NTU Flagship: Day 1

Projects
8A - Tensile Testing of Engineering Materials
8B - Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM)
8C - Composite Material Processing

Teacher Advisor:
Ms Teo Wei Ting

Today, I learnt about different interesting things during different Plenary Sessions:

Plenary Session 1 - Earthquake Research on the Coral Reefs of Sumatra - by Professor Kerry Sieh, Director, Earth Observatory of Singapore:

I learnt how people predict when future tsunamis will occur by looking at different layers of deposits underground and also predict the cycle by looking at the coral reefs that are above the surface and seeing how much uplift occurred. The cycle is when the island sinks into the ocean deeper and deeper as years go by and then rise back up again during an earthquake.

Plenary Session 2 - IT for Animation - by Professor Seah Hock Soon, Division of Computer Systems, School of Computer Engineering:

I learnt how animations were made when 3D softwares were not available. People had to draw the scenes frame by frame and scan them into a computer to see if the animation was done correctly. They were then painted and a final scan was done on a layer different from the background before being made into an animation. NTU students and staff also created softwares that allow conversion of images from 2D to 3D, 3D to 2D and also creating animation from keyframes. Two of the softwares are currently patented and one of them is patent pending.

Plenary Session 3 - Innovation Breakthroughs in Nano-Science and Nano-Technology - by Assoc Professor David Butler, Division of Manufacturing Engineering, School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering:

I learnt about the Electron Microscope how it works and also how nano-technology is used in our daily lives, for example some cars are coated with a kind of material that uses nano-technology to keep the surface dry or to prevent scratches. Sunglasses and some glasses are also coated with a material that uses nano-technology to give them a tint or to turn the glass translucent when exposed to sunlight and to prevent scratches.

To sum it up:
These sessions roughly taught me how some things that we use in our daily lives work or some things that can affect us, for example how it would affect Singapore if there was an earthquake very near us or how nano-technology prevents scratches on different items we use.

Behavioural wise, overall, I felt that as what the teachers said, we could have done much better and controlled ourselves not to talk so much unnecessary and we should work more orderly and have initiative to help in simple things like clearing up the area after dinner.