Singapore–MIT Alliance
Dr Desh Deshpande
Co-Founder & Chairman of Sycamore Networks, Inc.
Desh Deshpande is co-founder and chairman of Sycamore Networks, Inc. Prior to co-founding Sycamore Networks, Dr. Deshpande was founder and chairman of Cascade Communications Corp. Between 1991 and 1997, Cascade grew from a one-person startup to a company with $500 million in revenue and 900 employees, and was the worldwide leader in the frame relay and ATM market. In June 1997, Cascade was sold for $3.7 billion.
Dr. Deshpande serves as a member of the MIT Corporation, and his generous donations have made possible MIT's Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation.
Prior to Cascade, Dr. Deshpande co-founded Coral Network Corporation in 1988. He taught at Queen’s University and served at Motorola from 1980 to 1988.
Dr. Deshpande holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology - Madras, an M.E. in Electrical Engineering from the University of New Brunswick in Canada, and Ph.D. in Data Communications from Queens University in Canada.
Since 1998, Dr. Deshpande has been funding approximately one initiative a year and is actively involved in building these organizations. These initiatives include Webdialogs, Tejas Networks, Airvana, A123 Systems and Sandstone Capital.
He and his wife are involved in several non-profit initiatives that include support for MIT, IIT, TiE, Peabody Essex Museum, Chinmaya Mission, Akshaya Patra Foundation, Public Health Foundation of India and the Social Entrepreneurship Sandbox in India.
| A/P Wong Poh Kam
Director, NUS Entrepreneurship Centre
Associate Professor, NUS Business School and LKY School of Public Policy
Biodata
A/P Wong Poh Kam is the Director of the NUS Entrepreneurship Centre and Associate Professor, NUS Business School and LKY School of Public Policy.
Prior to joining NUS in 1988, A/P Wong co-founded two IT companies and was the founding Managing Director of a consulting firm in Malaysia. He has consulted widely for international agencies such as the World Bank, ADB and APEC, various government agencies in Singapore and many high tech firms in Asia.
A/P Wong is a lead researcher for Singapore in several international research projects such as the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) Study and the Stanford Project on Regions of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SPRIE). He initiated and directed the MSc (Management of Technology) Program in the NUS Business School and developed the Technopreneurship Minor Program for NUS undergraduates.
A/P Wong actively promotes entrepreneurship activities in Singapore, including initiating the StartUp@Singapore annual business plan competition and co-organizing (with Stanford) the 2nd Global Entrepreneurs Challenge competition. An active angel investor, he currently serves on the board of directors/advisory board of several high tech start-ups in Singapore, Malaysia, Silicon Valley and China, and is the founding chairman of the Business Angel Network (Southeast Asia).
A/P Wong holds two Bachelor of Science degrees, an MSc degree and a PhD from MIT.
|Illac Angelo Diaz
Executive Director, CentroMigrante Philippines
Abstract
The popular impression of work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is that the research performed there has been only in cutting edge science and technology, but what most do not realize is that there is an equal focus on creating innovations that reach out to low-income households and communities in developing nations. In recent years students have been able to access courses and partner institutions that encourage them to come up with technological solutions that enhance the quality of life for marginalized sectors, in a manner that is inexpensive, ecologically sustainable, and with resources accessible by the communities. The commitment to develop and test the viability of these working models has been institutionalized with generous grants offered by the IDEAS Competitions and the Development Track MIT $ 100 K Businessplan Competition. This talk will focus on three award-winning MIT innovations creating positive results in the Philippines.
