I have rather few lecturers now as I only take very few acedemic subjects. Mr Pang Nai Ho caught my eye as he is a humourous lecturer. He is feestock planning manager in Singapore Refining Company and he got Masters from NUS in 2002. He teaches part time in NUS, teachin Petroleum Refining. He is a caring husband and ferries his wife home after work except on the days which he come to NUS for lecturers which he will come home late.
He likes to invest in shares and made several jokes about the stock market. He said in one of his lectures that the STI dropped 150 points and he can see that those people who buy stocks have grey faces. Mr Pang said in another lecture that whenever he visit NUS to give lectures the stock market will fall, probably due to coincidence or that he is suay. Then he got say about to make money in the stock market overall, we cannot be too greedy or too smart, and must get burnt first before you gain experience on which stock to buy.
He also believes in Feng Shui and teaches a few theories on Feng Shui. He said that this year is a golden rat year and his friend who is a Feng Shui master said that Hillary Clinton will win the US election because she is born on the year of the rat. Then he said he is born on the year of ox and his wife is born on the year of rat (beginning of the year) but then then are born on the same solar year. But his analyst friend said that its better for Obama to win the election to improve the home loan debts of US citizens and the overall state of US economy.
Today, I went to the Singapore Refining Comapny plant for a site visit and Mr Pang was the site manager to bring us for a tour of the plant. He got show us the units for crude distillation, vacuum distillation, naphtha stabiliser, catalytic reformer, catalytic cracker, hydrocracker, hydrodesulphurisation unit, vistbreaker, storage tank for crude and products, steam methane reformer, water gas shift reactor, acid gas absorber, desalting unit and the furnaces. I saw some tadpoles swimming in a drain inside that plant, and Mr Pqang explained that the pollution controls inside the plant is good so the fishes and tadpoles can live in the drain and he said that some of the fry is actually luohan fish.
There is a funny incident in the lift of the catalytic cracker which he wants to bring us up the unit to have an overview of how the plant works and also the moving roof storage tank. He pressed several buttons and even the technician got help him to press the buttos but the lift door refused to close. The technician press on of the button outside and the door got close slightly but it won't close completely. So Mr Pang asked us to get out the lift and proceed on to other areas. Then he crack a joke saying that there is a story lift is haunted and the lift don't like our group of students so the door refused to close. Then my friend who used to work in SRC during his industrial attachment said that he need to kick the panel of the lift so that it will close and go up. This is the wierdest lift I seen in my life, even wierder than the lift I saw in the chalet with my friends in Marsiling (that lift will bounce when it reaches the first story). Not only there are many buttons in that lift that I don't know the use for them (maybe there is a control which will make the life move sideways), it also have a funny behavior.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Lecturer review III
This entry will describe the grading (A, B, C, D) of my lecturers that had taught me, hope I don't get hantam by them if I give them a F. But as you know I do hate those lecturers who teach fluid mechanics although the subject has its uses also. But those good lecturers I got described already.
A+: Dr Tong Yen Wah and Dr Yang Kun-Lin
A: A/P Wang Chi Hwa, Dr Lanry Yung, Dr Edmund Keung, Prof Chung Tai Shung, Prof Farooq, Prof Lee Jim Yang, Prof Rangaiah, Mr Pang Nai Ho
B: Dr Mark Seays, Prof Zeng Hua Chun, Dr Chng Chee Keong, A/P Foo Swee Kheng, A/P Ting Yen Peng, Dr Laksh, Dr Lu Yi Xin, Prof Karimi, A/P Feng Si Shen, A/P Uddin, Dr Zhang Yong Wei, Mr Aspi, Ms Cornie Chung, A/P Li Zhi, Dr Yu Hao and A/P Gong Zhi Yuan, Dr Rudi Gunawan
C: A/P Hidayat, A/P Reginald Tan, Prof Tan Thiam Chye, Dr Krishnaswamy, Mr Raymond Tan
D: Dr Ti Hwei Chen, A/P Chen Shing Bor, Prof Jeyaseelan, Dr Anthony Pereira, A/P Chew Chye Heng
A+: Dr Tong Yen Wah and Dr Yang Kun-Lin
A: A/P Wang Chi Hwa, Dr Lanry Yung, Dr Edmund Keung, Prof Chung Tai Shung, Prof Farooq, Prof Lee Jim Yang, Prof Rangaiah, Mr Pang Nai Ho
B: Dr Mark Seays, Prof Zeng Hua Chun, Dr Chng Chee Keong, A/P Foo Swee Kheng, A/P Ting Yen Peng, Dr Laksh, Dr Lu Yi Xin, Prof Karimi, A/P Feng Si Shen, A/P Uddin, Dr Zhang Yong Wei, Mr Aspi, Ms Cornie Chung, A/P Li Zhi, Dr Yu Hao and A/P Gong Zhi Yuan, Dr Rudi Gunawan
C: A/P Hidayat, A/P Reginald Tan, Prof Tan Thiam Chye, Dr Krishnaswamy, Mr Raymond Tan
D: Dr Ti Hwei Chen, A/P Chen Shing Bor, Prof Jeyaseelan, Dr Anthony Pereira, A/P Chew Chye Heng
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Dr Yang is young at heart!!!
