Professor ONG Soh Khim 王素琴

I am currently with the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the NUS Graduate School. I currently serve as a member of the Nanyang Polytechnic Engineering Advisory Board. I am a Fellow of CIRP, The International Academy for Production Engineering, where I was the first from the Asia region and the 4th female fellow in the world to be elected in 2012.

I am a pioneer in the research and development of augmented reality technologies application in product design and manufacturing. As a firm believer that research outcomes should benefit the general population, I lead the Augmented Reality+Digital Twins in Advanced Manufacturing laboratory to apply digital twins and augmented reality technologies that have been developed for advanced manufacturing in the assistive technology area. I have published 6 books and over 300 international refereed journal and conference papers, with a google citation of more than 13,079, and a H-index of 64.

I have received international and national accolades, notably

  1. The 2004 M. Eugene Merchant Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award from the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, where I was the 1st ASEAN female to have received this award since the award was 1st established;
  2. The 2004 Singapore Youth Award for the Science & Technology Category;
  3. The 2006 Outstanding Young Person of Singapore Award for the Science & Technology Category;
  4. The 2009 Emerging Leaders Award in Academia by the US Society for Women Engineers, where I was the first Singaporean to have received this award since the award was established;
  5. The 2013 Singapore Youth Award Medal of Commendation for attaining significantly higher levels of achievements and contributions to the society.

I have served as a member of the NUS University Senate Delegacy from April 2005 to June 2006, 1 July to 30 June 2011, 1 July 2011 to 30 Jun 2013,  July 2014 to June 2016, and June 2016 to June 2018 . I am currently serving as a member of the NUS Senate Delegacy from June 2019 to June 2021. I have served on the NUS Board of Disciplinary from 1 July 2011 – 30 Jun 2013, July 2015 – 30 June 2017, and June 2016 to June 2018. I have been appointed by NUS President to serve on the NUS Board of Disciplinary from June 2019 to June 2021.

I was appointed by Singapore President SR Nathan to serve as a Nominated Member of the Singapore Parliament for a term of 2 ½ years from 2nd January 2005. I served as NMP from 2nd January 2005 to 19th April 2006. I was the only NMP during my term to have raised an adjournment motion in the Parliament. The topic of my motion was Singapore’s National Research and Development Strategic Thrusts. I was a Resource Panel Member of the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports, Resource Panel for advising Women’s Workgroups on Women and Leadership, Work, Life Skills and Socio-Community Development, and a member of the Assistive Technology Workgroup, Singapore Society for Physically Disabled.

I am an Asia Society Asia 21 Young Leader. In 2006, I was elected to join a new generation of leaders representing a broad range of disciplines and 23 countries from across the Asia-Pacific region and the U.S.

I am passionate about gender diversity and leadership in STEM in particular Women in Engineering. I am currently an ambassador for Girls2Pioneers STEM programme for United Women Singapore. I served as an ambassador for STEM programme for the UN Women Singapore Women Committee, from January 2014 to October 2019.

I am a pioneer Pathfinder for the Singapore Ministry of Education’s Programme on Community of Pathfinders in Action (COMPACT), from September 2015.