Biography
Illac Angelo Diaz was a Research Fellow at the Special Program for Urban and Regional Studies (SPURS) at MIT. He is currently the Executive Director of CentroMigrante, in the Philippines, which was the inaugural winner of the Development Track at MIT $ 100 K Businessplan Competition. This innovative project has used self-help architecture and work-for-stay arrangements to grow an initial prototype of 40 beds into its current capacity of 1500 beds, and has served almost 80,000 transients since its inception. His team also won three prizes at the IDEAS competition, which have spun off into on-going projects in the Philippines under the umbrella of the MyShelter Foundation. The MyShelter Foundation is a non-profit organization that is engaged in the creation of sustainable alternative architectural solutions - primarily flexible earthbag clinics and classrooms in rural areas
Other projects Mr. Diaz is working on are the Peanut Revolution, which was founded to help women who spend countless hours manually shelling peanuts by providing them with simple pedal-powered machines, and First Step Coral, which aims to restore the artificial coral reef system in coastal communities in order to attract fish stock to shallower waters and hasten the growth of the shellfish population – both being important sources of dietary nutrition for coastal communities. Prior to being a Fulbright Scholar at MIT, Mr. Diaz was an MBA at the Asian Institute of Management in the Philippines. In 2006 he was named one of the Ten Outstanding Young Persons of The World (TOYP) by Jaycees International.
|Dr Lan Wei Guang
Managing Director, Sinomem Technology Ltd
Abstract
The presentation first discusses the advantages and challenges of membrane bioreactor. Fouling is so far the most important remaining key unsolved issue that impedes the wider application of Membrane Bioreactors. Various anti-fouling methods are discussed. The products that feature latest technologies are also presented and compared. Finally, the application of membrane bioreactors outside of its traditional territory such as water recycling in buildings, small scale municipal waste treatment, landfill leachate treatment, mainly large scale municipal wastewater treatment and certain industrial production process, are discussed.
Biodata
Dr Lan Wei Guang is the Founder and Managing Director of Sinomem Technology Limited. Established in 1996, Sinomem is a leading integrated membrane technology company with its headquarters in Singapore and a core subsidiary in China.
Prior to his founding of Sinomem, Dr Lan was Technical and Sales Director of Hydrochem Engineering (Singapore) Pte Ltd. He started his academic career in 1985 as Assistant Professor at the Department of Food Engineering of Jimei University in Xiamen, China. In 1997, he became Associate Professor at Xiamen University where he established the Applied Membrane Research and Development Center. Two years later, he became Professor at the Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering of Xiamen University. In 2006, he become Adjunct Associate Professor at the Department of Chemistry of the National University of Singapore
In 2003, Dr Lan won the Outstanding Young Chinese Entrepreneur Award from Asia Weekly. In 2005, Dr Lan was elected as Vice Secretary-General of the China Membrane Industry Association. He also won the Outstanding Entrepreneurship Award from the State Oversea Chinese Affair Office of PRC and the Outstanding Science Alumni Award from the National University of Singapore in the same year.
Dr Lan holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from Xiamen University and a PhD in Chemistry from the National University of Singapore.
| Mr Lee Kok Choy
President, TECH Semiconductor Singapore Pte Ltd
Abstract
The world market seems to have an insatiable appetite for data storage capacity. Even as rapid advances in technology has increased the data storage in a single memory chip by six orders of magnitude in the past two decades, the demand for more memory on a single chip continues unabated. On the other hand, there is a convergence of stand-alone memory types. In the past, there were several types of semiconductor memories used in conjunction with each other – DRAMs, SRAMs, EPROMs, FLASH. Now it has narrowed to two dominant types DRAMs and FLASH. The search for a single memory type that would have speed and non volatility and yet enable a continued increased of memory on a single chip, is on. The opportunities and challenges of this search will be discussed.
Biodata
Mr Lee Kok Choy has held the position of President, TECH Semiconductor Singapore, since 2002. He joined the company in 1991, serving first as Vice President and then Executive Vice President of Operations. Founded in 1991, Tech Semiconductor Singapore is a leading multi-million dollar wafer fabrication plant – with Micron Technology, Singapore Economic Development Board, Canon and Hewlett-Packard as its partners.
Prior to TECH Semiconductor Singapore, Mr Lee had embarked on his career in 1977 at Texas Instruments Singapore. He is currently a Member of the Water Network, Public Utilities Board (PUB), and was previously a Board Member at the Institute of Microelectronics as well as the PUB.