I saw something surprising during the FYP lecture yesterday. I saw Dr Yang playing poker cards (taichi game) with a group of 3 other students. I didn't expect him to interact with the students through games!!! Haha I was giggling away. Haha Dr Yang is so playful ah... I think its more likely that Dr Rudi will play such games since he got the playful look. Dr Rudi got wrote in heis lecture notes that about the joy of winning when gambling. I know he is a curious person the first time I seen him last year liao... He is really a person who is still young at heart. Then I approach him and said to him: Dr Yang you really know how to play poker cards ah? You know statistics well." He is also interested in the games of chance as he got talk about 4D and Toto during his lecture. There is a 7x3 matrix which he showed during last year's lecture that he calculated that the determinanats of all the 3x3 sets are all calculated to be 0 so the rank of the matrix could not be 3. The he said since he got such a "lucky" matrix he should queue up at the Singapore Pools booth to buy Toto liao. Of course he got say some interesting things he found out when he was young in the FYP lecture. He talked about how vending machines work. He said that the coin slot has some electrode to detect the conductivity of the coin to make sure that the coin he used is a Singaporean coin not Malaysian or other coins since the compositions of the alloys are quite different. He also got play with the note slotting machine and tried to put in an ordinary white piece of paper into the slot, but appearantly nothing come out of the vending machine. The he found out from the vendor that the note slotting machines works on the basis of magnetism, the notes have weak magnetic fields that that machine can detect. Later, I went back to see his game, he lost that game since he has about 6 cards left when the winner is declared. The I know that he is not expert in that game, he is just curious about that game.
Friday, February 15, 2008
PhD is definately not an option for me!!!
Recently there are a few people asked me whether I want to study PhD one of them is a PhD student who shares the same laboratory as me another one is my former lecturer Prof Chung. My answer is a straight no. It never comes across my mind for me to study PhD because I am just too tired and bored of studying, although I do like synthesis (synthesizing new chemicals and materials) experiments. I also don’t have the financial means to further studies after I finished my Bachelor (Engineering) degree. There is a joke that I made that if I study PhD I will study until I got Permanent Head Damage. I heard that graduate students need to pay the full school fees about $18000 a year as compared to the undergraduate who pays about $6300 a year so in total need to pay $90000 for the full course. I don’t want to be financially independent to the society and family only when I reached 28 and for my dear male counterparts they can only be financially independent when they reached 30 years old (if they study PhD). That is wasting 6 years of my life when I can earn $200000 already and can pay up for half of my new flat (assume I spend as little money as possible).
I think that studying PhD is a total waste of time and money unless there are certain incentives for me (and most Singaporeans) to do so. First, it is whether I can make it to become a lecturer in a rich or famous university. But, since my first degree is quite a flop, those famous universities won’t consider me to be their lecturer, at most I can be a research fellow or lecturer in a polytechnic which of course won’t pay that well, even the most well paid research fellow I know earn $5000 a month is which is around 1/10 of what Prof Chung the best paid lecturer in the Engineering faculty earns. There are some research fellows that only stared teaching lectures when they are 40+ haha. Secondly, I will take up PhD if my employer is so impressed with my work as a chemist in the research company that he want to sponsor me to study for Masters and PhD. Thirdly, if I can earn over $10000 a month from online marketing or franchise business, and I amass so much savings that I can enjoy life (buy condo and car), then I will study for Masters and PhD for fun.
