TECH EXPERTS

Dr Shubha Vij who is also an adjunct Associate Professor with James Cook University Singapore, is a geneticist with over 20 years of experience in genomics, evolution, developmental biology, barcoding, transgenics and functional characterization of gene expression. Some of her key achievements include being involved in producing the gold standard version of the rice genome and chromosomal level assembly of Asian seabass. Over the last ten years, Shubha has been actively involved in improving key food fish species such as Asian seabass and Red Snapper through applied breeding programs and focus on key aquaculture traits. Recently, Dr Shubha has also been involved in developing immune boosting and sustainable aquafeeds.

Dr. Yeo Boon Sain obtained his Bachelors of Engineering and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from the University of Glasgow and Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, respectively. Some research interests are in technologies relating to wireless systems and network, and operational approaches to optimize telecommunication systems. He is an expert in high frequency (HF) and low frequency (LF) Radio-frequency identification (RFID) system. He is trained by NXP and Texas Instruments for their respective high-power HF RFID reader design. Prior to founding Trilogy Technologies, Boon Sain spent 10 years with the Institute for Infocomm Research, an institute under Agency for Science, Technology and Research. He was previously appointed as the laboratory head of Wireless Sensor Networks Laboratory and was the Technology and Development Director of Wavex Technologies and Wavex Innovations. He was also seconded as the R&D director of SensiMesh Pte Ltd and focused on mesh technologies, wireless and wired sensor networks, Real-Time Locating System, as well as monitoring and control systems. He was also an adjunct Assistant Professor in NUS. In 2010, he started Trilogy Technologies Pte Ltd, a one-stop turnkey engineering solutions provider, and certified for ISO 13485, 9001 and 14001 Quality Management Systems. With his skillful and knowledgeable R&D background and production knowledge acquired over the years, he provides ingenious designs that are highly producible and conform to various industry standards such as MIL-STD 461, 810 and 1275, as well as IPC-600, 610, 620, J-STD-001 and 7711/7721, for which he is a certified trainer.

Hong Ling Tim is currently a Principal Lecturer under Industry track at Republic Polytechnic. He has held various positions within Republic Polytechnic such as the Senior Conexus Manager for the SMART Engineering Technology Centre and also Manager for the industry joint laboratory with Texas Instruments specialising in low power wireless applications. Ling Tim was also involved in numerous grants or funding for research and development in the areas of biomedical electronics and has engaged in consultancies project with the industry. Some of his recent projects include Gamified Fine Motor Skill Rehabilitation Device for Children with Developmental Disorders, Wireless Monitoring of the Muscle Blood Flow in Low Back Pain Population, and Smart Sanitizer System for Hand Infection Prevention.   Prior to joining Republic Polytechnic, he held a senior position as a project manager at Willowglen Services Pte Ltd, and was project engineer at Defence Science and Technology Agency. He graduated with a Master of Science in Electrical & Electronics Engineering from the National University of Singapore, a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Electrical Engineering from the Nanyang Technological University and a Diploma from Ngee Ann Polytechnic. He was recently awarded the Crescendas Medal and Prize for Outstanding Applied Physics Researcher (Polytechnics) 2019.

Dr Heng Kiang Soon has 15 years of experience in the industry as a nutritionist and in the academia as researcher and lecturer. Currently, he is a lecturer at the School of Applied Science, Republic Polytechnic. His research interests are in nutraceutical and functional food development with emphasis on translating laboratory-based discoveries into novel products with effective health promoting and therapeutic effects. He has been collaborating with various companies in the research and development of food products. He is also experienced in diet and nutritional clinical studies, extraction and analysis of plant bioactive compounds, as well as shelf life studies of food products. He has published and presented more than 15 research papers and participated in book publication around human nutrition and health. As a nutrition educator, he is also passionate in promoting healthy diet and nutrition to the community.   Dr Heng holds a PhD in Nutritional Science and MSc in Community Nutrition from Universiti Putra Malaysia. 

Dr Lily Ganda is currently a lecturer supporting various environmental science and management diploma programmes at Republic Polytechnic (RP) while she continues to be active in applied research for wastewater treatment and waste management. In a latest project, Lily led a sustainability project funded by Mandai Research Fund to search on a closed loop sustainable approach to manage wildlife waste. The project aimed to set up a feasible waste management solution to manage wildlife waste using black soldier fly, which is a first of its kind in the world. Her research findings were featured in various national media, such as The Strait Times, Today, Lianhe Zaobao, Channel NewsAsia, Berita Mediacorp, Channel 8 and CNA938. This project also clinched RP’s Most Innovative Project and Gold Award at the Ministry of Education (MOE) Innergy Award in 2020. Apart from the Mandai Research Fund, her research work is also supported by MOE Translational R&D and Innovation Fund for another eco-project on biofuel production. In addition, Lily has been actively collaborating with various industrial partners through consultancy projects. Lily attained her PhD in Environmental Engineering from Nanyang Technological University. She was a recipient of the National Research Foundation (Environmental and Water Technology) PhD Scholarship in 2009.

