SINGAPORE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCE
39thAnnual Report
of the Academy
2014/2015
1
CONTENTS
1
Officials
2
Membership
3
Activities
4
Young Scientist Awards
5
Publications & Research
6
COSMOS Journal
7.
Relations with international bodies
8.
Acknowledgements
Official Address
c/o Science Centre Singapore
15 Science Centre Road
Singapore 609081
Tel
Fax
: 64252500
: 6565 9533
2
1
OFFICIALS
1.1
Council
The following members were the representatives of the constituent societies of the
Academy during the year under review:
1.2
President
:
Prof Andrew Wee
IPS
Vice Presidents
:
A/Prof Lim Tit Meng
Prof Ling San
SAAS
SMS
Immediate Past President: Prof Leo Tan Wee Hin
SAAS
Hon. Secretary
A/Prof R Subramaniam
SAAS
Hon. Asst Secretary:
Dr Leong Lai Peng
SNIC
Hon. Treasurer
:
Dr Jiang Ying
SNIC
Members
:
Mrs Anne Dhanaraj
Prof Andy Hor
Ms Irene Tan
Mr Tan Yew Lee
Dr Abigayle Ng
Dr Melissa Fullwood
A/Prof Kwek Leong Chuan
A/Prof Sow Chorng Haur
A/Prof Rajdeep Singh
Mr Ng Kwan Kee
Mr Ho Yuen Ping
Dr Tang Wee Kee
A/Prof Lee Yuan Kun
Dr Dave Ow
Dr Thilo Hagen
Mr Choy Weng Keong
Prof B V R Chowdari
A/Prof Ng Teng Yong
Prof Wong Tien Yin
Prof Tan Eng King
SAAS
SNIC
STAS
STAS
SIBiol
SIBiol
IPS
IPS
IPS
SIS
SIS
SMS
SSMB
SSMB
SSBMB
SSBMB
MRSS
MRSS
SCS
SCS
:
Fellows
Prof Hardy Chan Sze On (National University of Singapore)
Prof Chong Chi Tat (National University of Singapore)
Prof Chou Loke Ming (National University of Singapore)
Prof Andy Hor Tzi Sum (National University of Singapore & Institute of Materials
Research & Engineering, A*STAR)
Emeritus Professor Huang Hsing Hua (National University of Singapore)
Prof Lee Soo Ying (Nanyang Technological University)
3
Prof Lim Hock (National University of Singapore)
A/Prof Lim Tit Meng (Science Centre Singapore / National University of Singapore)
Prof Ling San (Nanyang Technological University)
Prof Lui Pao Chuen (Nanyang Technological University & National University of
Singapore)
Prof Phua Kok Khoo (Nanyang Technological University and National University of
Singapore)
Prof Shen Zuowei (National University of Singapore)
(Retired) Professor Sim Keng Yeow (National University of Singapore)
Prof Sun Yeneng (National University of Singapore)
Prof Tan Eng Chye (National University of Singapore)
Prof Bernard Tan Tiong Gie (National University of Singapore)
Prof Leo Tan Wee Hin (National University of Singapore)
Prof Andrew Wee Thye Shen (National University of Singapore)
Prof Zhu Chengbo (National University of Singapore)
1.3
Honorary Fellows
Professor Chua Nam Hai (The Rockfeller University)
Professor Yau Shing-Tung (Harvard University)
2
Membership
The following constituent societies are members of the Academy:
The Institute of Physics Singapore
Singapore Institute of Biology
Science Teachers’ Association of Singapore
Singapore Association for the Advancement of Science
Singapore Institute of Statistics
Singapore Mathematical Society
Singapore National Institute of Chemistry
Singapore Society for Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Singapore Society for Microbiology & Biotechnology
Materials Research Society of Singapore
Chapter of Clinician-Scientists, Academy of Medicine
3
3.1
(IPS)
(SI Biol)
(STAS)
(SAAS)
(SIS)
(SMS)
(SNIC)
(SSBMB)
(SSMB)
(MRSS)
(CCS)
Activities
The various constituent societies of the Academy continued to be very active
throughout the year. A summary of the various activities of the constituent societies
follows:
3.2
Singapore National Institute of Chemistry
3.2.1 The SNIC-Industry Joint Awards in Chemistry 2014 were awarded to the following
recipients:
Dr. Lawrence Chia (TUM-Asia-SNIC Award in Chemistry Education 2014)
Dr. Zhang Zhongxing (Hyflux-SNIC Award in Environmental Chemistry 2014)
A/Prof Shunsuke Chiba (GSK-SNIC Award in Organic Chemistry 2014)
A/Prof. Liu Bin (BASF-SNIC Award in Materials Chemistry 2014)
4
3.2.2 At the 46th International Chemistry Olympiad held in Hanoi, Vietnam from 20-29 Jul
2014, the Singapore won 2 Gold and 2 Silver medals. Singapore was among the top
scorers in the Olympiad, with two students clinching 1st and 4th places.
