Share with us what’s a day like for you at work.
A day of work for me starts with replying emails (especially the urgent ones) I suppose just like everybody else. Typically during the semester, I will do a ‘morning call’ to make sure that all the apparatus and experimental setups are ready for use by students in my lab. Safety is my topmost priority as I move around for a routine check.

I also tried to interact with students during their lab sessions as this provides a channel for me and my colleagues to understand any struggles they may face as they perform their experiments. This is important so that we know what improvements we should and could make. Often students who have completed their experiments are also forthcoming with their feedback. Their sharing of the way the experiment could be carried out helps to further stimulate our team to work to enhance the experimental setup and processes.

What do you enjoy doing most at work?
Having dealt with electronics myself for a long time, I really enjoy motivating students to do electronics. I hope students will find it interesting to experience the electronics world as they learn and practice basic electronics and electricity in their experimental works. The knowledge they gain will surely empower them in their near future as Singapore becomes more technology-driven.

Any memorable experience at work?
Condemning equipment, my secondary duty, in the early days was a nightmare to me! I have to ‘take care’ of the condemned items which were kept in a dimly lighted compressor room like a cave. The room also housed the air-con exhaust and the ducted pipes were sometimes leaking all over the place. With little or no lighting, I had to rely on a torch to hunt down the asset numbers of the condemned equipment and check that they did tally with the printouts from the estate office.

What motivated you to take up departmental photo-taking and staff welfare duties?
I volunteered as the departmental photographer in the early days as I have hoped to assist the department in building up a collection of photographs that could be mounted on the web. It will be a good place for anyone interested in the history of the department to peek into. But photography in the early days involved a tedious process and I found myself having to do a trial and error on every single shot taken. I picked up tips and learned about the physics of photography in the laboratory then which helped to improve my photographic skills. Now photography technology has changed so much but I am thankful to the department for investing in new technologies including photographing tools as it moves ahead with times.

I am happy to serve in the Staff Welcome Committee as I hope to be able to contribute to the well-being of departmental staff. We try to organise meaningful outdoor activities instead of just indoor lunches which hopefully will bring greater bonding among staff.

Share with us your passion in life.
My passion in life is to stay healthy with a daily jog and ending it with some exercise in the park. I like motivating people around me to exercise for fitness. I am also ready to provide any technical assistance to colleagues who need help to troubleshoot any faulty devices they have. Thanks to technology, I could now provide maintenance advice via video call which is convenient and fast. In my leisure time, I like meddling with car’s electronics, from enhancement to modification. My younger days as a graphic designer has made me value and strive for quality in everything I do.