Dr. Tan Jen Hong, Lecturer & Consultant, Artificial Intelligence Practice is as much an artist as he is an accomplished researcher. With exquisite taste and an eye for detail, he will be able to tell you the difference between a cymbidium orchid and a dendrobium orchid at a glance.
1. Please tell us about your professional background.
I initially trained as a mechanical engineer, specialising in aeronautical engineering before I embarked on my PhD in medical image analysis. Before joining NUS-ISS, I was working as an application research engineer at Ngee Ann Polytechnic. My focus during the stint was to develop algorithms for image and signal analysis. I was involved in several clinical trials, mainly with Singapore Eye Research Institute. And I had also worked with clinicians from NUH, TTSH and SGH during the time. This gave me the experience of developing and launching medical devices and software to the market.
2. Could you share more about the modules/courses which you teach at NUS-ISS?
I teach five courses in the Master of Technology in Intelligent Systems programme and four courses from the Data Science discipline. For intelligent systems, I teach areas related to deep learning, image processing and signal processing. As for Data Science, I share my knowledge in statistics, visualisation and health analytics.
3. Why did you choose to teach at NUS-ISS?
Before joining NUS-ISS, I had been doing research for about 12 years, publishing around 90 journal papers. As I enter a different phase of my career, I thought that was probably sufficient for my research life. Teaching greatly appealed to me and having answered that calling, here I am in NUS-ISS.
4. What do you enjoy most about your work?
Answering doubts and questions from participants is what I enjoy most about teaching. Participants bring workplace challenges they face into class and I feel a sense of satisfaction when they derive solutions and turn situations around.
5. How do you keep up with the industry?
I am on twitter, and I follow important persons in the field. They tweet very frequently about the latest, ground breaking journal papers and share their views on trending developments. Another good way to stay in the know is by attending conferences and exhibitions. I get a sense on what’s brewing in the industry, and it has been proven to be a valuable source of inspiration to set exam questions too (haha).
6. What are your favorite activities when you are not working?
Flower arrangement is my passion. Right after my bachelor degree, I considered switching my field to the art of floral arrangement. While that did not happen, after moving into our new home, my wife and I decided to use our SkillsFuture funds to attend two courses on flower arrangement, which we put to good use, volunteering our time at a nearby Monastery’s flower arrangement group. Nowadays, I also stay creative by producing music. One can certainly achieve a lot with a digital korg piano and garageband application. For the readers, here is a flower arrangement I crafted:
7. Tell us something about yourself that very few people know.
I translated Pablo Neruda’s poem from English to Chinese, as I was very unhappy with the existing translations. You can view them here. I also designed my own house from scratch. It took me about a year, as I picked up the necessary skill set to produce 3D visualisations. I am very strict about the color theme in my house, allowing only three colours: white, black and brown. You would not find brooms or bowls in pink or purple, although flowers are not in the list! The items in my house also has to be aligned with the style of Zen or Ming.
Discipline, is the core to good design.
