Singapore Students Put Up Outstanding Performance at International Science and Physics Competitions

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SINGAPORE STUDENTS PUT UP OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE AT INTERNATIONAL SCIENCE AND PHYSICS COMPETITIONS

1. The Ministry of Education congratulates the Singapore students on their outstanding achievement at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair 2007 (ISEF) held in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States from 13-19 May 2007, and the 8th Asian Physics Olympiad (APhO) held in Shanghai, China from 21-29 April 2007.

2. At the ISEF, our students obtained one First Award and one Second Award, making this Singapore’s best performance in its 7 years of participation in ISEF. At the APhO, our team won one Gold Medal and four Honourable Mentions, bringing Singapore to a fourth placing out of 23 countries.

3. Individual finalist, Amelia Chang Nong Shin from Raffles Junior College, won the First Award, and the team comprising Sewa Du Ying and Navin Brian Ramakrishna from National Junior College won the Second Award in their respective categories at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair 2007.

4. Amelia won the First Award of US$3,000 in the category of Medicine and Health Sciences for developing a novel approach for applications in Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. This approach would enhance the sensitivity of current diagnostic techniques and could be adapted for the diagnosis of other genetic disorders. She worked on the project under the supervision of Dr Lai Poh San from National University of Singapore. Amelia also won a paid summer internship at Agilent Technologies.

5. Du Ying and Navin won the Second Award of US$1,500 in the category of Cellular and Molecular Biology for studying the involvement of two proteins essential for cell movement. They hope that their results can lead to a better understanding of the processes occurring during cancer metastasis and wound healing. They conducted their research under the supervision of Dr Edward Manser at the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology.

6. ISEF is held in the United States annually and provides an opportunity for students from different parts of the world to showcase their science projects. The 1,500 finalists are chosen from a pool of more than 65,000 participants from more than 500 regional ISEF-affiliated science fairs around the world. Two individual projects and one team project from each affiliated fair are selected to compete at the international level. About 1,200 judges from different fields of science, engineering, and industry professionals are involved in judging the projects and selecting the winners. ISEF is often regarded as the “Olympics” of science competitions.

7. In April this year, these students won top honours in the Singapore Science and Engineering Fair (SSEF), a local fair affiliated to ISEF. SSEF is a national competition jointly organised by the Ministry of Education, the Agency for Science, Technology & Research (A*STAR) and the Singapore Science Centre. The students who represented Singapore at ISEF were winners of SSEF, who are also eligible to participate in A*STAR Talent Search (A*TS)[1]. Navin won the A*TS commendation award for the same project. Besides Amelia, another individual finalist, Hang Hao Chuien from Hwa Chong Institution, also participated in ISEF with his project on reflection within conics.

8. Li Haoyi from Anglo Chinese School (Independent) won the Gold Medal at the 8th Asian Physics Olympiad (APhO) held in Shanghai, China from 21–29 April 2007. This is the first time Singapore received an APhO Gold Medal. Raffles Junior College students Lo Yiu Wah Daniel, Quah Wan Fen Nicole, Sim Shao Qi Daniel and Yak Xin Yang each received an Honourable Mention at the APhO.

9. The APhO is an annual international physics competition where countries of Asia send their best students to test their knowledge in the world of physics. The students are tested in their ability to solve both theoretical and experimental problems. The competition is held in recognition of the growing significance of physics in all fields of science and technology. The Singapore team is led by Dr Rawat Rajdeep Singh from the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University. The following were also part of the delegation: Ng Jie Rui Jezreel from Hwa Chong Institution, and Ang Xianyi Alex and Quah Wan Jen Cheryl from Raffles Junior College.

10. Our students' participation in the International Olympiads is a joint effort between the Ministry of Education, the Institute of Physics, Singapore, the National University of Singapore and the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University.

[1]A*TS is part of A*STAR Graduate Academy’s youth science outreach to schools with the aim to inspire and sustain a passion in science in the young in Singapore. To participate in A*TS, the participants must be award winners of SSEF.