Home >> Blog Posts >> Internship >> Internship at IMRE, A*STAR
Internship at IMRE, A*STAR
July 16, 2017
Garrick Lim Kang Rui
I have most recently completed a ten-week research internship at A*STAR’s Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE) to work on fire-retardant materials for various applications. I was heavily involved in the industrial research aspect of this project and found out for myself first-hand, the differences between fundamental and industrial research.
​
Fundamental research in academia vs industrial-focused research
IMRE is a well-established research institute with strong emphasis on materials research for the purposes of fundamental research and industrial applications.
​
Industry-driven research is vastly different from the fundamental research conducted in universities due to the sheer scale of the reaction process. In the work that I was involved in, I often found myself working with raw materials by the kilograms and litres. Our industrial partners were focused on developing formulations for fire-retardant coatings that could be easily scaled up and were easy to manage. Most critically, they expected a high level of reproducibility in our research, often making a trip down to our research laboratories to watch a live demonstration for themselves. Otherwise, we would be making a trip down to their offices and factories to perform the demonstration for them.
​
The greatest challenge of industrial research lies in its competitiveness. Very frequently, our industrial partners will compare our new formulations and products with existing ones to determine our competitive advantage. These pre-existing products were already highly competitive due to the extensive research and development put into them. Thus, developing a feasible, cost-effective, highly reproducible yet high performing product was the greatest challenge we faced when conducting industrial-driven research.
Last day of work with my supervisor, Dr Yan Hong (extreme right), and my mentor, Ms Zeng Huining (extreme left).
Why go on an internship?
Most of A*STAR’s research institutes accept students on vacation/credit-based internship programmes and for final year projects (FYPs). I have met my fair share of students ranging from the young secondary school students on exposure programmes to polytechnic students on half-year internships and fellow university students undergoing their internship programmes.
​
The benefit of participating in an internship with a potential company which you would consider after graduation is the opportunity to determine if you are the right fit for the organization’s working style and environment without the pressure to perform. Most supervisors in IMRE welcome students (because who would turn down an extra pair of helping hands) but do not expect these students to work like real scientists due to their lack of experience.
​
As an intern, I was assigned to a supervisor and a mentor who took time off their daily schedules to discuss and analyse the day’s plan and the new results from the day before. Most supervisors expect university interns to demonstrate some level of independence and initiative in proposing experiments and conducting them with little supervision. Nonetheless, you should develop some basic expectations for yourself and strive to make some contributions to your team.
"The benefit of participating in an internship...is the opportunity to determine if you are the right fit for the organization...without the pressure to perform."
Concluding remarks
I have learnt many technical skills and developed myself both personally and professionally in my time here at IMRE. That said, working in research as a full-time job feels entirely different from that of UROPS/FYP as you will be expected to work on many different ongoing projects at the same time. Therefore, if you are considering to work in the research and development field in the future, do take this opportunity in the summer to go on a research internship before graduation!