Editor’s Roundup

Here's toasting to the New Year with lots of good cheer at NUS. There's nothing quite like taking a few deep breaths of the crisp, cool air at this time of the year and feeling ready to face another 365 days of challenges.

Last year, many have been challenged to the uttermost – and proven their mettle. TeamNUS for example, has over the years, seen excellent sportsmen and women – people like Vicky who has just graduated, majoring in Computational Science. A triathlete, she has proven that passion and dedication is everything. Indulging in her passion has opened a new world of fulfilment – and friendship. She has made many friends in the sport. This has helped to release stress and tension. “What's good for the sole... is good for the soul,” she says. She won the NUS President Sports Award 2005.

Sportsman of the Year Kenneth, who has been running for the past six years, will continue to run into 2006 with aims to excel on the track as well as in the classroom. This History major has proven that records happen on the track as well as in history.

For New Fei who is Sportswoman of the Year and pursuing her postgraduate studies in Pharmacology, the challenge is overcoming pain and setbacks – she is very injury-prone, more so than other athletes.

No pain no gain... they say. But a team from the Faculty of Dentistry has tried again and again to lessen the pain and trauma of patients who need facial and jaw reconstruction. They have come out with a novel bioscaffolding which would help bone regrowth. The bioscaffolding dissolves in the body within six months, leaving no toxic effects. For their invention, Dr Victor Fan and Dr Cao Tong in collaboration with Rapid-Tech Pte Ltd, have won The Enterprise Challenge (TEC) 2005's Enterprising Agency Award and Innovator Award.

School of Design and Environment students are also on a roll. They have been winning award after award. Last year, they swept the prestigious Red Dot Awards, the Electrolux Award as well as the Hunter Douglas Award.

So, what better way to face the New Year than with the satisfaction that you have done your best... and to accept nothing less from yourself but the best – year after year.