It would be a shame if I did graduate and did not think the one thing that I was supposed to in NUS had changed my life in some way/defined my university life. Let’s put it this way, in a way that they told me very strongly that I didn’t belong in the engineering world in itself was probably among the bigger learnings I could offer. More often, what not to do serves us better than what to do (eg: don’t play with fire versus play with a ball, play with a racket – you get the picture..)
Now, being a not-so-faithful Electrical Engineering student, I’m not sure who is/is not going to feature on this list. So, here goes nothing –
1st Year
i)Prof Rajesh Parwani: I remember vividly attending the first few classes of PC1431 or Level 1 Physics and laughing hard at a few of Prof Rajesh Parwani’s jokes. That’s where the memory ends.. But it probably shows the power of humor. Don’t remember too much of the physics part but I remember him telling us stories of how Isaac Newton could have fought for the prize of ‘world’s biggest jerk’..
ii)Prof Victor Tan: Prof Victor Tan was our life-saver for MA1505 or Level 1 Math. He was the Professor whose webcasts every one of us non-class goers survived on. (Even the class goers come to think of it..) A deserving to-be- Outstanding Educator. Was an amazing math professor!
iii) Prof Dipti Srinivasan: It seems like we had a whole list of pretty good 1st year Profs. Prof Dipti made a module that seemed like horror then (EG1108 – Basics of Electrical Engineering – should have seen it coming right then!) to something pretty approachable. Distinctly remember listening to webcasts at 2x – and remember muttering that she was a great lecturer!
iv) Prof Gary Tan: 2nd half of CS1101C – hardly attended any classes. When I did, very good!
v) Prof Tan Suntec: Hmm, another SoC Prof. And another very good one. Pity it was CS1102C which ranks among the most nightmare-ish modules any non-programming student could imagine..
vi)Prof Brett Mcinnes: Now, here was an outstanding Prof. Another math lecturer who taught us MA1506. I still remember his very cool sense of humor with frequent jokes on NTU popping up in his lectures..
vii)Prof Peggie Chan: One of 2 fabulous CELC (Centre for English Language and Communication)Profs I’ve seen. Handled Critical thinking and writing. Reminded me of the school teachers you read about in Enid Blyton books – a real task master, reminds you of a very sweet grandmom and someone you love spending time with and annoying once a while. Just caught up with her yesterday and we were remembering the fun times..
2nd Year
Funnily enough, this one’s a blur. All I do remember is that this was an absolutely nightmare year in terms of modules. All those 2000 modules – I’m glad they are belong to my past now.. (pardon the geek humor now..)
I only remember Prof Ashraf (2nd half of EE2006 – Digital Design) and remember nodding in understanding for a few of the concepts.
3rd Year
i)Prof Matthew Linus: HR Prof – a very very good one at that. I remember him taking a lot of extra effort to help us get better and also taking in feedback from us on how he could do even better. Most HR classes were lots of fun and that’s down to him..
ii)Prof Ha Yajun: Prof Yajun was the 2nd half lecturer of EE2007 – Microprocessor systems. He also happened to be my tutor for the module. A very good teacher and also someone who was very encouraging..
iii)Prof Charanjit Singh Bhatia: Prof Bhatia was our team’s supervisor for our EE3001 – Technology project where we were to brainstorm a technological product, write a business plan for it and present it. He was a killer supervisor in terms of demanding work – very precise and knew exactly what he wanted. But, I still remember the many long discussions we used to have with him about the world.. All in all, a great teacher.
4th Year
i)Prof Ashwin Khambadkone: 2nd Half lecturer for EE3505 – Electrical Energy Systems. Even though I don’t have the most positive memories of the module, I was amazed at how Prof Ashwin conducted his classes. He was probably the only Professor I’ve seen actually ‘conduct’ a 200 people class. He managed to engage the whole class, go back to basics and was always very well prepared. Formidable!
ii)Prof K K Tan: 2nd half lecturer for EE3302(Industrial Control Systems). I loved Prof Tan’s part just for the fact that it was extremely well organized. It was very easy to obtain all materials like lecture notes(which were again very well organized), labs and the like. More so, the part was also very interesting. I liked his organization so much that I followed him when choosing my design module. Pity he only handled one half of the design module as again, that part has been brilliantly organized.. :)
iii)Prof Brad Blackstone: Probably among the better teachers I’ve seen throughout my student life. Just for the one fact that he embodied that being a teacher meant being a learner first. Always flexible, always open to new classes, he’s among the few teachers who actually came down to the level of us students and then took us up! I’d recommend ES2007S to every student who’s reading this and wants to learn practical life learnings in communication..
iv) Prof Albert Liang (and Kai Tak Lam): Respect where it is due for my FYP supervisor and PHD mentor. I’d entered my 4th year as a student keen to work hard and make some amends in what remained of university life. While all other EE modules drew on past demons (i.e. 2nd modules), my FYP Prof made sure that I was up to scratch in terms of understanding of concepts. We spent the 1st 2-3 months practically only improving understanding and then got to work..
He was an absolute pleasure to work under. While he did extract a sizeable amount of work, it never felt as such because he had very clear defined always! And also assigned Kai Tak, my PHD student mentor, who is as good a mentor as I could have hoped for.
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That sums up most of what I can remember from the various teachers in my university life. I’ve always thought Electrical Engineering was a well designed course for those very passionate and interested and it’s these Profs who made the learning experience excellent. Thank you if you are reading this! (Though the chances are probably very unlikely, except for Brad.. :))
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7 days to go..
A Learning a Day 