Celebrating International Women in Engineering Day

Shirley Chow, Director of HTX’s Data Science and AI Centre of Expertise, shares her journey as an engineer and what drives her to build new capabilities to keep Singapore safe and secure.

Shirley Chow 1

“Home Team operations never fail to cause my heart to skip a beat,” says Shirley Chow, Director of HTX’s Data Science and AI (DSAI) Centre of Expertise (CoE), and concurrently Senior Principal Engineer at the Joint Capabilities Programme Management Centre (JCPMC).

She has worked on transformative projects for the Home Team including the launch of Singapore’s biometric passports in 2006, the implementation of ICA’s Enhanced Immigration Automated Clearance System (eIACS) using passport clearance, and the SGSecure App, which allows users to report suspicious sightings to authorities.

Empowering frontliners from a tech perspective to keep them safe and make their work more efficient is what drives her. “I’m drawn to the Home Team’s mission,” Shirley said. “Being able to contribute to Singapore’s safety and security through technology brings me immense satisfaction.”

From private to public sector

Shirley’s career in engineering spans over three decades in the private and public sectors and she has worked on a variety of leading-edge technologies. Her interest in programming was honed in primary school writing gaming software so that she could play games.

Programming came easy to her and pursuing tech as a career was a natural choice. She started out as a software developer in an ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) company working with automotive companies such as Fiat after graduating with a degree in Information Technology.

She subsequently joined enterprise software giant SAP Asia where she developed HR modules for the Singapore public sector and moved to IDA Singapore before crossing over to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in 2013. Shirley joined HTX when it was formed in December 2019 as Director of the Sense-making and Surveillance CoE, and currently leads the DSAI CoE.

We asked Shirley about some of her memorable projects, navigating challenging moments in her career, and how her current work at DSAI is impacting the Home Team.

The interview below with Shirley has been edited and condensed.


Often, technical challenges are the easiest to overcome as the fun of being an engineer is that you can always create a solution to every problem – it is just a matter of cost and time.

Q: What are some of the memorable projects that you have worked on?

I am glad to have led the launch of Singapore’s first biometric passport in 2006. The project was not just another IT system, but one that involved an entire ecosystem and international collaboration. We had to work with immigration authorities and government agencies across the world, international organisations such as the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), and a wide array of technology solution providers from smart card to passport security to passport readers, and more.

Another project that I led was the SGSecure App, which allows users to report suspicious sightings to the authorities in a few simple steps – point, shoot, and send. The app, launched in 2016, was part of a national movement to respond to the global terrorism threat. Although it was a simple app, it involved a mindset change in the community and Home Team Departments (HTD). From a tech perspective, we broke new ground as the app also allows the authorities to send alerts to residents during major emergencies such as a terrorism incident or civil emergency, very quickly.

At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Sense-making and Surveillance team at HTX provided support to frontline operations by working with industry partners to put in place solutions for temperature screening and tagging for overseas travellers on home quarantine.

 

Q: What are some of the projects you are working on at DSAI and how will they impact the Home Team and Singapore?

At DSAI, we want to bring data science and AI to everyone. We are building new capabilities to accelerate the adoption of data analytics and data-driven decision making. Our approach is three-pronged: making data available, making AI easy, and building competency or upskilling.

Given our shrinking population, we want to harness technology to effectively translate the tacit knowledge of experienced officers into repeatable operational capabilities so that a young officer can execute and make the same decision just as an experienced officer could.

Advanced resource optimisation models can be used to help HTDs deploy their resources efficiently and effectively. We also use a mix of statistical and deep-learning approaches to glean new insights from the rich data sources we have, thereby enhancing our enterprise sense-making capabilities.

We are also developing advanced AI capabilities to augment our officers’ cognitive workload and improve their productivity and effectiveness, such as through our Speech-to-Text and Natural Language Processing tools.

Shirley Chow 2Shirley and her team at DSAI CoE are developing an array of innovative and user-friendly AI tools to help Home Team officers in their daily work.

 

Q: Did you encounter any particularly challenging moments as an engineer and how did you go about overcoming them? There aren’t many women in engineering, did you face any difficulties due to your gender?

Often, technical challenges are the easiest to overcome as the fun of being an engineer is that you can always create a solution to every problem – it is just a matter of cost and time. The biggest challenge is human mindset and the receptiveness to new ideas and changes.

We need to have closer collaboration with users, share technical knowledge with them, and most importantly, put ourselves in their shoes so that we can better understand their needs and challenges.

In engineering, it is about head – the knowledge and skills you have – and heart – the courage to step out and try new things. No failure is wasted as you learn what didn’t work. Gender doesn’t define how much you can achieve in a male-dominated environment, the quality of your work does.

Suriya 01
HTX Intern Stories: “I secured my choice internship despite taking an unconventional path”
READ MORE
HUeyShan3
Camaraderie: The key to a fulfilling career in Cybersecurity
READ MORE