Duan Jiafei

NTU EEE graduand Duan Jiafei graduates in 2021 with a Bachelor of Engineering (Electrical & Electronics Engineering) with Honours (Highest Distinction). A recipient of Koh Boon Hwee Scholar Award, EEE Excellence Award and NTU Class of 1985 Book Prize, his time in NTU EEE was filled with memories of trips to Silicon Valley and exchange at Georgia Tech as Jiafei reflects on his time spent here.

His favourite activities in NTU EEE is the vibrant student life, whereby he had the opportunity to work with amazing schoolmates from the EEE Outreach committee in planning and organising school-level events such as the NTU EEE Open house, Induction fiesta, and Innovation Challenge. On top of that, it will be his time serving as the President of the Machine Learning and Data Analytics Lab (MLDA@EEE). In the lab, he and his team learn about machine learning, data analytics, and artificial intelligence. They then further impact this knowledge to other students through their workshops and projects.

When asked about what he liked about studying in NTU EEE, he replies that the school of EEE does not just provide students with the training of one degree but rather exposes us to a wide range of disciplines closely related to EEE. During his study, he was fortunate to be taught a wide range of topics, from the control system, information communication to the semiconductor. All of which can better equip him for his further career path. NTU EEE is also a globally recognised institution for innovation and research, which would give him a huge kickstart in his future career. He is also grateful to be mentored by Asst Prof Wen Bihan who was his FYP supervisor which is his favourite module. His FYP project, module EE4080 was one of the highlights of his undergraduate life, as it required him to put all the knowledge he has acquired into one project. It is challenging but also definitely an enriching experience.

As an NTU EEE student, Jiafei was fortunate to receive many opportunities to trip abroad. He visited Silicon Valley, USA, on a study trip to learn about entrepreneurship and innovation in the bay area. He also represented NTU EEE at the international undergraduate conference in Korea, KAIST, in 2019 and went on a global exchange to Georgia Institute of Technology, USA where he got to work under the tutelage of the world-famous Dr. Ayanna Howard, who began her impressive career working at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. These were just some of the great opportunities that NTU EEE offers.

Aside from the academic achievement that Jiafei had received, such as making the Dean's List, he had also represented NTU EEE in various competitions both locally and abroad and emerged as winners, such as the Singapore India Hackathon, MAKEMIT hackathon, SIA APP Challenge, and many more. Moreover, under his leadership, serving as the President of MLDA@EEE, he initiated and led many technical workshops, career sharing events and organised two nationwide AI events such as Deep Learning Week 2020 and AI Research Student Conference 2021.