Honours and Awards

  • National University of Singapore Postgraduate Scholarship, 1992
  • Teaching Commendation Award for Excellence in Teaching, NUS, 1999/2000
  • Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Fellowship, 2000
  • Best Paper Award, September 2002: A Distributed Feature-based Environment for Collaborative Design, W.D. Li, Y.Q. Lu, H. Zhou, S.K. Ong, A.Y.C. Nee, J.Y.H. Fuh and Y.S. Wong, 2002, Proceedings of the 6th World Multiconference on Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics, SCI2002, 14-18 July 2002, Orlando, USA, 69 – 74.
  • IJPR Norman Dudley Award, September 2003: Hybrid Genetic Algorithm and Simulated Annealing Approach for the Optimisation of Process Plans for Prismatic Parts, W.D. Li, S.K. Ong, A.Y.C. Nee, 2002, International Journal of Production Research, Vol. 40, No. 8, 1899 — 1922. First team recipient in the Asia-Pacific region. (Certificate)
  • 2004 M. Eugene Merchant SME Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award, Society of Manufacturing Engineers, November 2003. First ASEAN female recipient of this award since the award was first established. (more information; a few photographs of the ceremony; citation read by Professor Marvin DeVries; Singapore LianHeZaoBao newsclip on 25th December 2003; newsclip on Global Network for Chinese Professionals, www.networkchinese.com)
  • 2004 Singapore Youth Award, Science & Technology Category, Singapore National Youth Council. First female faculty in the Faculty of Engineering at NUS to have received this award. (more information; a few photographs of the ceremony; citation). Only female technology recipient since the award was initiated.
  • Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Fellowship, 2004
  • IES Publication Awards (Student Category), December 2004, C.C. Ng, S.K. Ong and A.Y.C. Nee, Development and Performance Verification of a Stewart Platform, IES Journal, The Institution of Engineers, Singapore.
  • 10th Natural Science Outstanding Paper Award, December 2004, An Internet-Enabled Image- and Model-Based Virtual Machining System, Y.B. Luo, S.K. Ong, D.F. Chen and A.Y.C. Nee, 2002, International Journal of Production Research, Vol. 40, No. 10, 2269 — 2288. This paper won the top honour (best 5 out of 7000) after a complex and rigorous process of review and defence in the Hubei Province Excellent Paper Competition. (Certificate)
  • Samsung DigitAll HOPE Award, November 2005, A team led by Associate Professor Ong Soh Khim and Professor Andrew Nee has won the Samsung DigitAll Hope 2005 for their project Augmented Reality Assistive Keyboard. They share the prize, a grant of US$500,000 with 11 others from Southeast Asia and Australia. The team has invented a device which marries Assistive and Augmented Realitytechnologies, to help the elderly and disabled use full computer functions in composing and sending emails, control household appliances, such as television sets and lights. (newsclips)
  • The Outstanding Young Person of Singapore Award 2006 (Science and Technology Category), Junior Chamber of Commerce, Singapore. The award was presented by MCYS Minister Dr Vivian Balakrishnan on 29th March 2006. (newsclip)
  • 2009 Emerging Leaders Award in Academia, Society for Women Engineers, US. The award was presented by SWE President on 16 October 2009, Long Beach CA. First Singaporean recipient of this award since the award was first established. (more information from SWE, citation, official press release, pictures)
  • Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Welfare Foundation (MSIWF) Research Award 2010 Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Welfare Foundation. There are only 4 awards in Singapore in 2010. The team is awarded this award for their research project on an ‘Augmented Reality-Enhanced Navigation Assistance System’.
  • Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Fellowship, 2011.
  • Teaching Commendation Award for Excellence in Teaching, NUS, 2000/2011.
  • Best Paper Award, June 2012, A Framework for Feature-based Product Modeling in a Collaborative Environment, S.K. Ong, L. Yang and A.Y.C. Nee, June 2012, ICFDM2012 10th International Conference on Frontiers of Design and Manufacturing Sciences (ICFDM), ChongQing, China, June 10-12, 2012 (Certificate).
  • 2013 Singapore Youth Award, Medal of Commendation, Singapore National Youth Council. First female faculty in the Faculty of Engineering at NUS to have received this award. Only female MOC recipient since the award was initiated. (citation, NYC Media Release, youtube)
  • 2015 Great Women of Our Time Award, Winner of Science & Technology, Singapore Women’s Weekly, SPH (press release, pictures)
  • Best Paper Award, March 2016, The 9th International Digital Enterprise Technology Conference, DET2016, 29-31 March 2016, Nanjing, China, for the paper on “Optimal pass planning for robotic welding of large-dimension joints with deep grooves” (Certificate)
  • Champion, March 2018, HILTI IT Competition, Theme: Augmented Reality and Internet of Things.
  • Second Highest Cited Paper in 2017, among the papers published in Advances in Manufacturing during 2015-2016, paper entitled “A comprehensive survey of augmented reality assembly research” published in Advances in Manufacturing (2016) 4:1-22, based on Web of Science citation count.
  • 12th among World Top 15 Augmented Reality Researchers (Link)
  • Best Presentation Award, Improving Maintenance Efficiency with an Adaptive AR-assisted Maintenance System, C.Y. Siew, A.Y.C. Nee, and S.K. Ong, ACM–2019 The 4th International Conference on Robotics, Control and Automation (ICRCA 2019), 26th to 28th July 2019, Guangzhou, China.
  • Long Service Medal, Singapore National Day Award 2021

