By Assoc Professor Dr Norhayati Abdullah
International Liaison Officer at UTM-MJIIT
11 April 2018

The UTM Malaysia-Japan International Institute of Technology (MJIIT) hosted a collegial visit by a delegation from the University of Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic today.

University of Hradec Kralove delegation led by its Rector (President) Professor Ing Kamil Kuca was accompanied by Prof. Dr. Ondrejelop Krejcar, Vice-Dean for Science and Research at Faculty of Informatics and Management, Assoc. Prof. Petra Maresova, Head of Department of Economics at Faculty of Informatics and Management and Madam Pavla, PhD candidate at the University. The visit was also joined by RNDr. Růžena Štemberková, Head of Technology Transfer Office of the University of South Bohemia.

The half-day visit to MJIIT began with an introductory meeting at Wind Engineering for Environment iKohza (WIND) meeting room attended by the MJIIT Management Team. Professor Dr Ali Selamat, Dean of MJIIT presented the background of UTM and MJIIT, encompassing UTM’s research landscape and opportunities for collaboration which are based on enVision UTM 2025 playbook.

In view of establishing global strategic partnership, the delegation is also meeting Professor Dr Shahir Samsir, Innovation and Commercialization Center (ICC) on commercialization process in UTM, Professor Ir Dr Sharifah Rafidah Syed Alwi, Director of Process Systems Engineering Center (PROSPECT) and Associate Professor Dr Siti Hamidah Setapar, CEO of SHE Empire Sdn Bhd. also the founder of Naturel Kiss cosmetics range.

During the visit, Professor Ing Kamil Kuca delivered a special lecture on Toxicology: “VX agent, sarin novichoks – Old agents new threats” at Sakura Room MJIIT. Professor Ing Kamil Kuca is a European expert working in the area of Chemical Warfare Agents for fifteen years. He is developing novel antidotes against nerve agents. His lecture focuses on nerve agents and development on novel antidotes against them.

Skudai, 24 March 2018- Faculty of Geoinformation and Real Estate (FGHT), UTM Skudai, received an academic visit from an expert from National Research Council in Pisa, Italy, Dr. Stefano Vignudelli.

Dean of FGHT, Prof. Sr Dr. Mohd Razali Mahmud, Head of TropicalMap Research Group, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kasturi Dewi Kanniah, and Dr. Nurul Hazrina Idris with Dr. Stefano Vignudelli.

His arrival was warmly welcomed by the Dean of Faculty, Prof. Sr Dr. Mohd Razali Mahmud, Head of TropicalMap Research Group, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kasturi Dewi Kanniah, Director of Geospatial and Digital Earth Centre of Excellent, Sr Dr. Mohd Nadzri Md Reba, and experts in Coastal Altimetry, Sr Dr. Nurul Hazrina Idris.

The purpose of the visit was to introduce the new technology of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) in satellite altimetry for coastal applications. His visit was part of the European Space Agency (ESA) initiative to pursue research collaboration with ASEAN countries.

Dr. Stefano spent a week in FGHT from 18-24 March 2018. During the visit, he delivered two (2) public talks in the topic of Space Oceanography, and Coastal Altimetry to the researchers and students. He also conducted a free hands-on and workshop on SAR Altimetry for Coastal Applications, who was attended by 30 participants.

Dr. Stefano Vignudelli after delivering his public talks to researchers and students.

The dean and all faculty members wish to thanks Dr. Stefano Vignudelli for his visit to FGHT and hope the visit opens the door of collaborations among FGHT, National Research Council of Italy, and ESA.

Ten experts from Asia and Pacific Region gathered in the UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) Regional Experts Group Meeting, on the 2nd and 3rd March 2018 as part of the 6th GPSS-GLI (Graduate Program in Sustainability Science – Global Leadership Initiative, at the University of Tokyo Kashiwa Campus Station Satellite (Future Center), Tokyo, Japan.

