Our heartfelt congratulations go to Dr David Chua who has recently been conferred PhD in Hyro-Environmental Engineering. David’s PhD research was on 3D computer modelling of turbulent flow around a bridge structure submerged in a river. Extreme hydrological events have increased the frequency of flooding in recent decades, resulting in bridge failures and their associated damages. Turbulence structures within the flow field are highly energetic and possess high sediment entrainment capacity which will lead to the scour formation around the bridge foundation and consequently causes structural instability or even failure of the structure.

His research employs a computational fluid dynamic (CFD) technique to elucidate the complex flow mechanisms around bridge abutments in changing conditions. The CFD code is used to analyse the effect of bridge abutment length on the turbulence structure and flow field through the bridge opening. The modelling results were interpreted with visualisation techniques which allow the reader to visualise how turbulent structures look like in 3D and what effect these structures have on the river bed at near vicinity to the bridge abutment. The findings attempt to contribute to the design of resilient hydraulic structures especially on considering the shape and size of a bridge foundation.

David’s research required him to learn some programming skills, mainly on Fortran and MATLAB, in addition to the series of computer softwares. Such computer modelling practices needed the use of High Performance Computing (HPC) of up to 1000 CPU cores for months. (To put into perspective, a computer at home only has 8 CPU cores.) Currently, David is working as a senior scientist in the Intertek Energy and Water Consultancy Services, based in Hampshire, UK. Intertek was co-founded by Mr. Thomas Edison in 1896 and is now a testing industry leader with more than 44,000 employees in 1,000 locations in over 100 countries. David’s role in the company involves the modelling of water bodies in rivers, coastal environment and reservoirs. One of the most interesting projects led by David was the adoption of machine learning techniques to predict the algae growth in reservoirs.

   

 

 

 

 

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

                                               Adam Yapp Jia Hua

                                            A-level, Institute of Science and Management, Tawau, Malaysia.

                                               (BA) Architecture, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK.

                                      (MArch) Master of Architecture, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK.

 

Adam Yapp, who studied Master of Architecture at Cardiff University (UK), is now working as an architectural assistant at Atkins, UK. He took part in the Fentress Global Challenge in 2017 to design the concept airport for London Heathrow Airport 2075.

 

The Fentress Global Challenge is an award-winning international architectural design competition. In the 2017 competition, there were more than 500 contestants from more than 50 countries, and Adam Yapp won the third prize in this prestigious international contest.

 

 

 

 

             

 

 

 

 

 

                                   

                                                              Dr. Amos Liang Jin Rui                                                                 

                                                                     opened an independent research laboratory within the MRC PPU,                                            

                                                                               University of Dundee in the summer of 2022.                                                                   

            

 

 

            Amos, an ISM Alumnus who graduated from ISM in 2007, has opened an independent

            research laboratory within the Medical Research Council – Protein Phosphorylation and

            Ubiquitylation Unit (MRC PPU) of the University of Dundee, Scotland in the summer of 2022.

            After the completion of his A-Level at ISM, Amos undertook his undergraduate training at the

            University of Hull (2007-2010), followed by a PhD in the laboratories of Sylvie Urbe &

            Michael Clague at the University of Liverpool (2011-2015). During his PhD Amos discovered

            that the mitochondrial USP30 deubiquitylase targets Parkin during mitophagy and showed

            that knock-out of USP30 sensitises cells to BH3-mimetic-induced apoptosis. Amos then went

            on to undertake postdoctoral research in the laboratory of Jacob Corn initially at the

            University of California, Berkeley (2015-2018) and then in ETH Zurich (2018-2022). Here

            Amos identified and characterised novel regulators of endoplasmic reticulum-specific

            autophagy, or ERphagy, using an elegant CRISPR genome-wide screening approach. He

            discovered that UFMylation of ER-resident proteins is a major regulator for ERphagy and

            identified RPN1 and RPL26 as novel UFMylation substrates.

        

           In his new laboratory at the MRC PPU, Amos intends to identify and characterise other novel

           factors that regulate ERphagy. He will also explore the physiological roles of ERphagy and

           investigate how ERphagy may be disrupted in diseases such as cancer. His laboratory will

           exploit state-of-the-art CRISPR-based gene editing and genome-wide screening technology,

           fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS), mass spectrometry, fluorescence microscopy,

           and biochemical studies to interrogate ERphagy in different cell types.

                            

          Amos’ achievements in the realm of research was further affirmed by him being recently

          awarded the highly sought after Career Development Fellowship from the Cancer Research

          UK. The award would secure Amos a research funding of £1.25 million over 5 years.

 

          Amos owes his success to the solid foundations he received during his A-Level studies at

          ISM.