Mr Lee holds a Master of Engineering Degree and a Bachelor of Engineering (Electrical and Electronics) Degree from the National University of Singapore.
| Mr Matthew Orosz
Founder & Chief Engineer, Solar Turbine Group International
Abstract
Evolving a sufficient, reliable, and sustainable energy supply in the 21st century is a focus in the both the developed and developing world. One option in a portfolio of renewable energy technologies is solar thermal cogeneration, using parabolic concentrating mirrors and heat engines to generate electricity. The Solar Turbine Turbine group was formed by students at MIT to explore the potential of this technology in the developing world, and is currently fielding trial systems in Lesotho, southern Africa. Discussion of this work will include the enabling environment at MIT during the project’s inception, and how specific aspects of the institute foster the success of student-driven projects.
Biodata
Mr Orosz is the founder and chief engineer of the non-profit Solar Turbine Group International (STG). STG is the recipient of a World Bank Development Marketplace (DM 2006) grant to implement trials of a solar thermal technology for rural electrification in Lesotho, southern Africa.
Prior to winning the DM, Mr Orosz and colleagues incubated the project through coursework at MIT in D-lab, with support from the MIT Public Service Center, and through winning two MIT IDEAS awards and a Carroll Wilson Award. The idea for this work originated in Mr Orosz’s experience as a Peace Corps volunteer in Lesotho from 2000-2002. He has been awarded a Linden Fellowship for continued studies in renewable energy at the doctorate level in Civil and Environmental Engineering at MIT.
Mr Orosz holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Environmental Studies from Dartmouth College, an MEng in Civil and Environmental Engineering and MS in Technology and Policy from MIT.
|Professor Dave Wallace
Department of Mechanical Engineering, MIT
Abstract
With pressing world-wide infrastructure challenges, growing global competition, and improved access to higher education, it is widely acknowledged that technological innovation is essential for competitive advantage and success. However, higher education simply assumes that if we are taught engineering science we can be innovative. Innovation just happens. But, what type of thinking leads to technical innovation? How might we teach people to be be more prolific, reliable innovators? This presentation will explore such questions and highlight efforts in Mechanical Engineering at MIT to teach creative thinking skills.
Biodata
Professor David Wallace joined the MIT faculty in 1994 and is the co-director of the MIT Computer-aided Design Laboratory. His research focuses on using computation to elucidate alternatives and tradeoffs in integrated, concurrent product development involving the collaboration of many organizations and experts throughout the world. Having a background in both industrial design and mechanical engineering, he teaches graduate and undergraduate product design courses. He has received the Klegerman Teaching Award for Environmental Excellence in 1995, The Mechanical Engineering Keenan Award for Innovation in Undergraduate Education in 2000. In 2006 he received both the School of Engineering Bose Award for Excellence in Teaching and the Everette Moore Baker memorial Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching at MIT.
| Dr Kurnia Wira
Technical & Executive Director, NanoScience Innovation Pte Ltd
Abstract
Dr Kurnia Wira will be sharing his personal experience during the last five years in a startup that he had founded. He will be imparting information on the startup’s capability in the field of nanostructure science and technology and will speak with particular reference to Singapore.
Biodata
Dr Kurnia Wira holds a PhD in Plasma Physics in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Washington, Seattle, USA, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics and Mathematics from the Nanyang University, Singapore.
In 2001, he founded NanoScience Innovation Pte Ltd, a Singapore-based company which develops mass-scale nanopowder production technology, producing nanopowders and developing their applications. As the technical director of Tech-Serve Engineering, a sole proprietor solution provider, he advises and manages projects for companies in aerospace and petrochemical industries on materials performance, equipment refurbishing, surface engineering etc. He is also one of the LabWorks & Supplies Pte Ltd founders, a company that provides service and supplies of metallographic specimen preparation in semiconductor and aerospace industries.
Before forming his own companies, he was the divisional manager of Metalock (S) Ltd. He established and managed the Advanced Engineering Division. His responsibility was to develop new businesses and applications for the company’s under utilized assets.
Dr Wira has over 20 years of academic and industrial R & D experience, especially in plasma physics and its application. After receiving his PhD, he worked in Aerospace and Energetic Research Laboratory, University of Washington, performing compact toroid confinement experiment. He also worked in Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics, Germany, studying Tokomak’s plasma microwave heating and electron cyclotron radiation. He joined Gintic Institute of Manufacturing Technology, Singapore, in 1991 where he established the Surface Technology Group, thermal spraying program and microscopy & diagnostics laboratories, and carried out much industrial contract research.
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