC, offering a dynamic learning platform accessible to all students. This evolution includes an innovative online portal with workshops and webinars led by global industry experts.
What sets ISC apart is its emphasis on interdisciplinary learning. In addition to scientific exploration, students are encouraged to develop skills in business report writing, logistical planning, and financial management. This holistic approach equips individuals for success in our increasingly complex world, where interdisciplinary thinking and STEM expertise are essential.
What first sparked your interest in space? Did you have a personal “Eureka!” moment growing up?
Shi Yun: The concept of space always seemed distant and unattainable to me until my friends invited me to join them in participating in the Singapore Space Challenge. This experience was my first memorable encounter with the idea of space. It was then that I realized space is not just a fictional or idealized notion but something potentially accessible and relevant to everyone, regardless of where they are on Earth.
Subsequently, space-related movies such as Interstellar, The Martian, and Hidden Figures further piqued my interest in space. These films fascinated me and sparked a deeper curiosity about the vast universe beyond the confines of our planet.
As a mentor, what’s your favorite way to spark creativity and help students come up with innovative solutions for their projects?
Yi Wen: I encourage students to envision groundbreaking innovations, whether it’s a novel process or device. By reverse engineering, they analyze existing technologies to support their concepts, pinpointing gaps to assess feasibility. For those struggling with creativity, assembling current solutions serves as a foundation to engineer innovative approaches, fostering out-of-the-box thinking.
What do you hope students will take away from their experience participating in the ISC?
Shi Yun: Through this challenge, my aspiration is for students to stretch their imaginations beyond familiar boundaries, fostering open-mindedness and creativity in their approach to the task at hand. I encourage them to remain inquisitive about the world, both within their reach and beyond, recognizing that science and technology possess the remarkable ability to transcend all boundaries and unveil answers to the mysteries of the universe.
Do you ever find yourself wishing you could have participated in the ISC (or SSC) back in the day? If so, what aspect of the competition particularly piques your interest?
Yi Wen: I was not aware of the ISC competition in the past. However, having mentored the students, I can see the appeal and the learning opportunities that it brings with it. ISC offers abundant chances to glean insights from experts, with flexible learning via uploaded videos. It’s a platform brimming with opportunities for students to broaden their horizons and delve deeper into scientific realm.
Excerpts from Zaoabo(translated)
For the elderly and people with reduced mobility, robots or drones that can deliver food to their homes will undoubtedly provide a great convenience. Teams of university students use geospatial technology to unleash their creativity and design food delivery solutions that help improve the lives of others…
…The GNSS Innovation Challenge, jointly organised by Space Faculty and the Singapore Land Authority, aims to raise awareness of these geospatial technologies and encourage the students to use them to design solutions to everyday problems…
…The Minister for Culture, Community and Youth and Second Minister for Law, Mr Edwin Tong, also exemplified the wide range of uses of geospatial technology in his speech at the awards ceremony held at Gillman Barracks on Thursday (26 Jan)
Excerpts from Zaoabo(translated)
In conjunction with the celebration of its 20th anniversary, the Singapore Business Federation and the Future Economy Council jointly launched a commemorative special publication “20 Conversations”, allowing 20 outstanding local business leaders from all walks of life to share their journeys and lessons learned to inspire business confidence, inspire change and drive the pursuit of new opportunities.
Deputy Prime Minister and Coordinating Minister for Economic Policy Heng Swee Keat on Friday (November 11), together with Federation of Industry and Commerce Chairman Lim Meng Yan, officiated at a thought leadership and networking event for the launch of the book.
The business leaders interviewed in the book include Alex Hungate, chief operating officer of Grab Group, Kwan Kwok-chung, founder and group managing director of Commonwealth Capital, Wu Junpeng, president of Singapore Airlines (SIA), co-founder of Ninja Van People and CEO Li Changwen and Doctor Anywhere founder Lin Weiwen.
Also interviewed were female business leaders H&H General Manager Chen Tianfen, CEO of Singapore Aerospace and Technology Corporation (SSTL) Tan Shuting and New Press Media Group President Zhang Lilin.
Excerpts from The Straits Times
We are grateful for the partnership with JAXA to “seed” this project!
In 2021, the island state sent coriander seeds to the International Space Station – an orbiting laboratory about 400km from Earth – as part of an Asia-Pacific project. Eleven countries contributed 22 herb seed types stored in a ziplock bag, to find out how space travel affects them.
While an astronaut’s health must be safeguarded from the harsh space environment, the coriander seeds more than held their own, turning into “superseeds” during their month-long stint in space.
When planted back on Earth, the seeds boasted a more luxuriant yield, weighing 41.4g versus their earthbound counterpart’s 33.1g.
Space radiation and microgravity – the condition of being weightless – led to genetic mutations in the seeds that could generate random but potentially useful traits, said the Singapore Food Agency in a joint reply with other institutions involved in the project.
The other institutions are Singapore Space and Technology, the Agency for Science, Technology and Research’s Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS), and the SingHealth Duke-NUS Institute of Biodiversity Medicine (BD-MED).
Space Faculty’s very own Ms Gillian Chin, who was also Singapore’s point of contact for the Asian Herb in Space (AHiS) project, said: “The purpose of AHiS is to provide students and young researchers in the Asia-Pacific region an opportunity to learn about space biology.”
Four Hillgrove Secondary School students found themselves at the Tsukuba Space Centre in Japan to witness an astronaut on the International Space Station conduct their experiment. Their meticulously designed experiment on paper plane flight in microgravity became the first-ever Singaporean proposal chosen for the Asian Try Zero-G (ATZG) competition in 2016
Space Faculty currently partners with JAXA to organise ATZG in Singapore to inspire future generations of scientists and engineers while fostering international collaboration in space research and development.