2014-03-01: Starting my research internship at NUS

Well, I made it! I am finally on the green fine island. After a long trip from Norfolk international airport to Washington DC Dulles then 23 hours in the air except for a fueling pit-stop in Tokyo Narita airport I landed in Changi airport in Singapore.

To give you some context, I was invited to spend a semester at the National University of Singapore and work with Dr. Min Yen Kan in the WING research group. The purpose was to work in a common area of interest that helps me progress in the final leg of my PhD marathon and increase the collaboration between our WS-DL lab and WING yielding a reputable paper (or more?). In short, I am a WING this semester! So buckle up!

Due to jet lag being a miserable companion the first couple of days, I decided not to take the first day off to rest and settle and go directly to the university. Or maybe it was my excitement? I will never confess.

At NUS I did the regular paperwork and met my colleague and fellow research partner for the next couple of months miss Tao Chen. Tao showed me around the university and labs and gave me pointers on what to expect around here.

The next day I met with Dr. Kan and we discussed all the logistics of my arrival and the possible ideas to zero on the angle I am going to focus on. Also we discussed points of collaborations on side projects with Tao and Jun Ping, a fellow researcher at WING.

I will be working in the lab on the 5th floor of AS6 the building next to COM1 in the school of computing. My desk is next to a huge building spanning half of the wall and overlooking an adjacent forest with singing birds! I guess I am a very happy PhD student now!

The journey starts now, let's see what I can do in the next couple of months while working with Asia's finest. Wish me luck!

-- Hany M. SalahEldeen