When Ng Xin Ru was in secondary school, she once attached electrodes to her classmates’ heads to study their brain waves.
“I wanted to experiment with the effect of different stimuli and measure how vigilant people were in different situations,” explains Xin Ru. “Doing such experiments was very innate to me as I knew that I was going to do more science stuff later on in life.”
Now 20, the Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA) scholar is studying electrical and electronic engineering at Imperial College London where she enjoys applying engineering principles to solve real-world problems.
For her university projects, Xin Ru programmed a circuit board to test human reaction times.
She also worked with other students to design robots that could “talk” to each other using a combination of radio waves, infrared waves and ultrasonic waves.
These experiments are laying the groundwork for her future work at DSTA, where engineers deliver technology for defence and security by designing, developing and integrating systems for the Ministry of Defence and the Singapore Armed Forces.
First introduced to DSTA at a scholarship talk, Xin Ru was struck by the sheer breadth of its work across Singapore’s military and government agencies.
“I saw how their work spans from components such as sensors to large-scale solutions where software, hardware and engineering are brought together to deliver real operational capabilities,” she says.
And it is not just DSTA that creates these solutions. DSTA is part of Singapore’s wider Defence Technology Community (DTC) which works collectively to keep the nation at the forefront of defence innovation.
The DSTA Scholarship opens doors to a range of diverse career opportunities across the DTC.
“After my A levels, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do – I only knew I wanted to do something in the STEM-related fields,” says Xin Ru.
She had assumed that she would complete her studies at a local university, but with the DSTA Scholarship, she realised that she could afford to dream bigger.
“I never thought of going overseas, but this scholarship gave me the opportunity to do so,” she says. “I realised I could use my passion for science to do the things I enjoy and serve the country in meaningful ways too.”
The scholarship also provided structured opportunities for growth, including internships, overseas exposure and mentorship.
As part of the scholarship, Xin Ru did an internship with DSTA’s Naval Systems Programme Centre. There, she discovered more about unmanned surface vehicles and evaluated how emerging maritime technologies could be adapted to support operational needs.
This gave her first-hand exposure to how DSTA engineers assess new innovative platforms that could be used for defence capabilities.
In 2025, DSTA sponsored her summer school stint at Stanford University in the US, where she immersed herself in clean energy and sustainability concepts.
There, she saw how she could apply her electronic engineering skills to help address various environmental challenges.
“At Imperial, I learn theoretical things like pure circuits, while the Stanford course taught me not just theory but the ways that theory could be used in the different types of renewable energy,” says Xin Ru.
“I realised I could use my passion for science to do the things I enjoy and serve the country in meaningful ways.”
– Ng Xin Ru, recipient of the DSTA Scholarship
The scholar has also enjoyed travelling around Europe. “Budgeting the scholarship allowance well has allowed me to take the occasional weekend trip to places I didn’t even know existed,” she says.
Her travels have also given her the opportunity to connect with others in the scholar community.
“I have met many other scholars from different agencies like the Land Transport Authority and the Singapore Police Force,” she says. “Sometimes we realise our agencies work together, and we joke about how we are going to be working together in the future.”
Along the way, these newfound friendships and rich experiences are preparing her for the unknown challenges ahead.
“In defence, technology moves really fast, with new threats coming all the time,” she says.
“I hope that my field of study will equip me with a versatile foundation in preparation for these potential changes.”
