Three-quarters of SUTD graduates found Smart Nation-related jobs

08 Sep 2018

Almost 70% of engineering undergraduates secured jobs prior to graduation in 78% of Singapore’s key industries
First batch of SUTD-SMU Dual Degree students and MSSD students graduate
75% of students found Smart Nation-related jobs

The Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) celebrated the graduation of over 400 students today − 334 undergraduates, 61 Masters and 33 PhDs (For a more detailed breakdown, please see Annex B). This year’s graduates comprise the first batch of students for the SUTD-Singapore Management University Dual Degree programme (SUTD-SMU DDP) and the Masters of Science in Security by Design (MSSD), a cybersecurity-focused programme.

Similar to past years, SUTD graduates continue to be well-sought after even prior to graduating, with almost 70% of engineering undergraduates having already secured jobs in 78% of Singapore’s key industries. Three-quarters of those who have secured employment will be working in jobs or companies that contribute towards the Smart Nation, with the top three sectors being Information & Communication, Financial & Insurance and Business & Management Consultancy¹. Some companies, such as Accenture, Changi Airport Group, JP Morgan and Schneider Electric, have consistently been hiring SUTD students, over the past three years.

This year SUTD graduates its largest batch of 33 PhD students. There are also six graduates from the pioneer batch of MSSD students, most of whom have found jobs in areas related to cybersecurity.

27-year-old Darren Ng who received his MSSD degree certificate today, had graduated from SUTD‘s Information Systems Technology and Design undergraduate programme in 2016. After working as a senior technology analyst in Credit Suisse for a year, Darren decided to take on the MSSD programme full-time, while still keeping his job in Credit Suisse. He was awarded the National Cybersecurity Postgraduate Scholarship and fortunately, as most of the MSSD classes were offered in the evening, he was able to attend the lessons after work each day. He said: “The MSSD programme enabled me to learn more about secure software engineering, which has some impact on my work as a software developer, as it teaches me to think about the principles behind secure coding and to adhere to security by design principles, ensuring the robustness and validity of the systems that I build.” Before completing the MSSD programme, Darren was head-hunted by a few firms to join them and in the end, accepted an offer from GIC where he will be working as an associate under the trading, transaction cost analysis division.

24-year-old Jordan Sim Yan Jie is an Engineering Systems and Design undergraduate who has always enjoyed observing the world, discovering patterns and systems, and applying them in a useful way. During his internship at SingHealth, Jordan learnt and developed his passion in data mining, data analytics and particularly in data visualisation, as it allowed him to paint the patterns and trends he saw in the data into a picture. He said: "My experiences as an intern also gave me insight into how data analytics could play a part in improving systems and services." After graduation, Jordan will be joining Temenos Singapore, the Asia Pacific office of a Swiss banking software company, where he hopes his data analytics experience and visualisation capabilities will help improve the core banking solutions at Temenos (For more student profiles, please see Annex A).

SUTD President, Professor Chong Tow Chong said: “Congratulations to our fourth batch of graduates! I believe that SUTD has equipped our students with the necessary multi-disciplinary knowledge and fundamentals of human-centric design thinking, as well as holistic competencies beyond book knowledge. This prepares them for the fast-evolving global economy, and we will continually refine our unique curriculum and pedagogy to nurture technically-grounded leaders and innovators who can help create a better world through technology and design.”

¹The list of sectors is based on the Singapore Standard Industrial Classification (SSIC).

Annex A

SUTD held two ceremonies.
SUTD Chancellor, Dr Tony Tan Keng Yam, presided over the first ceremony, while SUTD Chairman, Mr Lee Tzu Yang, presided over the second ceremony.

Quotes & profiles from some SUTD graduating students:

24-year-old Jordan Sim Yan Jie is an Engineering Systems and Design graduate that has always enjoyed observing the world, discovering patterns and systems, and applying them in a useful way. During his internships at SingHealth, Jordan learnt more about data mining, data analytics and data visualisation, of which he developed a great passion for as it allowed him to paint the patterns and trends he saw in the data into a picture. He said: "My experiences as an intern also gave me insight into how data analytics could play a part in improving systems and services." Jordan also participated in the Create4Good Challenge, where his team emerged as one of the top five winners and received $10,000 proof-of-concept funding to develop a prototype Smart Pill Dispenser for the elderly and his experience there taught him the importance of having a proper business model and strategy. He also learnt a little bit about the process of being an entrepreneur. Jordan will be joining Temenos Singapore, the Asia Pacific office of a Swiss banking software company, after graduating, and he hopes to bring his data analytics experience to Temenos to help improve their core banking solutions with big data analytics and visualisation capabilities.

