Application Call for Life Sciences Minor, AY2013/2014 Semester 1

The application for admission into Life Sciences Minor, for AY2013/2014 Semester 1, is now open.

The requirements of the Minor and the application procedure are available here:

http://www.lifesciences.nus.edu.sg/info/LS_Minor.pdf

The application form is available here:

http://www.lifesciences.nus.edu.sg/info/minor_in_life_sciences_ay2013-14_s1.doc

Closing date for application: 19th July 2013 (5pm)

Tour of FASS

This year, the FASS Club Management Committee had decided to come up with a new orientation project known as the Tour of FASS. This tour seeks to orientate the freshmen around FASS with a special focus on academics. As such, different departments will be introduced and freshmen will be encouraged to ask freely about the different majors. Such an orientation project focusing mainly on academics was felt to be missing from the FASS Freshmen Orientation Programs (FOP) line up of previous years and is therefore included now as part of our bid to introduce a more comprehensive FOP.

The inaugural Tour was conducted on 15 June 2013. A total of 37 freshmen and 12 guides were involved in the augural tour. We received much help from the Central Library staff in facilitating the visit to the Central Library as part of the tour, and also help from Communications and New Media society and Psychology society to serve as guides for the Tour.  Such a collaboration has never been achieved before and FASS Club would like to extend our appreciation to these societies and the Central Library for their help.

The next Tours would be held on 13th July (10am and 2pm). We already have more than 50 sign-ups for the second round of Tours so what are you waiting for! Sign up today @fop.fassclub.org!

 

FASS Graduate Students’ Teaching Award (GSTA)

We would like to congratulate the following recipients for teaching undertaken in Semester I, 2012-2013.

1. Shobha Vadrevu Department of Communications and New Media
2. Jiow Hee Jhee Department of Communications and New Media
3. Joel Gn Hong Zhan Department of Communications and New Media
4. Li Jingping Department of Economics
5. Wang Peng Department of Economics
6. Nandabalan Panneerselvam Department of English Language and Literature
7. Chang Qizhong Department of English Language and Literature
8. Chin Wei Jun Department of Geography
9. Tan Xu En Department of History
10. Wong Lee Min Department of History
11. Zou Kunyi Department of History
12. Mary Kristen Riley Department of Philosophy
13. Gan Zheng Qiang Daniel Department of Psychology
14. Yeo Geck Hong Department of Psychology
15. Galvez Victoria Francesca Department of Sociology
16. Sapitula Manuel Victor Jamias Department of Sociology
17. Lavanya Balachandran Department of Sociology
18. Choong Wen Tai Wayne Department of Sociology
19. Himanshu Jha South Asian Studies Programme

 

Renowned economist Professor Benjamin M Friedman appointed as MAS Term Professor at NUS

 

 

 

 

 

Singapore, 14 June 2013 – The National University of Singapore (NUS) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) have jointly appointed Professor Benjamin M Friedman, William Joseph Maier Professor of Political Economy at Harvard University, as MAS Term Professor in Economics and Finance from 17 to 21 June 2013. Professor Friedman will be hosted by the NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences’ Department of Economics, the NUS Business School, and the Economic Policy Group at the MAS during the term of the Professorship.

2.         Professor Friedman was formerly the Chairman of the Department of Economics at Harvard University and has written extensively on economic policy, particularly on the role of the financial markets in shaping monetary and fiscal policies and their impact on overall economic activity. He brings with him a wealth of experience, having served as director of financial markets and monetary economics research at the National Bureau of Economic Research; as a member of the National Science Foundation Subcommittee on Economics; and as an advisor to the Congressional Budget Office and to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

3.          Mr Ong Chong Tee, Deputy Managing Director, MAS, welcomed Professor Friedman’s appointment.  “We are honoured to have Professor Friedman as the fifth MAS Term Professor.  He has contributed significantly to the theory and practice of macroeconomic and growth policies.  We look forward to engaging Professor Friedman on the challenges facing policymakers in promoting price and financial stability, and sustainable, inclusive growth in the post-crisis era,” said Mr Ong.

4.          Professor Brenda Yeoh, Dean, NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, said, “We are very pleased to welcome a well-established academic like Professor Friedman to NUS. His impact on economic policy, especially on the appropriate policy actions in response to crises in a country’s banking or financial system has been widely recognised and we look forward to the exchange of ideas in the coming week.”