3.2.3 For the Singapore Junior Chemistry Olympiad, 61 schools sent around 2,100 students
to participate in the event. The awards ceremony was held on 18 Sep 2014. 39
students received Gold and Silver medals, and 81 received Bronze medals. The Royal
Society of Chemistry sponsored $500 worth of book prizes to the top performing
students.
3.2.4 The 41st International Conference on Coordination Chemistry (ICCC41) was held
from 21-25 Jul 2014 in Singapore. This was the biggest ICCC conference since the
36th edition in Merida, Mexico, with 1,054 participants.
3.2.5 The Institute partnered the American Chemical Society to organise the Global
Innovation Imperatives event in Singapore from 3-5 Dec 2014.
3.3
3.3.1
3.3.2
3.3.4
3.3.5
3.3.6
3.3.7
Singapore Association for the Advancement of Science
The Young Scientist Badge scheme, organized by the Association, the Science
Teachers’Association of Singapore, the Science Centre Singapore and the Singapore
National Academy of Science, continued to grow in numbers of participants. A total
of 12,218 badges were awarded to students from primary schools in 2014.
The Young Scientist card on ‘I am a Young IT Whiz’ has been completely revised,
with inputs from the Media Literacy Council. It will be launched in 2015 to primary
schools.
The Questa club aims to stimulate interest in science among secondary students and
to encourage them to work independently in the areas of science and mathematics.
In 2014, a total of 4,496 badges were awarded to students from secondary schools.
The inaugural Singapore Youth Science Fair, organized by the Association, the
Science Teachers’Association of Singapore, and the Science Centre Singapore, and
open to primary and lower secondary students, was launched in 2014 in conjunction
with the nation-wide Singapore Science Festival.
For the Outstanding Science Teacher Awards, two teachers from primary schools,
one from a secondary school and one from a junior college, were selected.
The SAAS Award for the best NIE Trainee Teacher in 2014 for science and
mathematics was given to three students.
3.4
3.4.1
Singapore Institute of Statistics
The institute has established ties with some experienced datamining
practitioners, and they have agreed to take up key positions in the management
council.
3.4.2 For the eighth year running, the institute co-organised a 5-day course on
“Practical Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) Modelling using GAMS” (26-30
Jan 2015), which was conducted by the EcoMod Modelling School Asia. Due to
increasing demand, two advanced-level courses “Energy and Environmental CGE
Modeling with GAMS” and “Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium Modeling
Step-By-Step” were also conducted. The local and international participants
commented that they have had a very good learning experience in Singapore and
have picked up practical skills in building their own CGE models for economic
impact analysis.
5
3.5
Science Teachers Association of Singapore
3.5.1 The Association co-organized the Shell Singapore Youth Science Festival with the
Science Centre Singapore in May-Jun 2014. It was well attended by students and
teachers.
3.6
Singapore Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
3.6.1 The 8th Young Scientists’ Symposium was held on 17 Mar 2015 at the Science Centre
Singapore. It was co-organised with the Science Centre Singapore. There were 74
abstracts for poster presentations and 6 oral presentations. All five local polytechnics
were represented. The standard of the oral presentations was very high. Over 180
participants attended the symposium.
3.6.2 The society’s president edited a special issue of COSMOS on cellular delivery of
drugs and nucleic acids.
3.7
Singapore Institute for Biology
3.7.1 To celebrate the International Year of Family Farming, the institute and the Science
Centre Singapore hosted the annual public forum, comprising two talks. The first was
on “Community Gardening in Singapore” by Dr Shaun Lum and Ms Sapna Ananth
from NIE. The second was on “The Art and Science of Urban Greening and Farming”
by Mr Veera of Greenology Pte Ltd.
