RESEARCHER SPOTLIGHT
A little glimpse at some of the men and women behind the machine.
Martin Loh Does Martin look like the kind of guy of who has three cats? No? Well, he just so happens to be one. Asked to pick a favourite feline from among Cookie, Whiskey and Amber, he easily admits that Cookie is number one - in fact, the whole point of travelling into the future is to find out whether animals have extended lifespans there...and whether that could apply to his own cats too.
Amanda Woon Amanda, whom friends affectionately refer to as ‘Woonzy’, has a lifelong dream - to one day be able to talk to all animals. She’s bubbly and cheerful and unassuming enough that we imagine she’d have no trouble starting conversations with animals of any species. In fact, she’s already had a breakthrough when it comes to non-human interaction - some of us are absolute trolls in the morning at 9.30am meetings.
Foo Zhan Hao Fun fact: Zhan Hao is the voice behind WEEKEA Industries’ AI, which was named ZH after him (you might recognise his disembodied speech in the packing list video). Something he’s actually renowned for in real life is his sense of humour, or lack thereof, depending on the way you view cheap puns in general. Either way, travelling to the future will only serve to widen the arsenal of cheap puns at his fingertips. Look forward to it.
Erika Kesuma Someone who feels tired no matter how many hours of sleep she gets, Erika tries her best to smile through every new day. That aside, as a child she once dreamed of making 9(am) to 5(am) jobs a thing, but has since reconsidered. p.s. the resulting redundancy of shift workers would only screw the part-time job market over - and as a fellow impoverished student in need of those jobs, she felt it was only right that she stop lol
Candy Choo Fine arts kid, fashionista, femme fatale, what have you - Candy is rather adept at slipping into different personas, but “good at biology” doesn’t happen to be one of them. We can’t make blonde jokes because she isn’t blonde anymore, but in any case those would be more ironic than accurate. Besides her expertise in fine arts and anthropology, finding a foolproof cure to cancer is a goal of hers, and it shouldn’t be a problem. Not for someone as feisty as her.
Ignatius Koh Iggy’s one big dream was to be the first to break an exclusive news story. Alas, that was easier said than done. Even when he hypothetically obtained his PhD in journalism in record time and wanted to be the first to break the news, 联合早报 broke it two days before his planned publishing date, having sneaked interviews from his friends and family. He’s currently snooping around WEEKEA Industries for a feature story on time travel (so keep an eye out for that camera, kids).
Lim Zi Jian After nearly getting heatstroke one afternoon, Zi Jian made it his life’s goal to invent a portable air-conditioning unit so he could keep his immediate surroundings at a comfortable 18℃. The prototype for an air-conditioned trenchcoat failed, but Zi Jian continues to work hard at designing the perfect air-conditioned outfit, whilst being conscious of global warming. When he was invited to work on E959 he immediately accepted because WEEKEA Industries was air-conditioned, duh.
Adora Tan Adora has always been a vivid dreamer. She decided to pursue the neurological sciences because she thought it was related to dreams, but when she found out it wasn’t that related, she continued anyhow and worked on finding cures for mental illnesses - believing that the mentally ill, just like everyone else, had dreams that they should be enabled to pursue. Incidentally, she was only invited to work on E959 after she barged in one day and demanded to be a researcher.
Loh Min Chyi Min Chyi went to Seaworld when she was five and was enthralled when a killer whale waved at her with a killer smile. From then on marine biology was her focus. Despite failing her exams, she was accepted to pursue a degree in that field after passing a supposedly impossible entrance test (based on whales) specifically written for her. When contacted, the higher education institute in question confirmed this on condition of anonymity. WEEKEA Industries declines to comment.
Jovy Sim When she was just eight, Jovy unearthed an old pot in her back garden. This sparked her passion for archaeology and she continued to pursue it, eventually obtaining a doctorate in that field. Jovy applied successfully to work in E959 in 2094 AD, and while there wasn’t yet a department established for archaeological studies, she opted to stay in the Engineering Department, because “archaeology is pretty much the study of past engineering anyway”.
Amanda Tan Amanda has always studied and worked towards a single goal - to make everything more convenient for her. After powering her way to a PhD in mechanical engineering in only three years (because “that’s more convenient what”) she received a government grant to work on improving current commercial technology, ending up in WEEKEA Industries come 2085 AD. When E959 began she was quickly put in charge of the Engineering Department (because “that’s more convenient what” - Francis)
Ng Yong Quan Yong Quan grew up in an old estate, and throughout his childhood and youth his constant interactions with the old people in his neighbourhood (mostly “wah boy ah zhang da le ah” or “u got gerfren orredi??”) made him wonder how this odd demographic perceived the world around him. In 2092 AD he published a 200-page thesis on the differences in perspectives between each generation and the next, and was quickly picked up by WEEKEA Industries to work on E959 after that.
