Amanda Lee

I interned at DSTA for 4 months in the Advanced Systems Department. Due the circuit breaker imposed by the Singapore government in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, my internship was from home and instead of working on the internship project, I had the freedom to start my own projects. I had the opportunity to learn Python and OpenCV to do image and video processing, as well as experiment with user interfaces like Tkinter and Gooey. I also managed to experiment with machine learning algorithms. Inspired by the COVID-19 outbreak, I created a mask detector for video files and webcam. Using a mouth Haar Cascade, I was able to successfully identify the presence of mouths in videos to determine if a person is wearing a mask. Another algorithm I worked with is adapted from the existing machine learning algorithm to classify flowers. Towards the end of my internship, I had the opportunity to share my learnings with other experienced DSTA engineers through video calls and receive feedback from them.

My subject combination in Junior College was H2 Physics, H2 Chemistry, H2 Mathematics, H2 Literature, H1 General Paper, and H3 Physics. Science Society For both years, I was part of VJC Science Society. I was the event head for VJC Science Challenge, an escape room based on science concepts organised for VJC's own students. Additionally, I was a faciliitator and emcee for Victoria-Cedar Alliance Science Explore, an event organised for Year 1 Integrated Programme students from Cedar Girls' Secondary School and Victoria School. Mathematics Competition Training I joined the Mathematics Competition Training sessions in my first year in VJC and later went on to take part in the Singapore Mathematics Olympiads Competition and Australian Mathematics Competition.