There is a theory which I learned in Economics that I suppose is the reason why most Singaporeans don’t want to study PhD. It is the “law of diminishing returns”; the extra years and effort put in for further education after getting Bachelors doesn’t pay accordingly (reduced increments). The starting pay of polytechnic graduates is around $1600; the staring pay of Bachelor’s graduate is around $2500, the starting pay of a Master’s graduate is around $3000 and the staring pay of a research fellow with a PhD is around $3600. A PhD graduate tend to think there is too much to lose after studying so much so venture into a stable job like research which they think pays a lot and hoping that they can get promoted to a lecturer in the future. They are still stuck to the 20th century mindset that high education qualification is required for a high salary and think they are on top of the world. But the fact is that people who are in management, marketing, law or property earns much more than a researcher or engineer although these people usually got diploma or Bachelor’s degree only. These sorts of jobs usually requires more valuable skills like public speaking, marketing, leadership, motivation and people relation skills. These sort of skills is hardly taught in Engineering which we learnt the formulas’ for reaction kinetics, thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, process modeling, mass and energy balance, separation processes, machinery programming and computing and apply to different units. Of course there is also research projects which we formulate a new theory, program, machine or synthesizing new materials and nanoparticles, genetic engineering which we can learn a lot of skill but it may not worth much in the market. The knowledge from the university won’t help us to cope with office politics, mudslinging and other mind games played by our superiors and employer.
Many of our parents also have this kind rigid mindset which forces the students to bury their heads in their books, give them intensive tuition so that they can get straight As and then study law or medical degree and then become lawyers and doctors. While this strategy works well for us in the 20th century, it will not work well in the 21st century. People who are stuck to the old mindset will be employees for life and they will have salary ceiling especially for jobs like engineers, researchers, teachers, administrative staff and other mid level workers. We need to have an open mindset, listening ear, mind reading, emotional quotient and adversity quotient to survive in the globalized world. Although education is a valuable tool in Singapore, most of the mainstream education trains us to be good employees. Ultimately, it is the amount of money and assets that counts in Singapore society not getting a high educational qualification.
I think that studying PhD is a total waste of time and money unless there are certain incentives for me (and most Singaporeans) to do so. First, it is whether I can make it to become a lecturer in a rich or famous university. But, since my first degree is quite a flop, those famous universities won’t consider me to be their lecturer, at most I can be a research fellow or lecturer in a polytechnic which of course won’t pay that well, even the most well paid research fellow I know earn $5000 a month is which is around 1/10 of what Prof Chung the best paid lecturer in the Engineering faculty earns. There are some research fellows that only stared teaching lectures when they are 40+ haha. Secondly, I will take up PhD if my employer is so impressed with my work as a chemist in the research company that he want to sponsor me to study for Masters and PhD. Thirdly, if I can earn over $10000 a month from online marketing or franchise business, and I amass so much savings that I can enjoy life (buy condo and car), then I will study for Masters and PhD for fun.
There is a theory which I learned in Economics that I suppose is the reason why most Singaporeans don’t want to study PhD. It is the “law of diminishing returns”; the extra years and effort put in for further education after getting Bachelors doesn’t pay accordingly (reduced increments). The starting pay of polytechnic graduates is around $1600; the staring pay of Bachelor’s graduate is around $2500, the starting pay of a Master’s graduate is around $3000 and the staring pay of a research fellow with a PhD is around $3600. A PhD graduate tend to think there is too much to lose after studying so much so venture into a stable job like research which they think pays a lot and hoping that they can get promoted to a lecturer in the future. They are still stuck to the 20th century mindset that high education qualification is required for a high salary and think they are on top of the world. But the fact is that people who are in management, marketing, law or property earns much more than a researcher or engineer although these people usually got diploma or Bachelor’s degree only. These sorts of jobs usually requires more valuable skills like public speaking, marketing, leadership, motivation and people relation skills. These sort of skills is hardly taught in Engineering which we learnt the formulas’ for reaction kinetics, thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, process modeling, mass and energy balance, separation processes, machinery programming and computing and apply to different units. Of course there is also research projects which we formulate a new theory, program, machine or synthesizing new materials and nanoparticles, genetic engineering which we can learn a lot of skill but it may not worth much in the market. The knowledge from the university won’t help us to cope with office politics, mudslinging and other mind games played by our superiors and employer.
