Starting in August 2021, I have been at Queens College, City University of New York, where my lab includes graduate students and other personnel. Prior to that (starting in 2012), I was at National University of Singapore, where most of my lab members were students doing their final-year (honours) projects for the Bachelors of Environmental Studies (BES) and Life Sciences degrees. But I also supervised students for their: Undergraduate Research Opportunities in Science (UROPS), Master of Environmental Management and Tropimundo Joint Master Degree in Tropical Biodiversity and Ecosystems.

As for my approach… I know some supervisors prefer to give their students projects that they conceptualise for them (sometimes complete with protocols), but I do not necessarily take that route. Students in my lab can create their own projects or tackle one of my ideas.

Either way, they at least contribute in a big way to developing their questions and designing their studies, because to me, the main learning outcome from a student research project is an enhanced ability to think creatively, critically and independently about a line of enquiry (and see it through from start to finish).

At regular lab meetings, students openly discuss how their work was going. I encourage them to help and support one another in all aspects of their projects. This way they don’t work alone in the field and they engage in peer coaching and acquire knowledge and skills in areas outside their topics.

Click the links below to read about work by my current and former lab members.

QUEENS COLLEGE AT CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE

Rachel LEONG
AY 2020/21
Bat conservation amid a pandemic

Afiq Bin Sulaiman
AY 2020/21
Belief in COVID conspiracy theories

QIU Jiahui
AY 2019/20
The departmental water footprint

TAN Yan Hui Shaina
AY 2019/20
The departmental carbon footprint

Johnathan WONG Wing Hoy
AY 2019/20
Invasive snails and their nematodes

CHEONG Hui Ping
AY 2018/19
Aircraft flyovers and biophony

GOH Fang Ni
AY 2018/19
Mammalian uptake of heavy metals

LIM Kai Ning
AY 2018/19
Impacts of drones on bats

NG Shu Tian
AY 2018/19
Kiasuism & conscious consumption

Angela CHAN An Qi
AY 2017/18
Fruit-bat diet on an urban gradient

LEE Ee Meng Kenneth
AY 2017/18
Effects of the LED retrofit on bats

Roanna PANG Yong Ting
AY 2017/18
People who feed street dogs

Cheryl YIP Yi Xiu
AY 2017/18
Knowledge and views on bats

Michelle GAN Wan Jie
AY 2016/17
Effect of artificial light on bats

Joan LIM Hui Mian
AY 2016/17
Domestic cat predation on wildlife

LUM Wen Hao Deon
AY 2016/17
Responses of street dogs to approach

CHAI Jia Yi Zoe
AY 2015/16
Bats in commensal roosts

CHO Koi Jong Jermain
AY 2015/16
Aircraft flyovers and biophony

CHUA Li En Jacqueline
AY 2015/16
Effect of haze on bats at water

KOH Jeh Yie Wilson
AY 2015/16
Traffic noise and the dawn chorus

WONG Zi Jin
AY 2015/16
Perceptions of urban beekeeping

Prab s/o Ramanathan
AY 2014/15
Bird diversity in park connectors

Kelly TAN Siang Ting
AY 2014/15
Seed dispersers in forest fragments