A student from the Information Systems Technology and Design pillar, 26-year-old Joe Ng Jie Rong, has a deep interest in machine learning and will be joining Cyber Security Agency (CSA) when he graduates. He said: "Since my polytechnic days, I have been interested in cybersecurity and forensics, which expanded into an eye for artificial intelligence in SUTD. During my pillar years in SUTD as well as when I was doing my internships at Micron Semiconductor Asia and DSTA, I had some first-hand experience with natural language processing and machine learning, which is where I found my niche, so I am excited to join CSA and see how I can contribute in this and other aspects in defending Singapore's cyberspace."

Valedictorian Koh Kai Wei (26 years old) has always had a keen interest in coding since his polytechnic days. He joined SUTD’s Information Systems Technology and Design (ISTD) pillar and contributed greatly as the ISTD student board president. His strong passion in technology and design led him to take part in several hackathons, where he received multiple awards and accolades – his team came in first in a hackathon, ‘Hood Disrupt’ on property technology, held in August 2017. He also led in the organisation of SUTD’s first national level What the Hack @SUTD hackathon. Kai Wei is also generous about sharing his knowledge on technology and computing with his fellow students and this was evidenced when he volunteered to assist faculty members in conducting a computing boot camp. Kai Wei will be joining GovTech after he graduates.

Basheer Ahamed Mohsin Ahamed (24 years old) graduates from SUTD's Engineering Product Development undergraduate programme specialised in Mechanical Engineering. One of SUTD's over 60% of graduates who has secured a job even before graduating; Mohsin will be joining with Schneider Electric. Last year, he went to Embraer, an aerospace conglomerate in Brazil for his internship and learnt about designing high density passenger cabins, as well as a new language, Portuguese. A well-rounded student, Mohsin is also very active in sports, such as floorball and tchoukball, where he represented SUTD at the Singapore University Games in 2015. He has a strong interest in smart cities and how urbanisation affects society, and will be working under the Ecobuilding division in Schneider Electric‘s Energy Generation Programme X. Mohsin hopes to make an impact in the future of smart cities by developing and designing buildings that consume less energy and are more self-reliant in terms of waste management.

24-year-old Vivek Kalyan is graduating with a Bachelor of Engineering degree from SUTD’s Information Systems Technology and Design undergraduate programme who has a passion for machine learning and artificial intelligence. He is fascinated by the amount of power computers can have in the near future and wants to be in the forefront of the advancements in the future. After graduating, he will be working at DC Frontiers (a Singapore fintech start-up) as a machine learning engineer. While working in the industry, he hopes to solve difficult problems such as automation, but he also wants to lead the discussion of how people can cope with the ramifications of the unemployment that is likely with increased automation. During his time at SUTD, Vivek also helped the school develop an exploreSUTD mobile app targeted at prospective students. The app featured a geolocation-based treasure hunt, calendar integration, notifications and a content management system that allows editing of information by SUTD’s Admissions office. Beyond studies, Vivek is very active in sports, especially soccer, and he was the Vice-President of SUTD’s Soccer club.

Annex B

Programme	Graduates
SUTD Undergraduate Programme	334
SUTD Master of Architecture Programme	52
SUTD-MIT Dual Masters’ Programme	3
SUTD PhD Programme	33
SUTD Masters of Science in Security by Design Programme	6

SUTD Master of Architecture:
SUTD ASD graduates have an option of obtaining an additional Master of Architecture with a major in Architecture and Sustainable Design, if they complete another two terms. The Master Programme will eventually allow a graduate to be registered with the Board of Architects after a period of on-the-job training and passing a professional examination. This is the third batch of students graduating from this programme.

MIT-SUTD Dual Masters’ Programme:
This is the fifth batch of students graduating from the MIT-SUTD Dual Masters’ programme.

SUTD Masters of Science in Security by Design Programme:
This is the first batch of students graduating from the SUTD Masters of Science in Security by Design (MSSD) programme. MSSD is a cybersecurity programme.

Annex C

Startups by students from 2018 graduating batch

Startup	Description
Do-Do	Do-do is a robot designed and engineered to deliver parcels for last-mile logistics. It aims to complement delivery drivers, increasing productivity and combating manpower shortages.
PiezoPlus	PiezoPlus, aim to improve and enhance the connection between human and the product. Through our patented soft piezo material, we thus able to create wearable devices that were once bulky. With the big data being integrated into part of our life the products now should be able to best capture them for the system to run analysis, getting a real-time feedback, which was once impossible.
Outpost	Outpost bridges the gap between the digital and physical by giving context to augmented reality interactions. Our cloud-based service analyses what your phone camera sees to pull in associated, relevant information and present it to the user. Users gain immediate access to information they are interested in, while companies now have a direct channel to engage their users via their device.
UglyFood	Ugly Food wants to provide nutritious food through that and debunk the myths people have over cosmetic filtered food. We want to reduce food wastage in Singapore and in turn reduce carbon emissions and energy usage at incineration plants (as food has high water content) and ameliorate the trend of global warming.)