Sudoku Challenge 2009

The Department of Mathematics and Science conducted Sudoku Challenge 2009 for SP students, with a special round for SP staff, on 18 November at LT4A(A). It generated much interest among the campus population.

The event attracted a total of 60 students for the preliminary round. Out of the 60 participants, thirty of them made it to the final round. The champion of the student category was Ms Yeo Ying Jie, a first-year DAC student from the School of Business. She clocked an impressive 8 minutes and 46 seconds to complete the challenging puzzle in the final round. The first runner-up was Ms Han Xiuwen, a second-year DTRM student from the School of Business, whilst the second runner-up was Ms Oi May Lan, a third-year DEC student from the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering.

A special round for the staff of SP attracted 12 participants. The winner of the staff category was Mr Sng Teck Keong, a technical support officer from the School of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering, whilst the first and second runner-ups were Ms Tan-Yeoh Ah Choo, a senior lecturer from the Department of Mathematics and Science, and Mr Tan Pua Meng, a senior lecturer from the School of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering, respectively.

Director MS Ms Chao presented prizes to the top three winners of the student category and staff category.

photo provided by Ms Alice Tan from MS

SP Microsoft Certified Application Specialist (MCAS) Challenge 2009

This year, MS organised the SP Microsoft Certified Application Specialist (MCAS) Challenge 2009 on the 6 - 8 May 2009. The event attracted a total of 107 participants, with 82% of the participants obtaining the Microsoft certification.

The winners are:

Mr Alex Choh Chaw Tat (SMAE)
Champion of National MCAS Excel Category
3rd in International MCAS Excel Category

Ms Alicia Limasa (CLS)
2nd runner-up of National MCAS Challenge

Guest Lecture by Mr. Colin Pakshong

Our department was greatly honoured to have Mr. Colin Pakshong deliver his first guest lecture at a polytechnic. Mr. Colin Pakshong is the CEO of TM Asia Life Singapore. TM Asia Life is one of the most dynamic life insurers of Singapore. Mr Colin Pakshong is also a qualified actuary with Institute of Actuaries UK.

He talked about how mathematics is applied in the insurance and actuarial fields.

About 90 students and staff attended the guest lecture.

The department hopes to hold more of such guest lectures in the future.

SIWF 2009 - Street Netball

This year's Singapore International Water Festival (SIWF) on 20 and 21 June 2009 was a joint collaboration between PUB and SP. Ms Department was tasked to work with SAA to host the Street Netball competition event.

A total of 17 Secondary School teams and 8 tertiary teams took part over the 2-day event at Marina Barrage. Under the scorching sun and blistering heat, the teams sweated it out in a bid to become the champion in their own category.

The eventual winners were Kranji Sec and Singapore Polytechnic. MS Dty Director Mr Chuah BK was there to give away the prizes.

From the looks of it, everyone (participants, student helpers, staff helpers) had fun. The sun-burnt skin and tan marks were worth it!

p.s. Lee HT would like to thank the following people for their tremendous help:

Mr Chuah BK, Mr Law KS, Lai SB, Patrick, Nancy, Mr Lai NS, Sharon Xu, Dr Qian, Chia HT, Lim PC, Alice, Sok Noi, Mr Tay KS, Jian Chang

Singapore Polytechnic Maths and Science Community Service and Get-together Event

Staff from Singapore Polytechnic Department of Mathematics and Science skipped school on 16 April 2009 to reach out to public assistance recipients residing in the southwestern part of Singapore.

Food essentials and vouchers amounting to about $7000 were raised by staff. During the event, staff delivered $50 worth of food products and voucher to each of the 140 recipients to help them tide though these difficult times.

The event provided staff with an opportunity to bless the community and at the same time, get to know them. Here are their experiences ...