Postgraduate students in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering received a significant encouragement recently to publish their research findings in reputable international journals. The NUS Senate has approved the award of a Gold Medal annually to the higher degree (MSc, M Eng, PhD) graduate in the Department who has written the best research paper that has been accepted or published by an international journal. The award is made possible by an endowment fund from National Semiconductor Manufacturing Singapore Pte Ltd which has maintained close relations with the Department in teaching and research for many years. This is the first time in NUS a prestigious prize is launched not for good examination performance but for recognition of excellence in original research, as judged by international peers, by students.