5.          Professor Friedman will deliver a public lecture at NUS on 18 June 2013 where he will address the moral consequences of economic growth. Professor Friedman will also meet with faculty and government officials from various agencies.

The MAS Term Professorship was established in 2009 to help strengthen Singapore’s financial and economic research infrastructure and contribute to a vibrant research community and culture at local universities.

About National University of Singapore (NUS)

A leading global university centred in Asia, the National University of Singapore (NUS) is Singapore’s flagship university which offers a global approach to education and research, with a focus on Asian perspectives and expertise.

NUS has 16 faculties and schools across three campuses. Its transformative education includes a broad-based curriculum underscored by multi-disciplinary courses and cross-faculty enrichment. Over 37,000 students from 100 countries enrich the community with their diverse social and cultural perspectives.

NUS has three Research Centres of Excellence (RCE) and 23 university-level research institutes and centres. It is also a partner in Singapore’s 5th RCE. NUS shares a close affiliation with 16 national-level research institutes and centres. Research activities are strategic and robust, and NUS is well-known for its research strengths in engineering, life sciences and biomedicine, social sciences and natural sciences. It also strives to create a supportive and innovative environment to promote creative enterprise within its community.

For more information, please visit www.nus.edu.sg.

About Monetary Authority of Singapore

As Singapore’s central bank, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) promotes sustained, non-inflationary economic growth through appropriate monetary policy formulation and close macroeconomic surveillance of emerging trends and potential vulnerabilities. It manages Singapore’s exchange rate, foreign reserves and liquidity in the banking sector. MAS is also an integrated supervisor overseeing all financial institutions in Singapore — banks, insurers, capital market intermediaries, financial advisors, and the stock exchange. Being an integrated supervisor allows the MAS to adopt a consistent and progressive regulatory and supervisory approach and framework, thereby ensuring a level playing field across all market segments, sectors and activities. With its mandate to foster a sound and progressive financial services sector in Singapore, MAS also helps shape Singapore’s financial industry by promoting a strong corporate governance framework and close adherence to international accounting standards. In addition, it spearheads retail investor education. MAS ensures that Singapore’s financial industry remains vibrant, dynamic and competitive by working closely with other government agencies and financial institutions to develop and promote Singapore as a regional and international financial centre.

For more information, please visit www.mas.gov.sg.

 

CS3216 AY2013/2014, Semester 1 Call for Registration

Dear students,

CS3216 AY2013/2014, Semester 1 Call for Registration

Have you ever:

Looked at the tedious tasks that you have to do, and wished there was a better way to do it?

Looked at the ills that plague society, and wished that you could do something about it?

Looked at the latest cool game on the latest cool social media site and said “I wish it did this and that?”

If you have, now is the chance for you to do something about it and make a difference!

CS3216 Software Development on Evolving Platforms is a cool, unconventional look at engineering software solutions on important, fast evolving environments like Facebook, LinkedIn and Google Apps.

Throughout this course you will be strongly encouraged to think about what you really want to do with your life. Dream big, and more importantly, bring those dreams to life!

Games, social collaborations, things to make life better for one and all – if you can imagine it, you will get more than a very decent crack at getting it done in this course.

Enrolment is open to students of all faculties and students will work in small inter-disciplinary teams to create their killer applications.

Programming experience for non-SoC students is not a pre-requisite (since work will be done in teams) and we have had students from Science,

FASS, Business (including an MBA student) and Engineering in addition to SoC. Classes will be held on Monday evenings from 6.30 to 8.30 pm.

Assessment will be project-based and there will be no examination component. The course will begin with several lectures on the fundamentals of web development.

Subsequently, students will work in teams to analyze and critique existing Facebook apps There will be two semi-structured assignments: one on Facebook and one HTML5.

For the Final Project, students are free to propose anything they think is “cool” and they will not be limited to Facebook (though some form of network-based/web application is expected).

Students are also welcome and encouraged to use this opportunity to develop applications that have commercial potential or can be used as entries to Startup@Singapore.

Places for the course will be limited and some places will be reserved for non-SoC students.  Also, like in past years, the places will not be assigned by CORS bidding.

Instead, interested students are to submit:

i. A personal statement (with their matriculation number clearly stated). More details of what is expected in the personal statements can be found below.

ii. Their latest academic transcripts to cs3216-staff@googlegroups.com  by Monday 15 July 2013 5 pm.