Publications & Citation Details

Research Interests

Research Projects

Editorships

Member of International Technical Committees of more than 113 Major Conferences (list below gives conferences in last few years)

  1. Member of the International Scientific Committee, 10th CIRP Conference on Assembly Technology and Systems CATS, April 2024, Karlsruhe, Germany
  2. Member of the International Programme Committee, 10th International Conference on Sustainable Design and Manufacturing, 18-20 September 2023, University of Bari, Italy
  3. Member of the International Executive Committee, 13th International Symposium on Environmentally Conscious Design and Inverse Manufacturing (EcoDesign2023), December 2023, Nara, Japan
  4. Member of the International Scientific Committee, 56th CIRP Conference on Manufacturing Systems, 24-26 October 2023, Cape Town, South Africa
  5. Member of the International Scientific Committee, 33rd CIRP Design Conference, May 2023, Sydney, Australia, www.cirpdesign2023.com
  6. Member of the International Scientific Committee, 11th International Through-life Engineering Services Conference 2022 (TESConf 2022), 07-09 November 2022 https://www.cranfield.ac.uk/events/events-2022/tes-conference-2022
  7. Member of the Scientific Advisory Committee, International Scientific Conference on Digital Transformation of Industry: Trends, Management, Strategies (DTI-2022), 28 October 2022, Ekaterinburg (Russian Federation)
  8. Member of International Scientific Committee, 18th Global Conference on Sustainable Manufacturing, Berlin, Germany, from October 5th to October 7th, 2022.
  9. Member of the International Advisory Board, International Conference on Advances in Manufacturing & Materials Engineering (ICAMME2022), 9-10 August 2022, International Islamic University Malaysia, Gombak, Selangor, Malaysia, https://conference.iium.edu.my/icamme/international-advisory-board-icamme22/
  10. Member of the International Advisory Committee, Fourth International Conference on Advances in Manufacturing Technology (ICAMT 2022) on 25-26 March 2022, Chennai, India, http://citappliedresearch.in/icamt2022/
  11. Member of the International Programme Committee, 2nd International Conference on Industry 4.0 and Advanced Manufacturing, 10 – 11 Jan 2022, Bangalore, India, https://cpdm.iisc.ac.in/i4am22/
  12. Member of the International Programme Committee 9th International Conference on Sustainable Design and Manufacturing, SDM22, 14-16 September 2022, Split, Croatia, http://sdm-21.kesinternational.org/
  13. Member of the International Scientific Committee, 32nd CIRP Design Conference, CIRP DESIGN 2022, 28-30 March 2022, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
  14. Member of the International Programme Committee, 55th edition of the CIRP International Conference on Manufacturing Systems, CMS2022, 29 June – 1 July, 2022, Lugano, Switzerland
  15. Member of Technical Programme Committee, The 6th International Conference on Robotics, Control and Automation, ICRCA 2022, 26-29 February 2022, Xiamen, China
  16. Member of the International Scientific Committee, 9th CIRP CATS Conference on Assembly Technology and Systems, 6-8 April 2022, Leuven, Belgium
  17. Member of Scientific Advisory Committee, International Scientific Conference “Digital Transformation of Industry: Trends, Management, Strategies” (DTI-2021), 29 October 2021, Ekaterinburg (Russian Federation).
  18. Member of International Programme Committee, 2nd International Conference on Industry 4.0 and Advanced Manufacturing (I-4AM 2022), 10-11 January 2022, Bangalore, India
  19. Member of International Programme Committee, 12th International Symposium on Environmentally Conscious Design and Inverse Manufacturing (EcoDesign2021), 1-3 December 2021, Nara, Japan
  20. Member of International Programme Committee, SDM-2021, 8th International Conference on Sustainable Design and Manufacturing, Split, Croatia, 15-17 September 2021
  21. Member of International Program Committee, 54th CIRP Conference on Manufacturing Systems (CMS 2021), Athens, Greece, 12-14 May 2021
  22. Member of International Scientific Committee, 31st CIRP Design Conference, University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands, May 19-21, 2021.
  23. Member of Organising Committee, 15th Annual ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human Robot Interaction, VAM-HRI 2020 Workshop, Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, UK, March 23–26, 2020
  24. Member of International Scientific Committee, 27th CIRP Life Cycle Engineering, Grenoble, France, May 13-15, 2020.
  25. Member of International Programme Committee, SDM-2020, 7th International Conference on Sustainable Design and Manufacturing, Split, Croatia, 24-26 June 2020
  26. Member of International Scientific Committee, 8th CIRP Conference on Assembly Technologies and Systems, Athens, Greece, 18-20 May 2020.
  27. Member of International Scientific Committee, 30th CIRP Design Conference, 30th CIRP Design Conference 2020, Skukuza Rest Camp, Kruger National Park, South Africa, 6th- 8th May 2020.
  28. Member of International Scientific Committee, 53th CIRP Conference on Manufacturing Systems, CMS2020, Chicago, IL, U.S., July 1-3, 2020.
  29. Member of International Programme Committee, 52nd CIRP Conference on Manufacturing Systems, CIRP CMS 2019, ‘Manufacturing Systems for the Future Societies’, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 3-5 June 2019.
  30. Member of International Executive Committee, 11th International Symposium on Environmentally Conscious Design and Inverse Manufacturing (EcoDesign2019), Yokohama, Japan, 25-27 November 2019.
  31. Member of International Programme Committee,15th China-Europe International Symposium on Software Engineering Education, Lisbon, Portugal on May 30-31, 2019
  32. Members of the Special Session Organizing Committee, 6th International Scientific-Technical Conference Manufacturing 2019, Special Session on Intelligent Manufacturing Systems, , Poznan University of Technology in Lecture and Conference Center, Poznan, Poland, 19-22 May 2019

