NUS Commencement Speech 15th July 2022

Professor Sun Yeneng, Dean, Faculty of Science; Distinguished Guests

Graduates; Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Graduating Class of 2022,

Congratulations to all of you on this important milestone! You have made it despite the challenges brought about by the pandemic and the associated disruptions. I am honoured to be invited here today to give this address. I was trying hard to think of an intelligent sounding speech, an inspiring address or something that will not put all of you to sleep. Believe me, it is not easy. I was here in 2006 waiting to receive my basic degree, in 2010 to receive my PhD and then in 2015 watching the NUS Materials Science and Engineering students as a faculty member, sitting right here. Since then, I have returned to be full time with A*STAR. NUS is still very kind to me to give me an Adjunct Professorship position from which I contribute. So believe me, I have heard my fair share of speeches in such events.

Today, I am back here. I will start by recounting my own journey.

As an undergraduate, I felt proud to receive the various awards and to graduate with first class honours. These were the most important achievements to me at that time. The most important numbers to my cohort then were the numbers 3.5, 4.0 and 4.5. These represented the minimum CAP score for the various classes of degrees. As I sat in one of the chairs, I thought through so many things. I was thinking about learning various skills such as programming and combining it with chemical synthesis for my post-graduate studies. Ways to churn out as many polymers as possible to study the various hydrogel systems that I was interested in. Inventing a precision polymerization method to create a new class of materials. How would I be charging towards more publications? When will my first 100 papers come? What sort of research field would I pursue? What career would make me lots of money? As you will appreciate, I was sitting there with a lot of thought bubbles above me, just as I see some there, some over there and some more over there. Some worked out well, other ideas remain on the back burner, some thoughts and dreams were never realised.

Fast forward to 2010, I was again sitting there waiting to receive my PhD degree. Again, I thought about the next stage of my life. What’s next?

Hang on. Pause for a moment, what was I really chasing?

Fame? Fortune? Progression? Recognition? Excellence? Position? Power?

We chase many things down the rabbit hole and have we stopped to ask "what for?" For who do we hope to achieve? For most people, this is usually 3 people, me, myself and I. For certain people, they may be chasing things that they believe in. For even fewer people, they are chasing an impossibility.

The pursuit of goals makes it very easy for one to neglect the surroundings and the people therein. In the chase, they did not see the people they have brushed aside. Now, common sense would eventually prevail. A person climbed to the top by brushing aside others, would soon realise that no one is there to congratulate him/her on their achievement. Yet, deep down, what we really desire is a warm and sincere congratulatory message from the people who matter.

Reaching the pinnacle and having no one to share your joy is not even the worst thing. The worst is the inevitable descent from the peak and the lack of support along with it. The loneliness will be amplified when one is declining.

Hence, start from today these few simple steps.

1. Have a goal in mind and share your goals.

2. Celebrate every success as if it is yours, feel genuinely happy. Sometimes, it is as simple as asking the person to tell you their story to success and to learn and appreciate from there.

3. When you are at the top, help others. Don't get all high and mighty or haughty. Remember pride comes before a fall. Help as much as you can, temper the rules with compassion and adjust accordingly.

4. Related to point 3. Never forget your peers whom you have left behind as you progress to the next step. Remember that you were once like them.

5. Share tips and advice openly and honestly. Teach as much of your "secret sauce" as possible. You will eventually learn more.

Next, I have a little bit of Chemistry lesson for you all. You thought you were done with lessons.

In your pursuit of success, remember Le Chatelier's Principle. This is a principle of chemistry used to predict the effect of a change in conditions on chemical equilibria.

Let's say you want to produce a certain output with a given input,

[INPUT] A + B ?? 2C + D [OUTPUT] ??H < 0 (exothermic reaction)

There are many things that can go wrong.

If you put more pressure on yourself, you are not going to get more output. No matter how much you force, the reaction will be favored towards the side with less molecules (ie. the A + B side), thus, the more pressure you put, the less you will get!!

If you turn up the heat on yourself, again less output. You can scream and shout but the output will be less and less because the backward reaction which cools down the system will be favored.

So how do you get more output you may ask?

Now what you can do to boost the output is to put in more starting ingredients (increasing the INPUT concentration) so that more OUTPUT can be obtained. The more resources or time allocated for the INPUT, the more OUTPUT can be expected. This is all about patient development.

My next advice is for you to think about 3 things after the ceremony today.

1. What are you most grateful for in life and why?

In our fast moving and changing world, nothing is good enough. You will complain about the pay or lack of. You will complain about your work. You will complain about the boss. All these build up to become toxic and affect you and the others around you in your day to day work. As a switch, think about what you are most grateful for in life. Understand the reason why. This is important. It makes you realise that there are larger things in life other than the most obvious things that you are chasing in front of you. It also shifts your focus towards what you really wish to achieve in the future and also to see what really matters to you. If you can be grateful for something that has happened to you, then you won't think that the world is negative or if the whole world is against you. In short, smell the flowers so that you can be distracted from smelling the garbage.

2. What can I do to be a useful person?

I have always wanted to be a useful person to the people around me. It could be me sparking an idea that turns into something impactful. You can talk to friends around you, what value do you have for them? Do you lift their spirits? Are you a sounding board for them? In general, if you are keen to share your knowledge, you are able to fulfil these easily. One should not hoard knowledge. Of what use is the knowledge if it is just kept within one person? Learn to propagate the knowledge. As the saying goes, plant the seeds and see a thousand flowers bloom.

3. Who should I say thanks to for who am I today?

Throughout your life journey, there are people who have helped you. Some have helped more, some maybe slightly less but came at the critical juncture. Some saved you at your darkest hours, and some gave you critical advice that helped you avoid a big mistake. Who would you thank for helping you to where you are today? Make a note. Write an email. Send a message. Say thank you and mean it. Reconnect. Renew old friendships, open up new possibilities. Think about this as we go through the ceremony today. For me, let me start by acknowledging my parents. Thank you, Pa and Ma. You have been with me all these years. You know that we don’t speak enough about such things. But thank you both for all that you have done. Thank you for agreeing to be my guests today for this. You have endured sitting through the ceremonies in 2006, 2010 and now in 2022, you have to endure one more time as well as hearing me speak!

I will end with this.

Graduating class of 2022, you are the future. You are entering a new era. You are going into a world that is more challenging, unpredictable and at times discombobulating. Challenges like geopolitical contestation, climate change, food resilience and our aging population sound overwhelming.

Don't be discouraged. The strongest steel comes from the hottest fire (真金不怕火炼). Rise above the challenges. You will be the next generation of trailblazers in Singapore. Stand tall, stand proud and charge ahead!

Congratulations again and I look forward to many great achievements from this group here!

Thank you.