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Some 470 staff, students, alumni, industry partners and well-wishers turned out in force for SoC 10th Anniversary on 23 August 2008 evening at Hilton Singapore Grand Ballroom. They were celebrating the first decade of NUS School of Computing (SoC) as a faculty, and its history of 33 years as hub of higher learning in Computing in Singapore. It was also a meaningful reunion for generations of Computing graduates with each other and with the professors who have once been their mentors.

Speaking at the event, Guest-of-Honour RAdm (NS) Ronnie Tay, Chief Executive Officer of the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA), said he saw a parallel between the development of IDA and SoC within the wider context of infocomm growth and digitisation of the economy in Singapore: “It is heartening to note that SoC and IDA have been collaborating to strengthen Singapore’s infocomm development from as early as the 1980s when the first IT masterplan was rolled out.”

“SoC and IDA have since grown from strength to strength. You would know that DISCS (predecessor of SoC within the Faculty of Science) matured from a department and became a full-fledged faculty, the SoC of today in 1998. In some ways similarly, NCB merged with the Telecommunication Authority of Singapore to form IDA in 1999, to better leverage on the convergence of information technology and telecommunications for Singapore’s economic development,” he added.

Admiral Tay affirmed the role of SoC in Singapore’s infocomm landscape, commending it for the role that it is playing: “SoC plays a key role in nurturing our infocomm talent. Today, its well-balanced curriculum provides our students with not only good fundamental infocomm skills but equally important industry-relevant knowledge as well. These industry-ready infocomm graduates can then quickly adapt their skills to apply their knowledge and capabilities effectively in the companies they work for.” (Guest-of-Honour’s full speech here.)

In his welcome remarks earlier, SoC Dean Professor Ooi Beng Chin expressed appreciation for IDA, the Media Development Authority, the Ministry of Education, the polytechnics and Junior Colleges who have worked with SoC to nurture infocomm talent for Singapore’s economy. He acknowledged: “With your input, SoC has been able to develop curriculums that interest our young people and meet industry’s needs. We look forward to your continued partnership so that we can achieve even more in the next decade.”

Professor Ooi also paid tribute to the past heads and deans of SoC/DISCS for their contributions in growing the School from a department into a fully fledged faculty. In particular, he expressed gratitude to Professor Chong Chi Tat for his foresight in bringing eminent computing scholars Professor Jeff Ullman of Stanford and Professor HT Kung of Harvard into the life of DISCS/SoC. Both Professor Ullman and Professor Kung have served on the visiting committee of the School for a number of years.

NUS Deputy President (Academic Affairs) and Provost Professor Tan Eng Chye presided at a ceremony honouring the heads and deans of SoC/DISCS to the thunderous applause of the many alumni who were in the audience.

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Professor Tan, together with Professor Ooi, also received a donation of $250,000 in establishment of the Lim Hong Chin Memorial Scholarship, the first named scholarship donated to Computing students. (See special feature on the Scholarship here.)
 

The Gala Dinner also marked the launch of the Outstanding Computing Alumni Award, with awards presented to three alumni: Ms Tan Kar Joo, Class of 1987, for Public Service; Mr Roger Lim, Class of 1997, for Entrepreneurship; and Ms Chong Chuan Neo, Class of 1985, for Corporate Management.

Reading the citations of the three winners was Mr Oliver Tian, President of the Computer and Information Science Alumni Association (CISAA). In his preamble to the citations, he said: “As we celebrate the 10th anniversary of SoC as a faculty, and its fuller history that stretches back 33 years, it is indeed timely that we survey and salute our alumni who have attained significant achievements in the industry, especially those who have distinguished contributions.”

“In the run-up to this evening’s events, SoC and CISAA drafted a proposal to recognise Computing alumni whose endeavours in their chosen fields or professions are worthy of recognition and have brought honour to SoC and NUS,” said Mr Tian, a Class of 1988 Computing graduate, and member of SoC’s Industry Advisory Committee and NUS Alumni Advisory Board.

In his speech later, Mr Tian surveyed the development of DISCS/SoC from the perspective of first, a student leader, and then as a dedicated alumnus: “22 years ago, as a student leader and President of the then Computer Science Society, I wrote in our student newsletter a vision for the ISCS community that includes the faculty staff, the student body and the alumni. In the same year, I fought hard for an identity for our community and led an iconic educational tour to Japan in the following year, all under the umbrella of our Alma Mater. 12 years later, the School of Computing was established. In that year, the news of recognising our discipline as a School brought proud moments for me and many of my fellow folks who share the common belief.” (CISAA President’s full speech here.)

He continued: “We also know that the tri-partite unison of our Alma Mater, its Alumni and the student body must continue the wave of momentum to enable tangible movements with our mutual lock-in. Today, we celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the School of Computing!”

Also giving a speech that evening was President of the 10th Management Committee of NUS Students’ Computing Club Mr Benedict Tan. Speaking as both a recent graduate and a student leader, he lauded the tripartite effort between staff, students and alumni in organising the Gala Dinner, noting that it augurs well for SoC. (CompClub President’s full speech here.)

Besides being a celebratory event the Gala Dinner was a fund-raising initiative. Proceeds from ticket sales go to two funds: Computing Student Development Fund and Computing Alumni Assistance Award.

The Computing Student Development Fund has been set up to allow more Computing students to gain international exposure and professional qualification. Money will be drawn from the Fund to subsidise students’ overseas study trips and certification courses such as those by SAP, IBM, Oracle and Sun Microsystems. The Fund may also be drawn to send graduate students to participate in top academic conferences. Currently, student participation in these activities is contingent on the availability of limited funds for student travel and conference participation.

The Computing Alumni Assistance Award is a new financial scheme mooted by the Computer and Information Science Alumni Association or CISAA, the alumni body affiliated to the School. The financial scheme is aimed at providing needy students in the School with financial assistance. Money from the scheme may be used toward defraying tuition fees, supplementary expenses on project work, hostel accommodation, software and hardware, self-contained educational programmes, etc. Each award under the scheme will subsidise 75% of such expenses for a student, up to a maximum value of S$3,000 per award.

SoC 10th Anniversary Gala Dinner was jointly organised by SoC, CISAA and NUS Students’ Computing Club.