Modules Offered/Teaching

  • ME5606, Intelligent Systems in Manufacturing
  • ME5609, Rapid Response Manufacturing
  • ME3263, Design for Manufacturing and Assembly
  • ME5611, Sustainable Product Design & Manufacturing
  • EG2401, Engineering Professionalism (Tutor)

Theses & Projects Supervision

Parliamentary Works

During her term as an NMP from 2nd January 2005 to 19th April 2006, she participated actively in the parliament debates on the President’s Address, the Annual Budget Debates in 2005 and 2006, development of the Integrated Resorts, National Kidney Foundation, and the Committees of Supply debates. She raised issues on and spoke on the Education System in Singapore, Singapore’s R&D landscape, assistance schemes to help men in need, as well as the schemes to help the low wage workers. She raised a total of 87 questions and issues, spoken on 6 Bills, and made 19 speeches, of which 6 speeches were made in Mandarin, during her term and had made good contribution to the debate on policy issues at the national level. The 6 Bills that she spoke on were (1) National Research Fund Bill, (2) Casino Control Bill, (3) National University of Singapore (Corporatisation) Bill, (4) Public Transport Council (Amendment) Bill, (5) Professional Engineers (Amendment) Bill, and (6) Town Councils (Amendment) Bill. She was the only NMP in the last batch of 9 NMPs to have raised an adjournment motion in the Parliament. The topic of her motion was Singapore’s National Research and Development Strategic Thrusts.