Many of our parents also have this kind rigid mindset which forces the students to bury their heads in their books, give them intensive tuition so that they can get straight As and then study law or medical degree and then become lawyers and doctors. While this strategy works well for us in the 20th century, it will not work well in the 21st century. People who are stuck to the old mindset will be employees for life and they will have salary ceiling especially for jobs like engineers, researchers, teachers, administrative staff and other mid level workers. We need to have an open mindset, listening ear, mind reading, emotional quotient and adversity quotient to survive in the globalized world. Although education is a valuable tool in Singapore, most of the mainstream education trains us to be good employees. Ultimately, it is the amount of money and assets that counts in Singapore society not getting a high educational qualification.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Dr Tong's funny lecture today
Today Dr Tong got give the class for polymer engineering pinapple tarts and peanut puff and said thank us for attending the lecture on the eve of Chinese New Year's eve and hope we will wake up with these little snacks...
The he said about the containers used for holding these cookies are made of plastics and polymers, mostly is made of polystyrene or polypropylene. Ok that is not the funny part lah. I think he is a rather generous project supervisor, he got treat his mentees dinner by the way.
There is a part which he make some mistakes about Chemistry lah. He said that the fluoride group is very electronegative and therefore electron withdrawing... I think he was right that the benzene ring does stabilizes the free radicals and the anions, the benzene ring does reduces the electron density around the free radical stabilizing and its also a bulky group it so producing the head to tail polymer chain . Ok the methyl group is electron donating (actually electron withdrawing) so will produce a polymer with head to head polymerization. Haha, I was wondering what he actually mean was. My classmate observed Dr Tong's mistake and point out to him, and he praise her for being very observent. Electron donating means electropositive and electron withdrawing means electronegative. Even my friend joke to me about him, saying my "favourite lecturer" say wrong things during lecture, say fluorine is very electronegetive so is an electron donating group. For more information about his lecture please see below.
The he said about the containers used for holding these cookies are made of plastics and polymers, mostly is made of polystyrene or polypropylene. Ok that is not the funny part lah. I think he is a rather generous project supervisor, he got treat his mentees dinner by the way.
There is a part which he make some mistakes about Chemistry lah. He said that the fluoride group is very electronegative and therefore electron withdrawing... I think he was right that the benzene ring does stabilizes the free radicals and the anions, the benzene ring does reduces the electron density around the free radical stabilizing and its also a bulky group it so producing the head to tail polymer chain . Ok the methyl group is electron donating (actually electron withdrawing) so will produce a polymer with head to head polymerization. Haha, I was wondering what he actually mean was. My classmate observed Dr Tong's mistake and point out to him, and he praise her for being very observent. Electron donating means electropositive and electron withdrawing means electronegative. Even my friend joke to me about him, saying my "favourite lecturer" say wrong things during lecture, say fluorine is very electronegetive so is an electron donating group. For more information about his lecture please see below.
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Who are my Role Models
Who can I model?
Q: Who do I know is an excellent communicator? Someone who build rapport with people very easily and is very charismatic and persuasive?
A: Dr Tong Yen Wah. He is charismatic, likable and communicates well with students. I can communicate with him rather easily even though I am not good in expressing myself through words but rather through facial expressions. He conducts his lectures more like a seminar and interacts with the student audience at times, not teaching lecture like a one way dialogue (ie watching TV).
Q: Think of someone who makes decisions confidently and effectively.
A: Li Ka Shing. When he wants to take over another port business he makes is decisions quickly and promptly, and then decides what improvements he con do to the port later.
Q: Who is the person you can model who you can model in your chosen profession or business?
A: Mr Arthur Yap. He is rich, powerful, charismatic, good public speaker and humorous at times. He markets healthcare products like Indinine and Moor bar so well that many people are convinced that those products are good for health and beauty. He is a billionaire. He got a mansion that is the size of 50 HDB flats.
Q: Who do you know exudes a lot of power and commands a lot of respect?
