DiscoverSUTD is a 4-week long introduction to the SUTD community. It will last from 11 September 2023 to 8 October 2023. This event is collaboratively brought to you by the various Fifth Rows, faculty, pillars, housing, and research labs.

The main event page serves as the starting point for your SUTD journey. Within this page, there is a community calendar, and session sign-ups.

Now before you continue, you are highly recommended to bookmark this page! This guide will be updated continuously as we receive feedback throughout the event. Through this guide, you will be able to learn more about what SUTD can offer.

What you'll learn

• Key Highlights of DiscoverSUTD
• DiscoverSUTD Event Calendar
• Tips on enjoying your first month at SUTD
• How to provide feedback

These are the key areas of DiscoverSUTD.

1. DiscoverPeople
2. DiscoverPlaces
3. DiscoverProgrammes
4. DiscoverStudent-Organisers

Over the next few pages, we'll take you through what we've planned in each area, and why you should attend these activities! You'll find a detailed breakdown of the sign-up process in Section 7 of this guide: Calendar.

Last but not least, we have an AMA Telegram group (Check your email for the invite!). You're encouraged to join it and use it to ask questions or report problems/feedback to your seniors.

SUTD Unfiltered

SUTD Unfiltered - Short, entertaining presentations from SUTDents about internships, global exchange, cool stuff, and everything in between. https://unfiltered.opensutd.org/

Supper sessions

At SUTD, we love free food, or as we call it, DSBJ (Don't Say Bo Jio)

To celebrate the start of your SUTD adventure, we're going to be organising supper at least once a week!

• Date: Thursdays, 14, 21, 28 September
• Time: 8:00pm - 10:00pm
• Venue: Opposite MPH (Level 2 Hostel)

On each day, there will be one vegetarian and one non-vegetarian Halal food item.

SUTD has many research labs located all around the campus. These labs are usually not accessible due to research work but for one day only, we will be conducting lab tours!

Here's a non exhaustive of the labs in SUTD. Each lab covers a specific niche, so do take note of which lab piques your interest!

iTrust

Research on the development of advanced tools and methodologies to ensure the security and safety of current and future systems in five thrusts:

• Cyber Physical Systems (CPS)
• Internet of Things (IoT) systems
• Enterprise Networks
• Autonomous Vehicles
• Blockchain

You can learn more about iTrust on their website.

DmanD

The SUTD Digital Manufacturing and Design and (DManD) Centre was established to carry out cutting-edge research that will create the frontiers of digital design and manufacturing. Our center houses various additive manufacturing machines, as well as characterization facilities, allowing us to move from concept to prototype quickly.

You can learn more about DmanD on their website.

Entrepreneurship Centre

We provide support and avenues for entrepreneurship related activities that turn ideas into reality. Our activities range from entrepreneurship education, experiential programs, overseas entrepreneurship exposures, Entrepreneurship capstone, incubation, mentoring, and events around entrepreneurship.

You can learn more about EC on their website.

FabLab

The Fabrication Lab (Fab Lab) and its Satellite Fab Labs aim to allow students to design and build virtually "almost anything" with high-performance machines such as Laser Cutting and Engraving systems, 3D Printers, Plastic Injection Molding machines, vertical sanders, Water-jet Machining Centers, Vertical Injection Molding machines, etc.

ROAR Lab

Led by Assistant Professor Mohan Rajesh Elara, the Robotics and Automation Research (ROAR) Lab focuses on reconfigurable robotics for cleaning and maintenance. This means that our robots are able to adjust its morphology to adapt to its environment and efficiently complete its assigned task.

DiscoverProgrammes is where freshmores will have their first exposure to what the various pillars of SUTD offers. Pillars are a key part of the SUTD curriculum where one finds their passion and delves deep into their areas of interest. Don't miss out on this chance to hear from the people who designed the pillar curriculums and clarify any pressing questions you might have.

Architecture and Sustainable Design (ASD)

Venue: Campus Centre (Register here)

Date and time: September 13, 2023 3:00 PM → 4:00 PM

You can learn more about ASD on their website.

Engineering Product Development (EPD)

Venue: Think Tank 18 (Registration link)

Date and time: September 13, 2023 3:30 PM → 5:00 PM

You can learn more about EPD on their website.

