On paths less travelled
June 21, 2023
Keep an open mind and enjoy the journey!
This guiding principle led Year 4 Food Science and Technology (FST) student YEO Yong Liang through his undergraduate years, leading to eclectic, even unusual, learning experiences.
For instance, a Minor in Interactive Media Design, offered under the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, gave him ample room for self-expression, allowing him to cultivate his interest in creating new media forms like art and animations.
The same spirit of inquiry extends to his research projects. He says, “I enjoy creating cool, innovative and fun food products for the market…and delving into technologies that could lead to new products.”
Setting out to reimagine gastronomic traditions, Yong Liang led his team in conceptualising, formulating and prototyping a novel plant-based, dairy-free blue butterfly pea ice cream – which edged out competitors from 50 universities in 13 countries to clinch the second prize in the ProVeg Southeast Asian Food Innovation Challenge.
His internships were welcome opportunities to apply his broad-based interests at the workplace. At French multinational Roquette, he contributed to the end-to-end development of an eggless recipe, while at startup Zimplistic, he improved the sensory qualities of roti produced by an automated roti maker by incorporating scientific concepts into engineering and computer programming.
Collectively, through these experiences, he discovered that by embracing, and applying, new knowledge, “You attain many skills and an understanding of yourself that would not have been otherwise possible.”
In the future, Yong Liang plans to work as a food scientist or to pivot into media careers such as animation.
Here, Yong Liang shares his insights on overcoming challenges and his advice to freshmen.
