GAN CHEE LIP

From being an SMA Fellow in the AMM&NS programme for SMA-2 to guiding undergraduates as an Assistant Professor with the Nanyang Technological University, Dr Gan Chee Lip, a pioneer student in the AMM&NS programme, fondly recalls how he took on the role of a Teaching Assistant for the courses “Properties of Materials” and “Material Processing for Micro- and Nano-Systems” in the Summer term of 2000 and Fall term of 2001 respectively, a task that he says, helped prepare him for the rigours of teaching.

“Frequent project discussions with my advisors during my research enabled me to observe how to advise and supervise research students,” he says, asserting that the invaluable experience he gleaned from his SMA experience has taught him to handle the demands of his teaching job. He has to handle students’ queries on coursework while supervising them at the same time.

Chee Lip’s research on the reliability of copper interconnects in integrated circuits led him to win the award for the “Best Paper in Reliability” at the 9th International Symposium on the Physical and Failure Analysis of Integrated Circuits in 2002, and subsequently the MRS Silver Graduate Student Award in the following year. He was invited to present his award winning paper at the 13th European Symposium Reliability of Electron Devices, Failure Physics and Analysis in Rimini, Italy in October 2002. He is currently a co-Principal Investigator on an A*STAR project in the field of nanoelectronics.

Chee Lip was inspired by his experience at SMA, citing the collaborative nature of research between MIT and Singapore as being enriching to both sides. He enjoyed the experience of immersing himself in the MIT research culture during his stay at MIT. He hopes to pass the inspiration to do research on to more students, especially those in the SMA programmes.

“Know what you really like to do in your life and follow it,” he says.