MILESTONES

LEARNING AND SERVING THE NATION

04 Jul 2007

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STORY // Brendan Mark Foo
PHOTO // Aloysius Tan
Ti Yan Bo would like to use his scientific interest to contribute to Singapore.

"I am very interested in science and maths, so I jumped at the opportunity to sign up for this scholarship so that I can come back and serve Singapore in what I'm best at," said the 19-year-old Officer Cadet (OCT).

OCT Ti was among the 73 winners of the 2007 Defence Science & Technology Agency (DSTA) - DSO National Laboratories (DSO) Scholarship. This scholarship aims to nurture a pool of defence scientists and engineers.

The Anglo-Chinese Junior College alumnus, who is currently serving his full-time national service (NS) in Officer Cadet School, aspires to be a defence scientist so that he can "give back to Singapore after all it's done for [him]".

He will embark on his overseas studies in 2009.

On 3 Jul, OCT Ti and the other scholars, received their certificates from Minister for Defence Teo Chee Hean. Another 18 DSTA staff and 15 DSO officers also received postgraduate scholarship awards.

cyberpioneer also spoke to Miss See Boxian, whose passion for computer gaming has led her to contemplate a career in computer engineering.

The 19-year-old will pursue a degree in computer electrical engineering in Carnegie-Mellon. She chose the DSTA-DSO Scholarship because of its "emphasis on teamwork".

"DSTA is a very engineering-based and project-based kind of organisation, and I prefer to work with a lot of people and work as a team, work as a group," she said.

"I don't enjoy doing things on my own. So I chose this scholarship because it'll give me a lot of chances to meet and work with different people."

While studying in Raffles Junior College, Miss See took up fencing as a co-curricular activity (CCA), a pursuit she felt has helped her to excel.

"My CCA was not related to engineering but it gave me a lot of opportunities to go and excel in my own abilities so it's more like character-training. It made me know that I can do more than I thought I could."

Award recipients of the DSTA-DSO Scholarship (Undergraduate) are required to serve a six-year bond upon their return to Singapore. Both OCT Ti and Miss See are extremely excited at such a prospect.

"I can't wait to go overseas for my studies so that I can come back and serve the nation in a meaningful way. I hope to directly benefit the lives of the soldiers," said OCT Ti.

Said Miss See: "I think I would enjoy the whole process of actually working with people, especially because during orientation I got to know my future colleagues. Initially I was dreading it, thinking it was going to be nerdy and all but now my impression has changed and I look forward to working with them and enjoying my time at DSTA."


OCT Ti Yan Bo was among the 73 recipients of the DSTA-DSO Undergraduate Scholarship.
Miss See Boxian receiving her award from Minister for Defence Teo Chee Hean.
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