TECH EXPERTS

Prof Josep Pou has 25 years' experience in power electronics and applications and is currently Professor at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering. He is also Programme Director of Renewables' Integration & Microgrids (Power Electronics) at ERI@N (Programme Partner - EcoLabs COI), and co-Director of the Rolls-Royce @ NTU Corporate Lab. Prior to joining NTU, he was with the Technical University of Catalonia-BarcelonaTech (1989-2013), and the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Australia (2013-2016). He spent two sabbatical years (2001 and 2005) as a Visiting Professor at the Center for Power Electronics Systems, Virginia Tech, USA, and one year (2012) at the Australian Energy Research Institute (AERI), UNSW. Since 2006, he has collaborated with Tecnalia Research & Innovation as a research consultant. He has authored over 310 published technical papers, is a co-inventor of 7 patents, and has been involved in several industrial projects and educational programs in the fields of power electronics and systems. He has authored two book chapters. He has received 6 scholarship and fellowship awards, including the prestigious Endeavour Research Fellowship Award, sponsored by the Australian Government. He was the recipient of the 2018 IEEE Bimal Bose Award for Industrial Electronics Applications in Energy Systems given by the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society.

Dr Palaniswamy Suresh Kumar is a Research & Development Scientist in Environmental and Water Technology Centre of Innovation (EWTCOI), Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Singapore. Prior to that, Dr Suresh has spent 3 years as a Research Fellow in the School of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) and Energy Research Institute (ERI@N), Nanyang Technological University (NTU). Dr Suresh has more than 10 years of research experience in energy and environmental applications. Currently, he is providing technology consultancy for CleanTech companies. As a Principal Investigator, he secured high impact projects funded by National Research Fund and Ministry of Education, and industrial projects (POC/POV) in collaboration with local SMEs, large organisations, and MNCs. He has published more than 65 peer-reviewed international publications (journal papers, review articles, and book chapter). His publications have been cited more than 3800 times with an h-index of 35. His current research focuses on development of electrospun nanofibers based filter for air filtration application; prototype design, testing and performance evaluation of active and passive air purification systems; multifunctional nanocoatings (e.g. self-cleaning, antibacterial and photocatalytic) and polymer coating for membranes; and optical sensor development.

Dr Nyan Myo Naing is a Senior Specialist at Autonomous Technology Innovation Centre (ATIC), Nanyang Polytechnic, and is responsible for project development and consultancy in image processing, video analytics and AI/Deep learning for small and medium enterprises in Singapore. He has developed different applications for security, logistics, transportation and healthcare. He also has knowledge and experiences in digital signal processing, and multi-sensor fusion techniques for body-worn devices. Currently, he is actively working on deep learning-based projects using Tensorflow, Caffe, PyTorch, Intel's distributions for AI including OpenVino, TensorRT and DeepStream SDK libraries for SME applications.

Dr. Narasimalu Srikanth is Programme Director and Senior Scientist leading the offshore renewables in ERI@N (Programme Partner - EcoLabs COI). He leads industrial research projects on offshore turbine development as well as floating solar and hybrid renewable energy systems. He also leads a joint industry program on offshore renewables comprising MNCs and SMEs focusing on relevant applied research needs to promote ocean renewables towards remote coastal and islandic regions and in structural health monitoring of assets in marine environment. He has been conducting environmental impact, structural integrity and asset health monitoring studies towards energy system deployment in remote islands of Southeast Asia and tropical belt region. Prior to joining NTU, he was Technical Director and Senior Specialist at Vestas Wind Energy Systems. He has more than 25 years of industrial experience leading research and development efforts in product and technology development at ASM Technology Singapore, Tata Engineering, etc. He has worked in a wide range of equipment and machinery building, product design for automotive, semiconductor packaging and in renewable energy industries. He has published more than 150 journal papers and 30 patents. His areas of research interest are product development, renewable systems, floating systems, advanced composites, additive manufacturing, failure analysis, asset health monitoring, machine learning, IOT system and environmental degradation studies.