The main objective of this meeting is to formulate “A Standard Framework for Biosphere Reserve (BR) management informed by using Sustainability Science and to encourage more BRs in Asia”. The experts from Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia, Kazakhstan, Republic of Korea and Japan discussed the best approach to further improve the framework to accommodate the Lima Action Plan and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The meeting invited the Biosphere Reserves (BRs) experts, such as Prof. Dr. Do-Soon Cho, Chair, Korean MAB National Committee / Member, International Advisory Committee for Biosphere Reserves, Prof. Dr. Yohanes Purwanto, Chair of Indonesia MAB (Man And Biosphere) National Committee, Prof. Dr. Roman Jashenko, Kazakhstan National Committee for the UNESCO MAB Programme, and the Sustainability Science experts. i.e. Prof. Emeritus Dr. Kazuo Matsushita, Kyoto University, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies, Dr. Toshinori Tanaka, Project Assistant Manager, University of Tokyo and Dr. Irina Safitri Zen, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). Dr Irina presented her research project output in Bali Province, Indonesia, on the application of sustainability science for the Balinese Subak traditional water irrigation system and the potential Bali Province UNESCO World Heritage Site as the next BRs.

The meeting was also attended by the various stakeholders, experts, Ministry of Environment (Japan), the private sectors as well as representatives from the community and NGOs.

Four (4) groups of Urban and Regional Planning students and staff, Faculty of Built Environment, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia received awards in 2017/2018 Township Ideas Competition under Category 1 and 4 organised by Perbadanan PR1MA Malaysia (PR1MA) and Malaysian Institute of Planners. The award ceremony was held at PWTC, Kuala Lumpur on 28th March 2018 with the theme “Youth in Community”.

This is the first time for both PR1MA and MIP cooperated together to organise a township ideas competition with the objectives to encourage young and creative minds in designing neighbourhood and township, including to identify potential research proposal in investigating the community issues and developing new planning ideas for PR1MA neighbourhood and township. The competition launched on 12th September 2017 and consisted of 4 categories, namely Category 1: Neighbourhood Design Ideas for Students, Category 2: Township Design Ideas for MIP Young Graduate, Category 3: Green Township Design Ideas for MIP New Planning Firm and Category 4: PR1MA Research Proposal.

The competition saw participation from various universities and institutions with different backgrounds and expertise. Out of ten (10) groups from UTM, two (2) groups were selected to compete in the final round under the Category 1 and another (2) groups from UTM selected to the final round under the Category 4. The judges comprised of members of the architectural/ planning professionals, universities, consultants and corporations in Malaysia. The award ceremony was launched and officiated by Minister of Higher Education, Dato’ Seri Idris bin Jusoh, accompanied with Chief Executive Officer of Perbadanan PR1MA Malaysia (PR1MA), Dato’ Abdul Mutalib bin Alias and President of Malaysian Institute of Planners (MIP), TPr. Hj Ihsan Zainal Mokhtar.

For Category 1, the team comprising Wan Muhammad Aqib bin Wan Mohamad Ahaary, Josephine Lee Siaw Ling, Nuraqilah Najwa binti Mustapa Kamil, Amirul Afiq bin Jamaluddin and Nagananteni A/P Subramanian won Special Mention award, receiving RM1000 and certificate. The team comprising Hayati binti Kuneh, Mas Ayu Aziera binti Masri, Nur Syahirah Haziqa binti Adnan, Syarifah Jamiamirah binti Syed Jamaluddin and Wan Jushamilla Husna binti Wan Ab Jamil were shortlisted to the final round and received certificates. Students from International Islamic University Malaysia, Universiti Sains Malaysia and Universiti Malaya won the 1st prize, 2nd prize and 3rd prize respectively.

On the other hand, for Category 4, the team comprising Mohd Jamsyeer Khan bin Jalaludin Khan, Dr Siti Hajar binti Misnan and Assoc. Prof. TPr. Dr Hairul Nizam bin Ismail won the 3rd prize, receiving RM1500 and certificate. Meanwhile, the team comprising Dr Siti Hajar binti Misnan, Prof. MCILT. TPr. Dr Ho Chin Siong and Dr Gabriel Ling Hoh Teck won the consolation prize of RM250 and certificate.

SURABAYA, 27 March 2018 – UTM Chemical Engineering Lecturer, Dr. Mohd. Kamaruddin Abd. Hamid has been invited as judge and also Gala Dinner Speaker during the 7^th Indonesia Chem-E-Car Competition 2018 (ICECC 2018), from 22^nd to 25^th March 2018.

The ICECC 2018 was participated by 20 teams from all Indonesia universities, featuring advanced chemical powered cars ranging from redox batteries to water turbine generator. The objective of this competition is to demonstrate the participant’s capability to control a chemical reaction to power the car and to include the green aspect in their car design. All participants need to present their chem-e-car innovation and creativity in front of the judges before the racing begins.