Engineering Systems and Design (ESD)

Venue: SUTD Multi-purpose-hall (MPH) (Register here)

Date and time: September 20, 2023 2:30 PM → 4:00 PM

You can learn more about ESD on their website.

Computer Science and Design (CSD)

Venue: Zoom,Online (Register here)

Date and time: September 15, 2023 4:30 PM → 5:30 PM

You can learn more about ISTD on their website.

Design and Artificial Intelligence (DAI)

Venue: LT 2 (1.318) (Register here)

Date and time: September 13, 2023 2:00 PM → 3:00 PM

You can learn more about DAI on their website.

There are 20+ sessions designed just for you! These include:

• Sports Cluster: Basketball, Climbers, Taekwondo etc.
• Arts Cluster: Ballroom Dancing, Drama, Sketch etc.
• Culture Cluster: Namaste Indian Cultural Society, SUTD NihonGo! etc.
• Community Cluster: Rotaract Club, Uni-Y, SUTD Civil Defence Lionhearters' Club etc.
• Maker Cluster: SOAR (Robotics), IEEE Student Society, PhotogCircle etc.

That's a lot of sessions so you can use the event calendar to filter clubs by cluster and sort them out for you! You will be able to sign up from there as well.

Many great things are going on during the DiscoverSUTD period. Hence, we've prepared an event calendar to help you get a bird's eye view of what exciting activities are happening each day!

The calendar can be accessed at DiscoverSUTD Event Calendar. When you go to the URL, you should see this:

Food is one of the things that matter to us the most! Within the school, there are a few eateries that students go to if they fancy something outside the canteen.

There are student run catering services but one of the most well known one is hungrysia they provide supper at 9pm and a meal cost around $6 you can join the tele group via https://t.me/+Hs5nrX3yA0QyZWI9

A couple of restaurants at Changi City Point (CCP) offer food at prices that are friendlier for students. CCP is within walking distance, one MRT stop away (Expo MRT).

• Soup Spoon Union
  Offers student meals at $6.90
  Student meal hours: Mondays to Fridays, until 6:30pm
• SUKIYA すき家

Price of meals are ~$10

Note that crowd can be large

A 10 minutes bus ride away from SUTD, you can find Simpang Bedok where you'll be able to

Find eateries that open till early morning (some even open 24/7), perfect for your supper cravings.

Fancy heading out a bit further? Want to treat yourself to a job well done? Mere MRT stops away (and with no transfers required), you'll be able to reach Tampines East, Tampines and Tampines West. The following is a list of excellent (if a bit hard on your wallet) food places: (Note: the list is not exhaustive)

• iSteaks (Tampines)
  Estimated Price: about 15~20 dollars per person, including drinks
• 老火汤 (Tampines)
  Estimated Price: about 20~25 dollars per person, for a full meal
• Fat Papa's (Tampines)
  Estimated Price: about ~20 dollars per person, for a meal
• 18 Chef (Tampines)

Offers student meals

Estimated Price: about ~15 dollars per person, for a meal

Veg options (ask for no allium) ✔️ Halal✔️

• Pepper Lunch (Tampines)
  Offers student meals
  Estimated Price: about ~15 dollars per person, for a meal
  Halal✔️
• Tampines Hub Hawker Centre (Tampines)

Veg options (no allium) ✔️ Halal✔️

• Al-Azhar Eating Restaurant (Tampines East)
  Estimated Price: about 10~15 dollars per person, for a meal
  Halal✔️
• Labula Mala Xiang Guo (Tampines West)
  Estimated Price: about 10~15 dollars per person, for a shared meal
• Arnolds Fried Chicken (Tampines West)
  Estimated Price: about ~15 dollars per person, for a meal
  Halal✔️

Jewel@Changi Airport (closest thing to paradise itself)

Blogs such as TheSmartLocal, TimeOut, and DanielFoodDiary have written so much about Jewel. Guess what? We're literally two MRT stops away! If we were to list the number of restaurants it would take up the rest of the page... so we'll leave you to explore it yourself!