Students will be informed by 22 July 2013 if they are offered a place in the upcoming offering of the new course (and students will automatically be pre-registered for CS3216 on CORS if their bid to take the class is successful).

The personal statement should address the following questions:

§  Why do you want to take the module?

§  Describe your background and explain how do you think you can contribute to the diversity and vibrancy of the module and to the team projects.

§  EITHER (i) Describe a cool Facebook app that you *really* want to build. Explain why you think your app is really cool; OR (ii) Describe a business/project that you want to start. Explain how you think taking CS3216 will help you.

Students should probably throw in a resume or portfolio of sorts if they feel that it would be helpful in demonstrating that they have what it takes to succeed in this course.

Students who want to be considered for the class as designers should most definitely submit a portfolio of their artistic works as well.

To learn more, check out the blogs from last year – http://www.comp.nus.edu.sg/~cs3216/blogs.html, and the Facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/groups/cs3216/

This is your chance to let your imagination run wild and do something cool  Questions? Please send email to cs3216-staff@googlegroups.com.

Prof Ted Hopf Receives Robert L. Jervis and Paul W. Schroeder Best Book Award

Prof Ted Hopf, from the Department of Political Science, received the Robert L. Jervis and Paul W. Schroeder Best Book Award for his book, Reconstructing the Cold War: The Early Years, 1945-1958. Presented by the American Political Science Association (APSA), the Jervis-Schroeder Award recognises outstanding contributions to the study of international relations and history.

The pool of nominations for the 2013 award was unusually large (75 titles) and exceptionally strong.  The award judges (Michael Barnett [chair], Karen Alter, and Andrew Yeo) were unanimous in their praise for Reconstructing the Cold War, noting that “The committee is especially impressed by Hopf’s deep knowledge of time and place, thoughtful employment of cultural analysis, and extensive use of archives and primary materials.  A consequence of this deep cultural and historical reading is that Hopf is able to speak to the specifics of Soviet history at this moment, and use that moment to speak to broader debates in international relations theory.”

Prof Hopf has been a professor of Political Science at Ohio State University, Ohio University and the University of Michigan. His main fields of interest are international relations theory, qualitative research methods, and identity, with special reference to the Soviet Union and the former Soviet space. In addition to articles published in the American Political Science Review, European Journal of International Relations, Review of International Studies, International Organization, and International Security, and numerous book chapters, he is the author or editor of five books, including Social Construction of International Politics: Identities and Foreign Policies, Moscow, 1955 and 1999 (Cornell University Press, 2002), which won the 2003 Marshall D. Shulman Award, presented by the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies for the best book published that year on the international politics of the former Soviet Union and Central Europe.

Congratulations Prof Hopf!

RSEA Fellowship at Harvard University Deadline of application: 30 September 2013

The Harvard-Yenching Institute’s Regional Studies (East Asia) Fellowship is for Asian nationals who plan to return to Asia to teach upon completion of their graduate studies. This is a multi-year full fellowship which covers the two-year master’s degree in Harvard’s RSEA program plus the first year of a doctoral degree program (in humanities or social sciences with a focus on East Asia) at an approved university. Nominations for this fellowship are made by Harvard University Ph.D. programs and/or the Regional Studies (East Asia) admissions committee. In addition to direct applicants to the RSEA program, nominees may include applicants to PhD programs who are not directly admitted to a doctoral program, but are judged to be potentially competitive for admission to a doctoral program (not necessarily at Harvard) after completing an MA degree in the RSEA program. Applicants who hold degrees from English-medium universities located outside of Asia are ineligible. For further information, please visit the website of the RSEA program at http://rsea.fas.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do

 

Dr. Stephen Lim Receives CDTL Education Conference Grant

Stephen Lim (left) and Daniel Gan (right) at RPIC 2013

Dr. Lim Wee Hun Stephen has been awarded the NUS Centre for Development of Teaching and Learning Education Conference Grant for one of his pedagogical research projects titled Encouraging Lifelong Learning in and through Higher Education, which was completed in collaboration with Mr. Gan Zheng Qiang Daniel, a Masters research student and graduate teaching assistant in the Department of Psychology.

This research was presented at the premier Redesigning Pedagogy International Conference (RPIC) 2013 held from 3 to 5 June in Singapore. Keynote speakers included Deanna Kuhn (Columbia University; formerly from Harvard University), Neil Mercer (University of Cambridge), and Linda Darling-Hammond (Stanford University).