How my research interest started

When I was in my teenage years, even while awaiting entry to the university, I have never had the slightest impression that I would become interested in the research field, let alone becoming a researcher. As was the rage during the late nineties, aspiring teenagers wanted to become dotcom entrepreneurs and I was one of them.

However, my aims and aspirations changed when I got my first taste of the research field. I was quite a good student up to my university years, judged by my academic and extra curricular results. However, something went amiss as I started my term in university. I simply could not find my footing. That was until the end of my third year, when students typically had their internships during the vacations. I was accepted as a research intern in the Mixed Reality Lab, and my view of research changed forever.

Life used to be about graduating with exemplary academic results and extra curricular activities from school, and landing that job which puts one on the fast track to success, or so the teenager perceives. However, being a researcher made me realize that the pursue of knowledge and the invention of new things can and do lead to a huge amount of satisfaction. The best thing that I derive from research is the opportunity to work with bright and brilliant minds from all walks of life. Even in the small community of my lab, there are researchers from many different countries and exhibit different thinking and personality. These different perspectives enabled me to expand my views and thinkings, and gave me the courage to believe in my own ability to pursue research.

In the beginning, I did not think that I would have the ability nor the intellect to be in this field. However, I was fortunate to have stumbled across the works of my current supervisor, Prof. Adrian David Cheok. After going through all the research works that he was working on, I gained interest. For me, it was his vision on research that finally convinced me that I had passion for research. Eventually, I developed the belief that this is what I like and this is what I can do. I learned that, as in every big obstacles in life, breaking things down into smaller parts and solving problems in incremental steps are very important methods in research. Most importantly, I realized I have the patience and perseverance for research as well.

Currently, my research interests lies in helping people to communicate, specifically people in remote locations. Current voice, textual and video communication tools have served us well in enabling remote persons to exchange information, be it work or private matters. However, such remote communication tools certainly lack the physical interaction present in daily person to person communication. In addition, current communication methods are sometimes inadequate for us to express our intended mind or feelings. Shapes, icons and color all play a part in giving expressions to the mundane messages being communicated day in and day out. I hope to find the effective communication tools and methods for the busy people of today to help them enhance their relationships with loved ones.