The inaugural NUS College of Design and Engineering (CDE) Alumni Gala Dinner took place on the evening of 3 November 2023 at the NUSS Kent Ridge Guild House. It was a momentous occasion where CDE faculty, alumni, donors, students and staff gathered in unison to celebrate the remarkable accomplishments of CDE alumni. In this year's edition, 19 exceptional individuals and 2 outstanding alumni teams were conferred the CDE Alumni Awards in recognition of their outstanding accomplishments and significant contributions. To find out more about the event, please visit the CDE Alumni Relations website at https://cde.nus.edu.sg/alumni/awards/cde-alumni-gala-dinner-2023 .

On 25 October 2023, NUS College students had the opportunity to attend a sharing session titled “Large Language Models (LLMs): Innovation Reshaping Interpersonal Dynamics” led by Lim Cheng Lei (USP + Computing ’18). As part of an ongoing series of conversations titled Evening Insights, alumni were warmly invited to come down to meet current students and converse about topics close to their hearts.

It was an intimate session filled with laughter, light-hearted reminiscing of student life over coffee and refreshments, as well as candid sharings about professional working life. We students were curious about the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on day-to-day life and keenly interested in how the tech career landscape might look in future as we approach our own graduation. As a Sociology student myself, without much familiarity with technology and AI, I was especially interested in how it would affect our career options as well as the ethical implications of the increasing prevalence of AI.

Drawing upon his diverse career experiences which spanned from talent acquisition to software engineering, Cheng Lei shared how a computational thinking mindset is essential in the current age of AI developments. Instead of focusing on hard technical skills alone, he encouraged current students to explore various opportunities to build a wider range of experience and gain familiarity with honing analytical decision-making skills. What was particularly enriching was Cheng Lei’s focus on the expanding nature of tech roles which demonstrated how even non-technologically trained graduates were able to thrive in tech industries and value-add through developing their own niche skills.

All in all, it was an inspiring session that left us students with a better understanding of the pragmatic reality of AI in the workplace. “A sense of what is happening outside is very important [for our students]” remarked Professor Kang Hway Chuan (Master, West Wing), when expounding on the value of alumni sharing events like these. Indeed, it was a wonderful opportunity to connect with our seniors and an eye-opening experience that gave us greater confidence in pursuing our own interests.

Other USP alumni - Ivan Yeo (Arts and Social Sciences '03), Jackie Tan (Science '12) and Imran Shah (Science '18) were also back this semester for equally engaging sessions of Alumni Insights organised by Prof Kang and the NUSC residential team. We greatly look forward to connecting with more alumni in future installations!

Submitted by Tan Enn Syn, Shona (Arts and Social Sciences '25)