Opinions

Media Reports, Interviews & Youtube

Invited Talks and Community Involvement

  1. Invited Panel Speaker, United Women Singapore STEM Festival, Marina Bay Sands, 29 October 2022
  2. Panel Moderator, NUS College of Design and Engineering, CoDE Women | Riding the Waves of Tech’ event, 26 July 2022
  3. Invited Speaker, National Engineers Day (NED), Singapore Institute of Engineers. Topic: We need more women to study engineering and become an engineer and WomenInEngineering@NUS, 18 November 2021
  4. Panelist, United World College South East Asia (Dover campus), International Women’s Day STEM webinar, 10 March 2021
  5. Panelist, United Women Singapore, 3M x Girls2Pioneers STEM webinar, 9 February 2021
  6. Invited Speaker for Ang Mo Kio Secondary School Career Conference 2021, 5 February 2021, Title of talk: Engineering Disciplines and Career (webinar)
  7. Invited Speaker for Anderson Secondary School Career Conference 2020, 16 July 2020, Title of talk: Engineering Disciplines and Career (webinar)
  8. Invited Speaker for Ang Mo Kio Secondary School Career Conference 2020, 15 January 2020, Title of talk: Engineering Career
  9. People Matters-Aditya Birla Group Study Tour 2019, 10 May 2019, Title of Invited Talk: Augmented Reality in Workplace
  10. Invited International Judge, Hilti IT Competition 2019 event themed The Future of Construction in a Digital World, KL, Malaysia, 8-10 April 2019.
  11. Invited Speaker, TechHR Conference 2019, Singapore, Invited Talk, Theme: Augmented Reality in Manufacturing and Engineering, 1 March 2019
  12. Invited Speaker, Ang Mo Kio Secondary School Career Conference 2019, 9 January 2019, Title of talk: Engineering Career, 9 January 2019
  13. Keynote Speaker, The 5th International Conference on Innovative Design and Manufacturing, Invited Keynote
    Topic: State-of-the-Art of Augmented Reality Ubiquitous Manufacturing Research, 23-25 November 2018, Wuhan, China
  14. Panel Speaker, 36th Conference of the ASEAN Federation of Engineering Organisations (CAFEO36) Women Summit, Invited Presentation, Topic: Female in Engineering – Education & Career Developments, 13 November 2018
  15. Panel Speaker, Singapore International Robo Expo (SIRE) 2018, Symposium 6: Be Extraordinary – The Power of Women in Robotics, Invited Presentation, Theme: Power in numbers – Female in Engineering & STEM, 1-2 November 2018
  16. Keynote Speaker and International Judge, Grand Challenge Scholar Program, Theme: VR and AR for Healthcare, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, 1-3 June 2018 (fully sponsored by UNSW)
  17. Jury Member, Jury member for 4th Winsemius Awards, Singapore Dutch Chamber of Commerce, 17 May 2018
  18. Panel Speaker, TechSummit 2018, Theme: Exploring the Real Life Applications of Augmented Reality, 3 May 2018, Singapore, http://www.apidcevents.com/events/cio-summit-2018-singapore/agenda-7ba5fccec33541e38644e8b560e66096.aspx
  19. Panel Speaker, International Women’s Day Panel Discussion on “Gender Parity in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics); the Cause, Consequence and Affecting Change”. 8 March 2018, Organized by Michael Page (Page Group) is a UK listed recruitment firm.
  20. Invited Speaker for Ang Mo Kio Secondary School Career Conference 2018, 16 January 2018, Title of talk: Engineering Career
  21. Invited Speaker presentation, Topic: State-of-the-art of ubiquitous manufacturing research, 17th International Manufacturing Conference in China, 23-26 November 2017, Invited Presentation, Shenzhen, China
  22. Invited Speaker for United World College of South East Asia Conference on STEM
    20 July 2017 Invited Speaker for Women in Science, Engineering and Research (WiSER) Summit, IES
    Title: Professional Development for Women Leaders in Industry
  23. Keynote Speaker, NTUC Inaugural U Women’s Network Progressive Forum on Women in Science and Engineering, 25 April, 2017
  24. Invited Speaker for Ang Mo Kio Secondary School Career Conference 2017, 20 January 2017, Title of talk: Engineering Career
  25. Invited Speaker for Ang Mo Kio Secondary School Career Conference 2016, 15 January 2016, Title of talk: Engineering Career
  26. Invited Speaker, CHIJ St. Theresa Convent Higher Education Fair, 5 January 2016.
  27. Grand Final Judge, Project Inspire, UN Women Singapore Committee, 13 November 2015.
