Many students in Yale-NUS are interested in doing research during their four years here, and we encourage our students to start participating in research projects early in their Yale-NUS journey. Many students, some who later become Physical Sciences majors, already take part in research with our faculty in their first year in College, , often through the Summer Research Programme (SRP) organised by the Centre for International & Professional Experience (CIPE). Have an early exposure in research allows students to pick up research skills and explore different topics and interests. These experiences will be useful throughout students’ years at Yale-NUS and beyond, and can guide their choice of capstone project.
The first experience at research for many students is through the Summer Research Programme organised by CIPE every year. Gideon Lee (Class of 2021) had the opportunity to work with Associate Professor of Science (Physics) Shaffique Adam on a SRP, which saw him “dealing with some pretty exotic effects in condensed matter systems”. As his first foray into high level research, Gideon said the experience introduced him to the excitement of working on problems at the edge of scientific understanding.
The close interactions he had with his professors at Yale-NUS and the chances to start research very early on in his undergraduate journey were crucial in setting him on the path for graduate school. He has published a paper each in PRX Quantum and Physical Review B.
Physical Sciences students often continue their research collaborations with Yale-NUS faculty for all four of their years at the College, and sometimes continue to co-author and publish with faculty even after graduation. The capstone project of Harshitra Mahalingam (Class of 2021) was published in Nature Communications. Harshitra is the second author on the work titled “Visualizing designer quantum states in stable macrocycle quantum corrals”. She performed all the quantum field theory calculations, which were experimentally verified by her co-authors at the National University of Singapore’s (NUS) Department of Chemistry. The publication is open-access and may be read at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-26198-8. Publishing research in a Nature-family journal is a great accomplishment even for seasoned scientists, making Harshitra’s achievement as an undergraduate worthy of high praise!