Nicole Lim Nicole pursued a rather obscure degree (gender studies) after being inspired by famous feminist figures of the past. Rather than fall into the trap of yelling on Tumblr all day, she put her knowledge to good use, writing over twenty papers on gender equality in her career. Due to her passion and intellect Nicole was appointed a UN Women Goodwill Ambassador in 2085 AD. Her landmark 2086 UN headquarters speech has been viewed over 50,000,000 times on Youtube at present.
Jerrell Chow After watching a lot of TV as a child, Jerrell became fascinated with space travel. This rather collided with his passion for music, since neither interest could now be all-consuming. Faced with a dilemma when it came to choosing university paths, Jerrell eventually came up with the most cop-out solution ever - pursue both. Notable achievements include recording an EP in space, holding a moon concert, and (tentatively) being the first to record a concert in the future.
Dylan Ang Dylan was once a professor who realised he spent more time keeping a smile on for his depressed students than actually solving equations on the board. It wasn’t easy, especially for someone who’d invested in a Doctorate of Philosophy in Physics to broaden his understanding of the world. It wore on him until eventually, he quit being a professor to join WEEKEA Industries instead - as part of the core team that developed the time machine. Trivia: he is not photogenic.
Clement Yeow Clement ditched school to pursue dancing, and was wildly successful until a bad fall ended his career. Seeing no future in the competitive dance scene, he decided to pursue something related - kinesiology. Judging various international dance competitions helped pay his way through school. Due to his immense knowledge Clement was approached by WEEKEA Industries to co-head E959’s Biomedical Science Department, focusing on how the human body would develop in the future.
Nurul Asyikin Asyikin dedicated her life to studying the effects of the internet in order to answer the age-old question of “omg how come i just started watching youtube but its alr 4am???”. She got her answers and she got fame. But she left that all behind when WEEKEA Industries came knocking, seeing that E959 provided a great opportunity for her to discover how dominant the internet would become in the future. Not to mention gather the latest memes.
Gracia Lee The day after Gracia got her driving license, she was caught in a massive traffic jam. Upon escaping, she immediately abandoned both her car and driver’s license, then threw herself into preventing traffic jams. Snarling in the face of traffic snarls got her a government grant improve the efficiency of road systems. The dawn of flying cars rather nullified some of her research, but there was still the threat of in-air traffic jams to face. That’s her new cause.
Jeline Chia After interning at a hospital when she was younger, Jeline developed a passion for medicine - and to find a cure for all known diseases. In 2087, during an outbreak of a new strain of avian influenza, Jeline developed a vaccine that would effectively end bird flu forever and distributed it for free to as much of the world’s population as possible. Acknowledging her altruism during the outbreak, WEEKEA Industries approached her to co-head the Biomedical Science Department.
Oh Chin Ying Chin Ying has long been fascinated with bathing quickly and on the go, after an ordeal when he was younger in which he went for a camping trip and no one else brought soap or shampoo left him emotionally scarred. He actually attempted to patent dry shampoo, only to realise that it had already been invented. Chin Ying has now moved on to developing dry soap - so please, someone tell him that there’s no need, baby powder already serves that function.
Zandra Ang Zandra enjoyed a beautiful rainbow-speckled, Disney-hued childhood that drew the interpretive dance skills right out of her. She attempted to enrol in a princess academy for her tertiary education, but unfortunately they were fully subscribed. In that case, going into english literature and anthropology wasn’t too bad an alternative. Fellow colleagues at WEEKEA Industries treat her like a princess anyway, so it’s all good. The magic of Disney lives on.
Phua Jia Jia Jia Jia currently holds the world records for the 100m and 200m sprint, unbeaten since her retirement from athletics. After her illustrious sporting career, she pursued a double degree in sports and biological sciences, hoping to find a rumoured gene that when activated would allow for superhuman athletic displays. So far, Jia Jia hasn’t found the gene, but she’s taking a break to work on E959, because who knows what the future holds? Her records might have fallen.
Aloyscious Phua Aloyscious took a record high of seven years to laze his way to a degree. Despite this, he proved pivotal to the invention of the flying car, stumbling into a lab and saying something instrumental before falling asleep. When asked if he desired credit he refused, saying, “If credited means must make speech and stuff right? No thanks la so tiring.” In E959, he's in charge of researching future vehicle flight technologies. He has made approximately zero progress so far.
Gladys Bay Gladys decided to pursue a degree in mythological studies because she thought it sounded cool, even though she knew nothing about it. Despite her impulsive choice, her perfectionist nature led her to top her cohort. Still, her interest and competence levels are equally high in any field of study. Gladys was invited to work on studying how people perceived fiction and mythology in the future, but basically floats around the various departments helping them out if required.