  28. Judge, Chips@School, Infineon, 28 October 2015.
  29. Invited Speaker for Women in Science, Engineering and Research (WiSER) Summit on 23 Oct 2015, organized by Institute of Engineers Singapore, Track#1 Title: Women in Leadership and Gender Diversity, Track#3 Title: Professional Development for Women Leaders (details).
  30. Invited Panel Speaker for National Youth Council – YOUTHSPEAK x What-If conversations, Title: What if none of us wants to help lead Singapore?, 17 August 2015.
  31. Invited Panel Speaker for UN Women Singapore STEM Programme Girls2Pioneers at Raffles Girls’ School, 2 July 2015.
  32. Invited Guest Speaker for Harvard College in Asia Program 14-22 March 2015, Singapore Management University, 19 March 2015, Title of talk: Gender Diversity in Technology.
  33. Invited Speaker for Infineon Singapore – International Women’s Day Celebration on Women in Technical Career, 6 March 2015.
  34. Invited Speaker for Ang Mo Kio Secondary School Career Conference 2015, 16 January 2015, Title of talk: Engineering Career.
  35. Invited Speaker for UN Women Singapore STEM Programme Girls2Pioneers Workshop at Raffles Girls’ School, 27 October 2014.
  36. Guest of Honour and Panelist for NUS Centre for Future Ready Graduates Panel Discussion – In Conversation with Female Engineers, 16 October 2014 (details)
  37. Speaker for Workshop on Innovative Leadership: Taking Charge of Solutions, as part of 6th PL-National Youth Council Student Leadership Conference 2014, 13 August 2014, Title: Engineering and Leadership (details)
  38. Invited Speaker for Session “Women in Engineering”, National Engineers Day 19 July 2014, organized by Institute of Engineers Singapore, Title: Why are you not an Engineer?
  39. Invited Panel Speaker for International Federation of University Women (IFUW) Policy Seminar Asia, 30 June 2014 Title of talk: Increasing Access to Education for Girls & Women in Asia: Solutions for Success (details)
  40. Invited Panel Speaker for UN Women SG Committee Seminar 27 May 2014, Pioneers of Today, The Female Leaders in STEM, A Panel Discussion on Navigating Opportunities and Challenges Title of talk: Female Leaders in STEM: Challenges and Opportunities, Relevance to Businesses (details)
  41. Invited Panel Speaker for Singapore MasterCard Townhall Session 28 April 2014 on “Women in Technology” Title of talk: Women in Technology
  42. Invited Panel Speaker for UN Women Singapore Committee – Public Launch of Women in STEM Programme Title of talk: Women in STEM, 17 April 2014
  43. Invited Panel Speaker for UN Women Singapore Committee – Private Launch of Women in STEM Programme Title of talk: Women in STEM, 18 March 2014
  44. Singapore Youth Award – SYA-McDonald’s Be Inspired Conference 2013 Title: Why are you not a scientist? (Workshop Speaker), 9 November 2013
  45. Invited Speaker for Ang Mo Kio Secondary School Career Conference  2013, 18 January 2013, Title of talk: Engineering
  46. Invited Speaker for Ang Mo Kio Secondary School Career Conference  2012, 18 January 2012, Title of talk: Engineering
  47. Invited Speaker for Ang Mo Kio Secondary School Career Conference  2011, 21 January 2011, Title of talk: Engineering
  48. Invited Speaker for ASME Student Section Design Competition 2012, 20 March 2012, Title of talk: Engineering
  49. Invited Speaker for Ang Mo Kio Secondary School Career Conference  2010, 15 January 2010, Title of talk: Engineering
  50. Guest of Honour for Ang Mo Kio Secondary School 30th Anniversary Awards Night 2009, 20 November 2009
  51. Inaugural Living Business Seminar on Corporate Social Responsibility organised by HSBC Bank Title of Seminar 24 November 2005: CSR for SMEs – Building Sustainable Businesses Title of Talk: Trends and Practices in Environmentally Sustainable Manufacturing

“What is essential and important is invisible to the eyes. Use your heart to see, to hear, to think, to judge.”

Singapore Youth Award Medal of Commendation 2013 – Citation Quote

“When I really want to achieve something, I’ll go after it. I will work doubly or even triply hard and never give up, as there is always another way to achieve the objectives.”

Singapore Youth Award 2004 – Citation Quote

Contact details:
Office: EA-0X-XX
Tel: (65) 6516 2222
Fax: (65) 6779 1459
email: mpeongsk(at)nus.edu.sg