A: Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew. He is a powerful leader, leads a team of minister to help develop Singapore’s houses, industries, economy, defense and education and turn Singapore from a poor village into a modern first world country.
Q: Who can you model in the area of motivation? Who is always bubbling with enthusiasm, always energized no matter how negative everyone else around is?
A: Dr Yang Kun Lin. He is a very humorous and enthusiastic lecturer, someone who can make a boring Maths subject interesting and full of illustrations for the Mathematical models. He is also an enthusiastic and curious researcher also, and thinks research is fun, addictive, rewarding and gets to learn new things everyday.
Q: Who do you find is able to exude lots of genuine charm and attracts both sexes?
A: Felicia Chin. She is friendly, approachable and is popular with the audience. She used to act rather mediocre, but she impressed me in her role as Lin Fei in the Golden Path and I am attracted to her character even though I am a girl. It was her best role so far.
Q: Who do I know is an excellent communicator? Someone who build rapport with people very easily and is very charismatic and persuasive?
A: Dr Tong Yen Wah. He is charismatic, likable and communicates well with students. I can communicate with him rather easily even though I am not good in expressing myself through words but rather through facial expressions. He conducts his lectures more like a seminar and interacts with the student audience at times, not teaching lecture like a one way dialogue (ie watching TV).
Q: Think of someone who makes decisions confidently and effectively.
A: Li Ka Shing. When he wants to take over another port business he makes is decisions quickly and promptly, and then decides what improvements he con do to the port later.
Q: Who is the person you can model who you can model in your chosen profession or business?
A: Mr Arthur Yap. He is rich, powerful, charismatic, good public speaker and humorous at times. He markets healthcare products like Indinine and Moor bar so well that many people are convinced that those products are good for health and beauty. He is a billionaire. He got a mansion that is the size of 50 HDB flats.
Q: Who do you know exudes a lot of power and commands a lot of respect?
A: Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew. He is a powerful leader, leads a team of minister to help develop Singapore’s houses, industries, economy, defense and education and turn Singapore from a poor village into a modern first world country.
Q: Who can you model in the area of motivation? Who is always bubbling with enthusiasm, always energized no matter how negative everyone else around is?
A: Dr Yang Kun Lin. He is a very humorous and enthusiastic lecturer, someone who can make a boring Maths subject interesting and full of illustrations for the Mathematical models. He is also an enthusiastic and curious researcher also, and thinks research is fun, addictive, rewarding and gets to learn new things everyday.
Q: Who do you find is able to exude lots of genuine charm and attracts both sexes?
A: Felicia Chin. She is friendly, approachable and is popular with the audience. She used to act rather mediocre, but she impressed me in her role as Lin Fei in the Golden Path and I am attracted to her character even though I am a girl. It was her best role so far.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
How to create Nylon 6,10 in the lab
For the first lecture of Polymer Engineering Dr Tong brought a lot of things that are made of polymers like nylon gloves, plastic bottles, paint, polyester scarf, Styrofoam cup, Blutack, shampoo bottle, plastic wrapper and plastic bag. He also tells us briefly about his trip in USA and he went skiing over there so need to wear the think plastic gloves. He also said that his blouse is made of polyester. Of course it helps me to remember that polymers have such wide applications in modern lives that we can’t imagine a life without it.
In the polymer engineering lecture, Dr Tong got demonstrate how to produce a nylon called poly (1,6-diaminohexane sebacide). You mix two solutions of sebacoyl chloride in hexane and 1,6 diaminohexane in water together. I got see this experiment in my secondary school I think. Then interfacial condensation occurs at the interface of hexane and water solution and a thin rubbery substance form in the interface. However, due to his poor pulling techniques he pull out a chunk of nylon instead of a nice string.The advantage is that you don't need to use stoichiometric ratios of sebecoyl chloride and 1,6 diaminohexane for this reaction to produce a high molecular weight polymer because using non stoichiometric ratios in polycondensation reactions does affect the polymer chain length drastically. If you use this method, the reactants will react at the interface in a 1:1 ratio even though you may have slighty more of one of the reactants. This method of production, however will introduce impurities in the form of solvent and you need to heat up to remove them, in order to get a useful nylon plastic.
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