ECE lecturer Eric Soo Weng Kiong received the PS21 Distinguished Star Service Award in February 2006, for his dedicated mentorship of student Jason Ong Ming Jen.

Eric was the only polytechnic lecturer from the tally of 77 winners to be chosen for this distinguished accolade, which recognises civil service officers who display exemplary service quality and spirit.

The lecturer customised a home study programme to ensure that Jason, who is paralysed from the neck down, could complete his diploma successfully.

Lecturer Danny Yeo’s Speaking in Volume hit the bookstands in May 2005. The Chinese book, a collection of 20 interviews that the popular radio show artiste conducted with leading artistes, was launched at the World Book Fair.

10 years of research by lecturers Dr Alexei Mikhailov and Dr Pok Yang Ming resulted in an artificial neural technology that more closely mimics the brain’s ability to retrieve, classify and process information.

During their research, the two lecturers from the Maths, Science & Computing Division (MSC) discovered that the brain’s cerebral cortex (grey matter) works by using an indexing system to classify, detect and interpret sensory inputs, such as visual, audio and linguistic cues. The discovery led the lecturers to develop the “Digital Gray Matter” Cortical Chip, which uses a similar indexing system. The chip, which the lecturers are still in the process of developing, has the potential to save lives and ease human workloads. It can be inserted into computers to help teachers grade examination scripts or help aviation authorities to prevent air disasters by detecting pilot errors.

In November 2002, Ngee Ann filed for a patent application for “Digital Gray Matter” under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) at the World Intellectual Property Organisation at Geneva. In May 2002, PCT and Singapore had already awarded the Polytechnic with patents for developing Neural Cortex Technology. The lecturers’ invention comes at a time when the global market for super-intelligent chips is growing, and is expected to be worth US$10 billion by 2010.

Lecturer Gregory Chow and his colleagues have found a cheaper way – 10 to 15 times cheaper – to produce temperate vegetables and herbs such as exotic lettuces, spinach, basil and mint in hot and humid Singapore.

The team from the School of Life Sciences & Chemical Technology has further fine-tuned a technique known as aeroponics to achieve their goal. They have developed “air-dynaponics”, an innovative growing system which applies an unique principle to deliver nutrients and water. As such, it does not require “energy-hungry” pumps and chillers which greatly reduce the cost of crop production.

Two Electronic & Computer Engineering (ECE) lecturers have contributed their expertise on matters of the heart to a book published by the Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, USA.

Dr Lim Choo Min and Dr Acharya Rajendra Udyavara are experts in using computer-based analytical tools to diagnose cardiac abnormalities. This form of analysis is known to have a high degree of accuracy.

At the invitation of Dr S.S. Iyengar, Chairman, Department of Computer Science, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, USA, the two ECE lecturers will contribute a few chapters to the book, “Bio Computing – Approaches, Methods and Applications”. The lecturers will focus on the analysis and handling of cardiac data, which includes the generation and processing of the Electrocardiogram (ECG) and visualisation techniques for voluminous ECG and heart rate data acquired over several hours.

For Lecturer Lai Yuen Poh from the School of Business & Accountancy, fun and learning can certainly mix. This is why he created BizChallenge, an online business simulation game, to help his students sharpen their business and management skills.

“Students these days want to have fun while they study. Teachers thus need to find ways to keep students engaged”, Mr Lai says. “If not, they will find the process boring and soon lose interest,” he adds.

The game, BizChallenge, generated enough interest outside campus for Ngee Ann’s commercial arm, NITEC Holding Pte Ltd, to establish a spin-off company, CRESITA Pte Ltd. CRESITA will have exclusive rights to market and distribute BizChallenge worldwide. A Mandarin version is also being developed for the China market.

BizChallenge simulates an environment where three to eight companies compete in a virtual marketplace to sell a product, such as mountain bikes or high-tech gizmos. The participants will run a company for three months, during which they will make decisions on matters such as pricing, promotion, R&D, production and plant investment. “Winners” are assessed based on accumulated profit, net profit margin, sales growth, return-on-equity, market share, product attractiveness and plant capacity. The game also provides good opportunities for participants to make qualitative decisions as they encounter critical situations or management dilemmas.