TP graduate, Loke Lup Peng, was conferred the prestigious IT Youth Award at a ceremony graced by the Minister for Information, Communication and the Arts, Mr Lee Boon Yang, on Friday, 27 February 2009. This annual gala event was organised by the Singapore Computer Society.

The IT Youth Award is conferred to youth, 25 years and below, who have demonstrated passion for IT, outstanding contributions to IT in the school and/or community, secured significant achievements and developed impactful innovations in IT.

An outstanding student, from the Diploma in Information Technology, Lup Peng, at the age of 20, has a string of accomplishments to his credit. When he graduated from TP in 2008 he had been conferred the Lee Kuan Yew Award in recognition of his academic excellence and leadership. He went on to secure a National Infocomm Scholarship, sponsored by BT Frontline Technologies, to pursue a degree in Computing under the NTU-Georgia Tech University Programme. He also received the Microsoft Student Partner of the Year Award in Dec 2008.

Among Lup Peng’s key innovations is an application called LightDraw which allows people to use different light sources to interact with objects on computer screens. This was a project undertaken in collaboration with the Institute of High Performance Computing and Lup Peng had been conferred the Polytechnic Student Research Project award for this innovation in 2008.

Whilst working at the Microsoft Innovation Centre Lup Peng developed and implemented a Road Monitoring Gadget for Singapore Land Transport Authority. The gadget, which was deployed on the sidebar of the Microsoft Windows Vista operating system, allows drivers to check traffic conditions by tapping on the Land Transport Authority’s (LTA) road motoring camera feeds. This gadget was made available to the public for free downloads at the Microsoft Windows Live websites in Mar 2007 and has attracted more than 16,000 downloads.

Lup Peng also did Singapore proud in 2007 when he clinched the title of World Champion in Microsoft Word in Florida, USA, at the Worldwide Competition on Microsoft Office.

Currently in National Service, Lup Peng is expected to commence university studies in 2010. Elated by the award conferred to him, Lup Peng conveyed that he was ‘humbled by the honour’ and looked forward to advancing his studies in IT.