Teng, Yun

I have worked in industry for five years before joining PhD program. During that five years, i realized that engineering work is more about experience, you may not have to know why the things is like that, you just need to know how to solve the problems based on experience. Besides, the works are quite similar from project to project. once you have done several projects, the things that you can learn are very limited already. PhD study is totally different, you will always study new technologies and take different challenges, you have to keep on learning. This is basically why I chose to quit my job and join my PhD study

I have taken my undergraduate study in NUS. I like the environment here, as in both physical and academic. Professors here are very professional, friendly and helpful also. Besides, NUS is a very good platform which can provide a lot of different opportunities for the students to explore. the research in NUS is also very flexible and you are encouraged to explore whatever fantastic idea you have and the professors will always try there best to provide you their knowledge, guidance and wisdom. What’s more, the school also provide a lot of resources for you to carry out the research, library, software, lab and classes.

To treat wastewater or seawater into drinking water, membrane has been greatly used in water and wastewater industry. however, membrane fouling is always the bottom-neck that has limited the further improvement of this technology. To better understand RO membrane fouling so that a better control can be provided for the plant operation, we are trying to combine the conventional mechanistic models with the new data analysis model to construct a hybrid model. the hybrid model is expected to provide better prediction on membrane fouling and to give fouling details as well.

it is challenge to learn something that I have never learnt before, but the sense of achievement is also doubled when I successfully run out my own program.

as what I said in the front, graduate study is more about self study. professors can provide guidelines and monitor your progress, but you are the one who shall be responsible. You need to be very clear about your progress and you shall have your schedule and always push yourself to achieve your target.

My research is a cross-discipline one. I have never touched data analysis before I start my PhD study. I have to put in a lot of efforts to start from a zero.