During the Gala Dinner, Dr. Mohd. Kamaruddin was given the opportunity to give a presentation to all participants in this competition, where Dr. Mohd. Kamaruddin shared the knowledge on how to save energy using process integration and put the challenge to all participants to use the process integration concept in their chem-e-car design in the future. He also does some promotion of UTM’s achievement during 2017 in his speech.

Dr. Mohd. Kamaruddin with the Rektor of Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS) Surabaya, Prof. Dr. Joni Hermana (centre) and ITS Chemical Engineering Head of Department, Dr. Juwari (3^rd from left) during the ICECC 2018 Gala Dinner.

The panel of judges during ICECC 2018.

Poster presentation from one of the participant team from Syiah Kuala University.

One of the participating chem-e-car using a pressure driven motor.

JOHOR BAHRU, 3 April 2018 – IJN-UTM Cardiovascular Engineering Centre – Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) has organized a three-day workshop on Professional Course on Good Clinical Practice (GCP) on 1-3 April 2018 for researchers heading to clinical trials. The course was attended by 26 researchers, with 13 from Faculty of Biosciences and Medical Engineering, 10 from Faculty of Chemical and Energy Engineering, and 3 from Faculty of Electrical Engineering, UTM.

On the first and second days, Prof. Dr. Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman, Chairman of Malaysian Good Clinician Practice, General Internal Medicine and Cardiovascular Medicine, AN-NUR Specialist Hospital, delivered his lecture on ‘Introduction to GCP and Ethics of Clinical Research’, as well as ‘Investigator’s Responsibility’. While on the last day, Ms. Tan Shin Yee, Principal Assistant Director from Centre of Investigational New Product, National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA), Ministry of Health Malaysia, delivered materials on ‘Regulatory Aspects of Clinical Trial in Malaysia’, and ‘GCP Inspection’. At the end of the program, all participants took the GCP test to obtain GCP Certificate from the Ministry of Health.

According to Director of IJN-UTM Cardiovascular Engineering Centre, Dr. Ahmad Zahran Md. Khudzari, with the needs to go from in-vitro or lab trials to clinical trials among researchers in UTM, the Professional Course on GCP will be consistently conducted every year to accommodate the preparation of researchers in clinical trials and commercialization of technologies. This course provides a combination of theoretical and practical know-how to the participants by bringing up technological advancements into an ethical paradigm in the clinical sites. It is one aim of the Cardio Centre to become the go-to centre for medical education in UTM and surrounding communities.

Additionally, IJN-UTM Cardiovascular Engineering Centre aims to be recognized as a world-class centre of excellence in the area of cardiovascular engineering. By having GCP Certificate, our researchers would be able to conduct better and impactful research in the future.

UTM Culture Corner 11.0 | 29 March 2018 (Thursday) | 7:45-10 pm | Dewan Konvensyen, B12, Fakulti Alam Bina, UTM JB

The unique display of arts, crafts and designs of various countries around the world in Culture Corner 11.0 helped us appreciate and value the beauty of our traditions. A visual feast of traditional products were displayed through the theme for the latest edition of UTM International’s incentive towards promoting cultural exploration, with the theme “Traditional Crafts”. Starting off as usual with Cuppa Time, a brief ice-breaking session, our Culture Corner moderator, Dr Farhana Diana Deris, a Senior Lecturer from Language Academy, invited all participants to take selfies and post them to their social media accounts with the hashtags #utmculturecorner #utmawesome #utmstudentexperience #cuppatime. Next, our origami skills were put to use in making a doll out of paper, which was written with the word “friend” in various languages of each group member. The dolls were then exchanged between one another as a sign of a bond being built.

KUALA LUMPUR, 4th April: – A Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) has been signed between Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Keysight Technologies Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. (Keysight), Keysight Technologies Sales (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd. and Tekmark Sdn. Bhd. to officially launch the UTM-Keysight 5G Propagation Laboratory. This mobile lab on wheels hosts Malaysia’s first 5G millimetre wave channel sounder, a solution which was tailor-made by Keysight Technologies to support cutting-edge 5G millimetre wave research in the country.

The multi-million Ringgit research and development (R&D) facility, jointly funded by Keysight Technologies, UTM and the Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE) Malaysia, is an example of a successful public-private partnership that is aligned with Malaysia’s Education Blueprint 2015-2025 and UTM’s Global Plan 2012-2020, with the aim to conduct and produce world-class research.