There are three housing blocks for students: Block 59 (nearest to campus), Block 57 (middle) and Block 55 (furthest from campus). Block 59 and Block 55 have nice rooftop areas on level 12 with great views and some benches. You can even see the Changi Airport runway from the rooftop of Block 55.

Facilities

• Tip for rooms: Tape the lowered blinds near the room door as they tends to rattle continuously. Contact housing for assistance in maintenance of ceiling fan and replacement of the battery door locks.
• Booking of Housing facilities: housing portal
• Aircon: website to top-up credits
• Recreation room: Host small movie nights
• Housing Lounge (block 55 level 1): Lots of board games
• Backspace (behind the MPH at block 55 level 2): Do keep your volume down from 10pm onwards.
• Exercising helps to destress!

-> Gym, Weekdays 7AM - 10PM; Weekends 9AM-10PM

-> Swimming pool, 11AM - 9PM

List of gym equipments:

Securing Your Spot After Freshmore

In order of priority, here are some things that you need to know as housing goes by this for consideration to allocate you for housing.

1. Do not get yourself a letter of warning and a notice of breach. Follow the rules spelt out.
2. Attend more than 2 events for each term. You get free participation points and mostly free food.
3. For local students, if you stay in the middle of Singapore or further, your chances are higher for a longer-term stay.
4. This is very important: Applying for housing before the closing date in your emails at every application cycle.

After some time in school, you would realise that rooms in our school are often referred to using code numbers (e.g. 2.506). Here's a quick breakdown of what this code means to ease getting yourself around:

• (#.___) The number at the left of the decimal represents the building where the room may be found.
• Building 1 is where the library may be found
• Building 2 is where the campus center may be found
• Building 3 is opposite the campus center, where you will find the One Stop Centre
• Building 5 is where the FabLab may be found
• (_.###) For the number at the right of the decimal, the first digit represents the floor where the building may be found, and the other two numbers represent the room number.
• TL;DR: The format of the room code is [Building].[Floor][Room] so for example 2.504 references a room in Building 2, Level 5, Room 4.

Also, if you need to go across buildings, the following levels are interconnected in this fashion:

• Level 2: The second floor of the Campus Centre links Buildings 2 and 3.
• Level 3: The roof area above the Campus Centre links Buildings 1,2, and 3. An additional link bridge links Buildings 1 and 2 in the middle of Building 1. A final link bridge is hidden along Building 1, which links Buildings 1 and 5.
• Level 5: The link bridge roof is walkable and links Buildings 1 and 2.

Spaces to work after class are not limited to your cohort classrooms. Here is a quick list of alternatives that are used by your seniors:

• Hostel meeting room/study room
• Hostel rooftop
• Library (there are discussion rooms that you can book on Level 2/3)
• Pi Lab (located beside the printing room at Building 1 Level 5)
• Student Activity Center (located at Building 5 Level 4)
• ROOT Cove (located at Building 2 Level 3/4)

Time is short in SUTD, and 8 terms can pass by you in a flash. Here are some suggestions to help you get the most out of your time here in SUTD.

• Know what you want to get out of SUTD. Be it a career path, a good social circle, or technical skills. This will help inform the choices you make and help you prioritise what matters to you.
• Appreciate the value of time. Your time is finite, and every choice has an opportunity cost to yourself and others. Make your choice clear to both.
• Be reasonable to the people giving you the opportunity and be clear about your level of commitment. There are too many opportunities in SUTD, and most of them might be tempting. It is alright to explore, but be responsible!
• When it comes to commitments, aim for quality over quantity. You will be unable to gain much if you take on too many things. It is recommended to be part of a maximum of up to 2 fifth rows and 1 active UROP only.
• Finish what you start! Being responsible establishes you as a reliable team member which helps with finding and building teams. You not only build up a portfolio of completed projects, but also secure internships.
• Be mindful of how you conduct yourself. SUTD is small, and news spreads quickly. It is very easy to be famous or infamous for the way you carry yourself, and how you treat your commitments.

The SUTD curriculum provides you with robust theoretical foundations and bare minimum practical foundations, which might not be sufficient for thriving in the working world. And in fact, many of the more "applied" courses occur late in your undergrad career (Term 6 onwards). This is after your internship opportunities and about the time when you begin your job hunt.