Liang Kin Onn is Deputy Manager at Centre of Innovation for Electronics & IoT (COI-EIoT), responsible for providing project consultancy and innovation development services for the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). Kin Onn is an IoT practitioner with over 20 years of working experience in wireless embedded system design, architecting cloud-based edge systems and full-stack software integration. Prior to joining COI-EIoT, he spent over 6 years working for Motorola, Philips and Infineon before leaving to join a startup for another 9 years where he led a team to design and develop firmware for mobile phones.

As a project lead at EWTCOI, Gerard Tee has worked on multiple industry projects and has experience in the design and development of various kinds of water systems, such as water mineralisation system; air-conditioning condensate to water purification system; as well as closed-loop laundry wastewater recycling system, closed-loop stepwise food process water treatment and reuse system, and closed-loop food wastewater & solid recovery system. Prior to joining EWTCOI, Gerard was a project lead at Hyflux. His past projects include Polymeric Membrane R&D and Production Scale Fabrications, Membrane Bioreactor (MBR) Skid Design and Fabrication, Treatment of Industrial Wastewater Using MBR Pilot Plant Design, Commissioning and Performance Test at Singapore, China, Malaysia sites, and Movable Containerise System of Ground Water Treatment System Development at Indonesia site.  Gerard has a Master’s of Science in Chemical Engineering from the National University of Singapore.

Ho Sin Chuan has 30 years of experience in Engineering, Operation, Quality, Reliability, Management Systems and Customer Quality, including more than 20 years of corporate management and leadership experience. In Seagate, he managed Process Engineering, Quality and Reliability departments, and has successfully launched and transferred products in various plants in Asia. He led cross functional teams in process engineering, quality, reliability, operations, supply chain, project/crisis management, as well as cross site inter-factory audits. He has led numerous cross site processes, automation and operations optimisation projects. He had successfully set up manufacturing operations in China, as well as a comprehensive product reliability and component qualification laboratory. He provided strategies to govern the operation of factories in Malaysia, Thailand and China. In SFS Electrical Division, he managed Corporate Quality in the manufacturing of precision engineering parts, metal and plastic and its surface treatment, as well as System Quality and EH&S Management. Sin Chuan deployed Lean Six Sigma and other problem solving methodologies to resolve and improve products and processes in the areas of automation, motor and mechanical parts assembly, actuator assembly, flex and PCB assembly, and server assembly. He also managed and participated both as sub system champion and internal auditor in various Quality System Certification throughout his career in Quality and Engineering.

Foo Jin Khoon is a manufacturing operations professional with more than 20 years of experience in the field of chemicals, renewable energy, electronics and automation. He is currently a freelance technical and engineering consultant. He is experienced in scaling up from lab or pilot scale chemical processes to establish full industry manufacturing facilities, including activities such as reviewing the products' requirements and applications, feasibility study for new machines or line processes, process studies, development of the plant conceptual design and layout, engineering, procurement and construction, designing full plant automation solutions as well as HSE and risk assessment.

With a PhD in Thermal and Fluids Engineering from Nanyang Technological University, Dr Jin has been working in the local environment and water industry for more than 10 years before joining EWTCOI. Currently he leads a team to provide consultancy services for local SMEs in the area of energy efficiency and water treatment technologies. They work with industrial collaborators on development, feasibility study and evaluation of new energy-efficient technologies for building air-conditioning and other industrial applications. He is also a registered Singapore Certified Energy Manager (SCEM) since 2015. Previously as technology and engineering manager in the environmental and water industry, he has the experience not only in the development and deployment of new technologies but also in providing innovative solutions to actual engineering projects. With broad and in-depth knowledge in various industrial processes and systems, he has been the technical leader for many industrial projects such as used oil recycling projects and membrane bio-reactor wastewater treatment projects covering from new process development, pilot plant design and test, to large scale EPC plant design review and testing and commissioning, and improvement and support of EPC plant operations.