I am Tan Jun Yang, 15 years old and a proud judoka. I spend most of my free time sleeping and watching anime. I enjoying Japanese culture and hence I study Japanese as a third language in the MOELC. One of my favorite movies is flipped as it is very simple and direct. I hope to learn more about psychology as it is very interesting to know how different people think in different situation. It is interesting to see what people do when they are forced to a corner. To know how others react in different situation allows us to predict their movement and prepare for it.
I see myself connected to GSK in as GSK being in the medical sciences industry, researches about the medicine that we commonly consume nowadays. While on the other hand, this year I researched on the production of biocompatible hydrogels from chitin and chitosan with cross linkers like succinic anhydride. This hydrogels are one of the main ingredients which is used for the production of the capsules of the medicine.
As for Qioptiq, I have always been interested in learning more about photonics as it exists in so many different areas of our lives. For example, it is commonly used in data transfer with optical fiber which will allow the information in form of pulses of light to be transferred to the other users. Its advantages as that 1st it allows information to be transfer at the speed of light which will allow fast connection between systems. It also much better than using electrical pulses as up till now, scientists have not found a material that has 0 resistance to electrical currents, hence by using light to transfer information will prevent loss of information.
I am impressed by the way GSK respects the value of research. It is seen as GSK spends roughly 3.96 billion pounds for R&D (http://www.gsk.com/research/science-and-innovation/index.htm). R&D is the heart of any industries as it is always innovation that allows the industry to progress forward in the field that it is in. “Survival of the fittest.” Only by having what other‘s do not have will one be able to have a higher market value as compared to its competitors.
I am impressed by the commitment of Makino to ensure that in the process of manufacturing, they protect the environment (http://www.makino.com.sg/the%20makino%20way.html). Not only that, they have continuous training of the employees which will allow the workers to have a proper set of skills that are required for them to be able to take on the challenges that the manufacturing world requires.
After doing research on the two companies, I realized that companies that are in the manufacturing world have very high regard for R&D. It made me see that companies that are multi-national, has to have great emphasis on R&D.
R&D shows that a method of inquiry is based on gathering empirical measurable evidence subject to specific principles of reasoning. R&D also shows that science is objective as hard evidence is required before any hypothesis can be correct. Lastly research is often reproduced to ensure that results are accurate.
I am interested to apply what I learn during this trip to better understand how capsules are made to be able to use my results in the hydrogel project for commercial usage.
Thanks for the post, Jun Yang.
ReplyDeleteJudoka! Whoa...keep that up. I took Karate for about a year in secondary school and then quit because I did not have the discipline to keep that up. It looks like you do for Judoka!
There is indeed a great emphasis on R&D across all of Qioptiq. It's the way to keep ahead and evolve to do things better. It's tough however. In my job, I have to meet deadlines for customers and this takes up the most time. I could only catch up on the latest technologies on the weekends, but by then, I'm usually quite tired from the week's work. I try to set aside 10% - 20% time on the weekdays for R&D related work, and even that is also quite tough.
Keep up that Judoka, because it'll get harder to find time to do the things you like when you start working!