(A)
Importance of water - dirty and clean
Water should not be taken for granted. There are many people who still do not have proper sanitation and clean drinking water. There are still many problems related to the cleanliness of water in this world which need to be solved.
Revolution of microelectronics technology
The topic covers almost everything about the technology that mankind has created and can lead to many other possibilities for advances in technology in many areas such as nano- and bio-technology.
Innovative breakthroughs in nano-science and nano-technology
Objects can be broken down into smaller components and hence have a larger surface area in which energy can be extracted from. There are many possibilities with nano-technology such as the Carbon Nano-Tubes and Quantum Dot which can enable humanity to achieve a higher level of technology.
IT for animation
There are multiple ways of making animations in which they have different advantages and disadvantages. Making animations is somewhat labour intensive. 2D animation is also more expensive to do then 3D animation. We may also need to acquire some knowledge about trigonometry, calculus and the laws of physics.
Disappearing glaciers, rising sea levels, and why gravity is even more important than you think.
The world is a complex system and there are many factors affecting how certain environmental changes will turn out and these changes may have an adverse effect on people all around the globe.
(B)
Deepest impression...
The plenary session that leaves the deepest impression on me is the last one. What I like about it is that it opened my eyes to how interconnected this world is and that changing a certain environmental factor has many consequences in which some of them can be detrimental to us.
(II) My personal reflection (Day 3)
1. I chose this project because it appeared interesting as I can get to control and operate an industrial distillation column. We did distillation in school before so I expected the industrial version to be much more complex and interesting in the way it works.
2. My role in the group is the leader. I have to provide guidance to group members and ensure everything is flowing smoothly. I would be responsible for any bad acts etc. done by anyone in my group.
3. During our distillation experiment, our project supervisor purposely made our distillation column “fail” in the sense that the products it is producing is not desired and let us find out how we can solve the problem. For our group, we were not able to salvage the whole system so the products were not as pure as we wanted. However, we did save part of it all though it was too late. We learned a lot from the “failure” about how to operate the different parts of the system.
4. Through this project, we discovered that we can work well as a team as there are no conflicts between ourselves and that the industrial version of distillation columns is far more complex and requires more effort to operate than lab distillation columns.
5. As an individual, I have benefitted from this programme in the fact that I got to meet new people who are in the same group as me, I have gained more experience in living by myself (meaning not with family) and that I now know much more about what goes on in industrial distillation plants.
6. My aspirations are that I want to become a scientist or engineer but not in any way related biology though as I do not like to work with living things in my career.
