Singapore

This course is the continuation of the intermediate level and serves as a bridge to further study of Spanish language and culture. Students work on refining their writing and speaking skills by engaging in a variety of integrated language tasks. Nuance grammar concepts will be explored in complex sentences and structures using discourse markers and connectors.

This course examines how optimization principles are of undisputed importance in modern design and system operation and illustrates how algorithms can be designed from mathematical theories for solving optimization problems. Topics include fundamentals, unconstrained optimization: one-dimensional search, Newton-Raphson method, gradient method, constrained optimization: Lagrangian multipliers method, Karush-Kuhn-Tucker optimality conditions, Lagrangian duality and saddle point optimality conditions, and convex programming: Frank-Wolfe method. The course requires students to take prerequisites.

This course examines the fundamentals of photonic technologies, and how these technologies are applied to and influence daily life. Topics include how photonics contributes to the fundamental platform for nanotechnology, green energy, home entertainment, data storage, sensing, imaging, biomedical healthcare, and modern optical communications. This course is intended for students with various engineering backgrounds (e.g. electrical, electronic, chemical, biological, mechanical, civil, aerospace, etc.) to learn the impact of photonics in fields ranging from nanotechnology to communications at a fundamental level rather than a mathematical-based formulated course. 

This course deepens understanding of Singapore history through an examination of different representations of history: academic scholarship, social memory and oral history, heritage. Each section incorporates fundamental concepts and debates behind the production of history, together with the application of these ideas to specific Singapore case studies. At the end of the course, students will be able to critically analyze Singapore history as a whole in terms of historiography and heritage studies, whilst gaining familiarity with the treatment of key issues in Singapore's past.

This introductory course on intelligent robots and systems is at the intersection of machine learning, artificial intelligence, computer vision and control theory. Students learn the fundamentals of developing systems which can sense, plan and act in the world based on various topics from the domains. Emphasis is on algorithm design, probabilistic reasoning, decision making under uncertainty and learning to improve behaviors using data. The course requires students to take prerequisites. 

This course introduces biomedical instruments and their working principles. Topics include basic concepts of medical instrumentation, basic sensors and transducers, amplifiers and signal processing, and basic physiology related to each measurement.

This course introduces students to the basic concepts of fluid mechanics. Starting with fluid properties and fluid statics, students’ progress to the conservation laws which allows them to analyze various fluid problems encountered in engineering practice. The second half of the course introduces students to basic fluid flow concepts. Students learn how to apply the prior concepts and laws to pipe flows, hydraulic machinery and pipe networks. At the end students should be able to estimate frictional losses for flows in pipelines, design pumping systems and apply the obtained knowledge to other engineering applications.

This practice-based course introduces students to the photographer’s workflow, emphasizing both technical proficiency and critical engagement with contemporary photographic practice. Students learn essential skills across the image-making process, including digital capture, basic editing techniques, and the production of archival-quality prints. Instruction combines demonstrations, tutorials, and research assignments designed to build technical fluency and conceptual awareness. Beyond technical training, the course situates photography within historical and theoretical frameworks. Students consider the ubiquity of the photographic image in an era of social media, examine how digital technologies have reshaped photography’s role as an artistic medium and as a mode of everyday expression. To inform their own practice, students research, analyze, and present findings on the work of established fine-art photographers, and artists who are leading the use of digital imaging. Through guided group crits of assignments, students learn to give structured feedback as they build a visual vocabulary and deepen their understanding of fine-art conceptual photography. Assignments include three creative projects of increasing difficulty, in-class technical assignments, an artist presentation and a written review. 

In this course, students explore animation and motion blending using a real-time digital game environment. Students engage with and experiment with a range of digital methods such as key-framed animation, motion capture blending, real-time rendering, game-based interaction, digital world building, and alternative forms of digital narrative. The first 6 weeks of the course focuses on learning new techniques and processes, how these are applied, and free exploration and experimentation. The second half of the course focuses on applying the learning to a project that demonstrates high proficiency with advanced digital processes and the application to a meaningful narrative.

This seminar explores China's place within the larger maritime world, beginning with the voyages of Ming dynasty eunuch Zheng He and culminating in the South China Sea dispute. The course focuses partly on states and societies that claimed China’s coastal regions and the oceanic spaces surrounding it, and partly on the networks, institutions, and economies linking China to a wider maritime sphere. Readings will be drawn from both primary sources and scholarship on topics such as the Zheng organization on Taiwan, steamships, overseas migration, fishing, smuggling, and reform and opening in the late 20th century.