JOanna’s Life

Me working with NTU’s Corporate Communication Office is such a privillege.

I’m indeed So So So Honoured to be the emcee for the LKY Distinguished Visitor Pogramme, a public lecture by Professor Richard C. J Somerville. It was held on 16 November 2007 at Lecture Theathre 2, Nanyang Technological Univarsity. The public lecture was on the topic SCIENCE INFORMING POLICY: THE INTERGOVERNMENTAL PANEL ON CLIMATE CHANGE.  It started at 6.00pm sharp and ended on a high note with the Q&A session, with topic-related interesting questions asked by the floor of audience.

A little intro to what LKY Distinguished Visitor Programme for those who doesn’t know about it (adapted from NTU website):

Lee Kuan Yew Distinguished Visitors Programme

The programme aims to invite internationally eminent and outstanding academics and scholars to Singapore as Lee Kuan Yew Distinguished Visitors to make high level contributions to Nanyang Technological University, National University of Singapore and to Singapore in general. The Programme got off with an excellent start in January 1985 with the appointment of Dr. Sydney Brenner, Director of the Medical Research Council Centre, Cambridge, as the first Lee Kuan Yew Distinguished Visitor.

To date, a total of 58 Distinguished Visitors has come to Singapore under the Programme.

The programme is supported by the Lee Kuan Yew Endowment Fund. The endowment fund was established in 1983 by friends and well-wishers of the former Prime Minister, Mr. Lee Kuan Yew, on the occasion of his 60th birthday.

Curriculum Vitae of Prof Richard C. J. Somerville

Richard C. J. Somerville is Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, USA.  He is a theoretical meteorologist and an expert on computer simulations of the atmosphere.

He received his Ph. D. in meteorology from New York University in 1966 and has been a professor at Scripps since 1979.  His research is on the role of clouds, cloud-radiation interactions and cloud feedbacks in climate.  His interests include all aspects of climate, including climate science outreach and the interface between science and public policy.  He also comments frequently on climate and environmental issues for the media.

Somerville has received awards from the American Meteorological Society for both his research and his popular book, The Forgiving Air: Understanding Environmental Change, a new edition of which will be published in late 2007.  Among many other honours, he is a Fellow of both the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Meteorological Society.

He is a Coordinating Lead Author for the 2007 Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

I was told to be there at 3.30pm for sound test. Rehearsed for a few rounds and the feedback i got was, "it’ll be better if you don’t look at the script". It was because i was standing at the stand-a-lone mic stand without any pupit. So i ended up using the remaining time after the sound test cum rehearsal to memorise my script.

Professor Richard Somerville arrived at LT 2 fifteen minutes before 6pm while most of the audience was still taking their own sweet time, making their way into LT 2. What a disgrace! Nontheless, he was accompaniee by quite a number of VIPs, Chairperson of the public lecture, Professor Kerry Sieh (an ang-moh,mind you) inclusive. Mrs Somervielle joined him soon after and the lecture started at 6.00pm sharp. (In case you still can’t tell, Professor Richard Somervielle is really a puncture person and he keeps to his time!)

Some new terms (at least to me) such as IPCC was introduced. Certain issues were addressed during the lecture. Questions like "Is it true that the most observed global warming in the recent decades is caused by human activities" are answered (confirmed by Third Assessment Report of IPCC 2001) and giving us evidence that sea level rise is one of the surest consequences of a warmer climate. Clearing our doubts on the cause of the recent years Hurricane and Katrina. Is global warming to be blamed? Answer to that is it is not caused by global warming but global warming may change various probabilities and its intensity. Questions concerning climate change funding and issues on encouraging students to take up the responsibility to "fight" global warming were asked during the Q&A session chaired by Professor Kerry Sieh.

The public lecture ended at 7.20pm with NTU’s Associate Provost, Professor Er Meng Hwa presenting the tokens of appreciation to Professor Somerville and Professor Sieh which marked the end of my journey of being the emcee for LKY Distinguished Visitor Programme.

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