Dr Sun Xiaolong is the Founder and Managing Director of Zerowaste Asia (ZA). He has more than 20 years of research and industrial experience in waste, wastewater, and materials science. He is proficient in waste and wastewater treatment, waste-to-resource management, environmental impact assessment, green construction materials, and materials science. Together with his team in ZA, he has completed numerous industrial, research and development, and consultancy projects in waste and wastewater treatment as well as waste-to-resource management. His team collaborated with NEA to conduct Singapore's first comprehensive study on incineration bottom ash (IBA) utilisation in 2012 and was contracted by NEA to treat IBA into NEWSand. Dr Sun has provided solutions to challenging waste and wastewater treatment for various industries with pollutants including heavy metals, organic pollutants, fluoride, cyanide, phenolic compounds, chemical oxygen demand (COD), total suspended solids (TSS), colour, ammonia nitrogen, etc. Dr Sun obtained his PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from NTU. He is the inventor of 14 patents and author of numerous research publications on environmental technologies. He is familiar with toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP), as well as environmental standards in Singapore, China and the European Union.

Chan Joy Seng is the Director and Accredited Nutritionist of Alive Nutrition Consultancy. He holds a Masters of Medical Science in Human Nutrition from the University of Sheffield in UK and a Bachelor of Applied Science in Food Science and Technology from the National University of Singapore. He is an Accredited Nutritionist of Singapore with the Singapore Nutrition & Dietetics Association, as well as member of Singapore Institute of Food Science & Technology and Society of Behavioural Health Singapore. Joy Seng began his career in the food industry with various food companies including Malaysia Dairy Industries and Addiction Pet Foods. His job scope included product development and formulation of nutritional content of food products, allowing him understand the perspective of food manufacturers and what consumers are concerned about in their food products. As a nutritionist, Joy Seng has conducted many nutrition and health talks as well as other programmes for Health Promotion Board (HPB), companies, community groups and the public. He also provides corporate nutrition consultancy services, which covers regulatory affairs of the food industry and nutrient tabulation and development of healthier food items. Joy Seng is involved in the training of nutrition and health topics. He is now teaching a course on Healthy Eating for Children at Republic Polytechnic and another course on Nutrition for Older Adults at Nanyang Technological University.

Felicia Chin Yoke Lin has 13 years of experience in the Electronics and Printed Circuit Board (PCB) design field. With IPC-CID and IPC-CIS-610 certifications, she has completed PCB design projects across various applications and industries. A Project Manager at Wizlogix Pte Ltd, Felicia oversees design assessments, consultancy, and project scheduling. Felicia's expertise in high-speed board design, high complexity boards and high layer-count boards using various CAD tools has enabled her to lead a team of 6 Design Engineers to complete numerous R&D projects. Her interest in PCB design spurred her to develop optimal design solutions to meet project specifications while achieving cost savings.

Prof Ng Wun Jern is currently a Professor at Nanyang Technology University (NTU) School of Civil & Environmental Engineering and Principal Lead for the Environmental Bio-innovations Group (EBiG). His research and professional interests are in the areas of water, wastewater and waste management, and soil remediation. He is familiar with research, translation and development, and project implementation issues. He has been deeply involved in collaborations with the industry, having channeled his research into some 250 case studies of which 130 led to the design and implementation of full-scale wastewater treatment facilities. In addition to technology licensing and having founded and exited two spin-off companies, he continues to provide technical advice to public listed companies, SMEs, start-ups, and government agencies in the chemicals, food and beverage, marine engineering, water, wastewater and waste domains. Prof Ng also provides support to private equity funds and accelerators to assess projects and start-up companies in terms of founding team capabilities, financial models, technologies, and markets. Prof Ng founded and led the Nanyang Environment & Water Research Institute (NEWRI) for 10 years. Previously, he had also served as Dean, Faculty of Engineering, National University of Singapore and at the College of Engineering, Nanyang Technological University. His research output may be found in some 600 publications - including journal papers and patents.