3.7.2 In Jun 2014, the institute celebrated its 40th anniversary with a lunch event. It was
followed by an Extraordinary General Meeting, where two new SIBiol Fellows were
announced: A/Prof. Lim Tit Meng and Dr Beverly Goh. Both the new Fellows have
served as presidents of the institute and have contributed significantly to the institute.
A/Prof Diong Cheong Hoong and Prof Lee Sing Kong have been promoted to Hon.
Fellows.
3.7.3 The institute launched the SIBiol Prize for Early Career Scientists during the 40th
Anniversary lunch. It comprises S$500 unrestricted cash prize for students and
postdocs.
3.7.4 The Singapore team at the 25th International Biology Olympiad held in Bali,
Indonesia in 2014, returned with 3 Gold and 1 Silver medals. It was placed overall 2nd
out of 61 teams.
3.7.5 The 15th Singapore Biology Olympiad was held at NIE/NTU in Nov-Dec 2014. Eight
students have been shortlisted, and are undergoing training for IBO 2015.
3.7.6 Two workshops were conducted this year. The first was on Next-Gen Sequencing by
Dr Melissa Fullwood, and was attended by 12 participants. Fifteen participants
attended the second workshop conducted by Dr Shawn Lum and Ms Sapna Ananth on
seeds.
3.7.7 The founding father of SIBiol, Prof. A. N. Rao, passed away in 2014. He was a
former president of SIBiol and an SIBiol Fellow.
3.8
Singapore Mathematical Society
3.8.1 The annual Singapore Mathematical Projects Festival and Singapore Mathematical
Olympiad were held at various months of the year.
3.8.2 The Singapore team won 3 Gold, 2 Silver and 1 Bronze medals at the 55th
International Mathematics Olympiad held in Argentina. It was ranked eighth in the
competition.
6
3.8.3 The society conducted enrichment classes for primary students in the Primary Math
Olympiad
3.8.4 Three issues of the Mathematical Medley and one SMO Solution Book were
published in 2014.
3.8.5 In Jun 2104, the Society co-organized the AME-SMS Conference (with Association
of Mathematics Educators) at the NUS High School. It attracted over 650 participants,
with most of them being local mathematics teachers.
3.8.6 The SMS Annual Prize Presentation was held on 6 Sep 2014 at the NUS High School
of Mathematics and Science. Prizes were handed out to various winners in
competitions organized by SMS in the past year.
3.8.7 The 5th Singapore Mathematics Symposium was held on 26 Sep 2014, and the half
day event included several invited lectures by mathematics scientists from various
institutions, and also a poster exhibition and competition for graduate students
3.9 Singapore Society for Molecular Biology and Biotechnology
3.9.1 Work on the organizing of the IUMS 2017 Congress is underway.
3.9.2 The society co-organized a seminar on “Knowing more about Cell Culture”, by Dr Buddy
Whitman from Wheaton, USA.. A total of 22 participants attended the seminar.
3.9.3 Two public seminars by Dr Yeo Wee Ming and Mrs Elissa Chan were given on
antimicrobial nano-coatings and portable rapid quantitative PCR technologies for food
and environmental samples.
3.9.4 The annual NYP-SSMB National Molecular & Microbiology Quiz was held on 27 Mar
2015, and attracted 51 students from 17 schools.
3.10 Institute of Physics Singapore
3.10.1 At the 5th International Physics Olympiad held in Astana, Kazakhstan, from 13-21 Jul
2014, the Singapore team won 3 Gold and 2 Silver medals, and was placed 5th in a field
of 85 countries.
3.10.2 At the 15th Asian Physics Olympiad held in Singapore from 11-18 May 2014, the
Singapore team won 3 Gold, 2 Silver, and 1 Bronze medals as well as 2 Honorary
Mentions.
3.10.3 At the 7th International Young Physicists’ Tournament held in Shrewsbury, United
Kingdom, from 3-10 Jul 2014, the Singapore team clinched the 1st position in a field of
28 countries, and was awarded the Gold medal.
3.10.4 At the 27th Singapore Physics Olympiad held in Oct and Nov 2014, a total of 7 Gold, 16
Silver and 15 Bronze medals were awarded. Also, 21 Honorary Mentions were awarded.
