NUS School of Computing (SoC) celebrated her 20th Anniversary with a Homecoming Fun Fair on 18 August, with some 400 SoC alumni, students, staff and their guests enjoying a day of fun on School grounds.

Aside from typical carnival-style games such as giant darts, archery, and even a mechanical rodeo bull, the Fun Fair was given a Computing slant. Attendees had opportunities to fly a drone, experience a virtual reality game, and even receive suggestions for make up from Associate Professor Terence Sim’s Face Recognition Project Showcase. 

The Fair also received support from alumni from the past few decades. Founder of Hutcabb Services Mr Oliver Tian (Computing ’88) set up booths to expose kids to coding robots; Co-Founder of Nomis Piy, Mr Ng Hern (Computing ’92 ’98) specially created puzzles for an Escape Room-style Puzzle Hunt around the School; and Co-Founder of Neeuro, Mr Kelly Choo (Computing ’08) set up a game booth that had participants challenging to break high scores in their memory game app while getting their brain waves measured. 

No Fun Fair would be complete without a Dunking Tank. Alumni had a ball of a time taking an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to dunk their past lecturers including the current Dean of SoC, Professor Mohan Kankanhalli. Amongst the sporting volunteers were alumni-turned-lecturers Dr Colin Tan (Computing ’97 ’00 ’04), Mr Aaron Tan (Computing ’89 ’93), Dr Tan Wee Kek (Computing ’07 ’13), and Dr Soo Yuen Jien (Computing ’99 ’01 ’06). Hats off to all the academic staff who braved the half-hour slot to be dunked – over 20 times for some – for everyone else’s enjoyment.

While the School is only celebrating her 20th year, the SoC Family consists more than two decades of alumni, as the history of NUS Computing alumni spans much further back to 1975 as a department under the Faculty of Science. 

The SoC Family looks forward to having all alumni joining in the upcoming 20th Anniversary Gala Dinner in October.

The University Scholars Programme (USP) held its Homecoming on Saturday, 18 August, in conjunction with the Kent Ridge Alumni Family Day. The event welcomed over 60 alumni, across 13 graduated batches. The first batch of alumni from the Class of 2003 celebrated its 15th anniversary, while the Class of 2008 and Class of 2013 celebrated their 10th and 5th anniversary respectively. 

Mr Bernard Toh (Architecture ’84), Director of NUS Alumni Relations, also graced the event. He chatted with the alumni and introduced the new NUS Vision, Mission and Values in his welcome message. USP Director Associate Professor Kang Hway Chuan urged the alumni to contribute towards the planning of USP’s 20th anniversary celebrations in 2020. 

The key highlight of the afternoon were the USP classes for alumni. Deputy Director (Student Life) at USP, Associate Professor Albert Teo’s (Arts and Social Sciences ’86) class on Engaging and Building Communities was oversubscribed, as Assoc Prof Teo is a well-known figure to the alumni, having been with USP since its inception. It was his first time conducting the USP class for alumni. Mr Spencer Hsu (Arts and Social Sciences + USP ’07) shared with us his biggest takeaway – “My USP life is complete, after having finally attended a class taught by Prof Teo – so refreshing, looking at community development through an academic lens. Prof Teo’s humble approach to his work also reminds us of the importance of humility in life’s never-ending learning journey!”

Dr Leung Wing Sze’s class on Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery was also filled with fruitful and engaging discussions. Ms Siti Hazirah (Arts and Social Sciences + USP ’11) shared that, “Being in Dr Leung’s class reminded me of the classic conundrum of attending a USP tutorial – you come out of it enriched, but with a massive headache due to having your thoughts stretched beyond their limits! I appreciated having my views challenged, perceptions questioned and assumptions redefined.”

Overall, it was a great afternoon of reconnecting and reminiscence.