In our experience, projects and technical skills can weigh far more heavily than grades can. It is important to avoid focusing solely on grades, as it is very important to bolster your knowledge with practical and technical skills for the career path you at looking for.

As such you should be prepared to develop your skills during your own time:

• Utilise extra-curricular opportunities, such as technical Fifth Rows
• Self-learn from freely available resources on the Internet

We recommend spending Term 1 joining a UROP, or specialist clubs and societies to try to bolster your skills! Take advantage of the lower academic pressure to invest in your technical abilities. Remember, no matter how well or badly you do, every grade is still recorded as 'PASS' in Term 1.

Then, with a foundation, to start diving into a deeper project or discipline in Term 2 immediately. Pillar years can get quite hectic, and many students find they no longer have the time to spend self-learning technical skills then. Your Freshmore year is the best time to get a firm technical foundation!

That said, don't go around failing subjects! Grades are still relevant. They help you to open up a lot of opportunities in school (like exchanges) and are important for pursuing further studies as well as qualifying for careers in certain sectors (particularly Government sectors and Academia).

Doors are always Open

In SUTD, the faculty and staff are always willing to engage with students. Email professors directly if you're interested in their work, or if you have an interesting idea, and need some help.

Outside of school, you'll often realise that people are pretty welcoming as well. Don't be afraid to cold call companies for opportunities such as internships or mentorship. It is common for students to get better responses from contacting the company directly compared to using the official career portal.

At SUTD, plenty of opportunities for people of different interests are available, and those with a keen desire to do research work will find that plenty of research opportunities abound. During the first few weeks in school, we would like to nudge you to think about topics you are interested in, do a bit of your research/reading, and figure out if you would like to pursue it as a UROP!

Undergraduate Research Opportunities Programme (UROP)

Funding: Up to $1500 per project

UROPs are the main source of research opportunities for undergraduate students. There are 2 ways that one can join a UROP:

1. Applying for a project listed by a Professor/Faculty member on MyPortal. Students are to contact project supervisors to discuss the details of the project before applying
2. No projects to suit your fancy? Pitch your project! At SUTD, the professors and faculty are more than willing to support/guide students in their own initiated projects. If you have an idea that you feel is worth exploring, but lack the guidance and financial support to do so, a self-initiated UROP is always a good idea.

It is not uncommon to have multiple assignments due in the same week (or day), along with multiple project checkpoints or submissions in certain weeks (often right before or after recess week). You should mentally prepare yourself for the workload.

Here are some tips to help manage the workload:

• Do not be complacent. Be fully prepared to put in consistent effort.
• It is very easy to fall behind by accident, and the pace of the curriculum makes it even harder to catch up. Don't think you can "catch up later".
• Putting in work early helps you prevent late or even sleepless nights. However, things break, and this means you might need to stay up to fix things.
• It helps to keep a to-do list on hand to help keep track of your tasks.
• Manage your academics with your peers! Grab dinner at CCP with your friends to destress, but do it in moderation.
• Term 1 is Pass / Fail so please go and enjoy campus / hostel life.

Discourse is a platform for SUTD students where they can create threads about a topic similar to a discussion forum.

Follow these steps to get started with Discourse by clicking here!

Creating an account

1. Go to this website; https://discourse.sutd.edu.sg/
2. Click on the "Sign up" button

3. Fill in the particulars as stated

Important Notes:
Email: Use your school email (e.g [email protected])
SUTD Matriculation Number: Starts with 100XXXX
Role: Student

Click "Create your account" once you have completed

4. Once done, you should receive a notification to activate your account via email. Log in to your email account and check your inbox. Click on the activation link to activate your account.





5. Once you have activated your account, click on the "Log In" button and start to fill in your email/username and password and log in.

Starting a new topic

1. Find the "+

New Topic" button to create a new topic







2. Add the title and the content you want to share in the box below. You can use the category tags provided or create your own tags to categorise a certain topic (e.g Academics, Housing)

Once done, click "+Create Topic" to share

Congratulations! You have reached the end of this guide.

Hope you enjoy your very own DiscoverSUTD adventure!

Wish you the best of luck, and have fun in SUTD!