3.10.5 At the 7th Singapore Junior Physics Olympiad held on 30 Jul 2014, there were 1659
participants. A total of 26 Gold, 55 Silver and 78 Bronze medals were awarded. Also,
337 Honorable Mentions were awarded.
3.10.6 At the 5th Annual Meeting held from 26-28 Feb 2014 at NUS, there were 120
presentations.
3.10.7 IPS AWARDS 2014 were presented during the banquet of the IAS International
Conference on Massive Neutrino on 10 Feb 2015. There were 8 winners:
IPS President’s Medal – Oh Choo Hiap (NUS)
World Scientific Medal – Sum Tze Chien (NTU)
Omicron Nanotechnology Medal – Cesare Soci (NTU)
Cadi Scientific Medal – B V R Chowdari (NUS)
7
The Crescendas Medal – Venkata Ramanan (TP)
The Crescendas Medal – Norman Lee (SP)
The Crescendas Medal – Muhammad Nazir bin Amir (Greenview Sec)
The Crescendas Medal – Sheryl Oon-Teo Geok Hon (NUS HS)
3.11 Materials Research Society of Singapore
3.11.1 The society was involved in the organizing of the Asian Physics Olympiad in May 2014.
3.11.2 The 6th MRS-S Conference on Advanced Materials was held from 22-25 Jul 2014
3.11.3 Work on the 8th International Conference on Materials for Advanced Technologies is in
progress. Tbe conference will be held from 28 Jun to 3 Jul 2015
4
4.1
4.2
4.3
4.4
4.5
Young Scientist Awards
The Academy instituted the above in 1997, with the support of the Agency for
Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR).
The Young Scientist Award carries a cash prize of $10,000, a Trophy and a
Certificate.
Prof Andy Hor is Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the Young Scientist
Awards and A/Prof R. Subramaniam is Secretary of the Committee. Dr Leong Lai
Peng is Assistant Secretary for the committee.
SNAS President Prof Andrew Wee is Chairman of the Selection Panel for the
Young Scientists Awards. The other members are drawn from universities, industry,
A*STAR and the public sector. A/Prof R. Subramaniam served as Secretary for the
Selection Panel and Dr Leong Lai Peng as Assistant Secretary for the panel.
The winners of the 2014 awards were:
Dr Wang Qijie (NTU)
Dr Zhang Baile (NTU)
Dr Melissa Jane Fullwood (CSI, IMCB (A*STAR) and Yale-NUS)
5.
5.1
Publications and Research
Members have been very active in research and continued to publish their findings
in leading scientific journals.
6.
6.1
COSMOS Journal
Volume 9, No.2 on cellular delivery of drugs and nucleic acids is available online. It
was edited by A/Prof Thilo Hagen.
6.2
Other issues which have been published earlier include:
Volume 1, No: 1 (May 2005) on Statistics & Applied Probability
Volume 2, No: 1 (May 2006) on Quantum Information
Volume 3, No: 1 (Nov 2007) on Nanoscience & Nanotechnology 1
Volume 4, No: 1 (May 2008) on Selected Modern Applications of Chemistry
Volume 4, No: 2 (Nov 2008) on Nanoscience & Nanotechnology 2
Volume 5, No. 1 (May 2009) on Materials Science & Engineering 1
Volume 6, No. 1 (May 2010) on Introduced Species in Singapore
Volume 6, No. 2 (Dec 2010) on Chemistry of Nanomaterials
Volume 7, No. 1 (June 2011) on Materials for Advanced Technologies
Volume 8, No. 1 (June 2012) on Biomedical Applications of Coordination Complexes
Volume 8, No, 2 (June 2013) on Science Education
8
Volume 9, No. 1 (Dec 2013) on Molecular Spectroscopy and Microscopy
6.3
7
7.1
7.2
8
8.1
A few other issues are under preparation
Relations with international bodies
The Academy continues to be a member of the Pacific Science Association, the Third
World Academy of Sciences, and the Association of Academies and Societies of
Sciences in Asia.
The Academy continues to be invited to participate in ASEAN and international
scientific conferences and fora.
Acknowledgements
The Academy thanks the National University of Singapore, the Nanyang
Technological University and the Science Centre Singapore for their strong support
and encouragement towards the Academy’s mission objectives.
__________________
Chairman
________________
Date
9