“The partnership between Wireless Communication Centre (WCC) UTM, Keysight and Tekmark is a real-life example of the ‘Industry and Academia are One’ concept applauded by the Minister of Higher Education, Dato’ Seri Idris Jusoh. It is my sincere hope that both WCC UTM, Keysight and Tekmark can continue working hand-in-hand closely, for the betterment of all four institutions, the society and the nation,” said Datuk Ahmad Fauzi Ismail, Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research & Innovation).

“Keysight is proud to be part of this significant collaboration to drive research in 5G and facilitate enhancement of skills and capabilities of Malaysia’s engineering talents. This will bring us closer to the future and paves the way for the eventual deployment of 5G which will open up a whole new world of possibilities – serving as the foundation for other new and emerging technologies such as connected and autonomous cars, drones, artificial intelligence, virtual reality and the internet of things,” said Dato’ Noorashidah Ahmad, Vice President & General Manager, Global Order Fulfillment & Supply Chain of Keysight Technologies and General Manager of Keysight Malaysia.

“Tekmark is thrilled and honoured to be able to continue our close ties with UTM since 1994. I am confident with this latest partnership between UTM, Keysight Technologies and Tekmark, UTM is able to become a prominent hub not just for 5G Research and Development but also a centre to develop the next generation of human capital, in line with the National Transformation Plan 2050 (TN50),” said Dato’ Seri Dr Mohd Ariff Araff, Tekmark Sdn Bhd’s Chairman.

Keysight, the world’s leading electronic measurement company, has been collaborating with top researchers around the globe to accelerate R&D of 5G technology with greater precision and deeper confidence. Under this partnership, Keysight, with its industry-leading track record and expertise in 5G millimetre wave test and measurement, will join hands with UTM’s researchers to innovate and bring new discoveries to life. Tekmark (Keysight’s Authorised Technology Partner in Malaysia) will help facilitate, support, and deliver activities to assist UTM towards obtaining accreditation status for the 5G Propagation Laboratory, Specific Absorption Rate Laboratory and Long Term Evolution Laboratory in the Wireless Communication Centre.

Millimetre wave technology is the new frontier for multi-gigabits per second ultra high speed broadband. Millimetre wave covering frequencies from 30GHz to 300GHz offers vast amounts of bandwidth to support 5G enhanced broadband applications such as augmented reality, virtual reality and ultra high definition video streaming. Operating at higher frequencies in the millimeter wave spectrum presents new challenges where it is very sensitive to environmental factors such as buildings, vegetation and rain. Existing results on millimeter wave propagation research mainly focus on temperate environments. Hence, the main goal of setting up this state-of-the-art UTM-Keysight 5G Propagation Laboratory is to study the impact of tropical environments to millimetre wave propagation.

Under this partnership, the Wireless Communication Centre (WCC) is UTM’s research centre that will work closely with Keysight to study millimetre wave propagation in tropical environments. WCC is the only recognised national Higher Institution Centre of Excellence (HI-COE) by the MoHE in the niche research area of 5G wireless technology. With the support from the government and the industry, WCC UTM aims to become a prominent 5G research centre in this region.

The MoA document was signed by UTM’s Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research & Innovation), Prof. Datuk Dr. Ahmad Fauzi Ismail, Vice President & General Manager, Global Order Fulfillment & Supply Chain of Keysight Technologies and General Manager of Keysight Malaysia, Dato’ Noorashidah Ahmad, the General Manager of Keysight Technologies Sales (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Mr. Lee Choon Seng and Chairman of Tekmark Sdn Bhd., Dato’ Seri Dr Mohd Ariff Araff. The signing ceremony was held at the Chancellery Meeting Room, Menara Razak, UTM Kuala Lumpur on 4th April 2018.

AsiaSEED is a registered non-profit organization which started its activities in 1984. Aiming at better developments in Asia, our activities include: (1) assistance for higher education, (2) support for regional development & entrepreneurship education, and (3) research studies and recommendations. In Malaysia, AsiaSEED supported “Higher Education Loan Fund Projects (HELP)” for over 20 years since early 90’s. Subsequently, we have been providing academic support to MJIIT as an appointed consultant firm since 2013.

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Offshore Technology Conference 2018 or better known as OTC Asia by many was held in KLCC from 20-23 March, last week. This colossal event garnered a whopping number of 70000+ delegates mostly from the oil and gas industries all together in one roof.

Not missing this phenomenal opportunity, SPE-UTM SC have sent 20 student volunteers consisting of local and international students to be a part of this programme. This was aimed to boost our members’ personal development as well as allowing them to establish their network with the top industry players attending the OTCA.

Volunteers selected was of the top-notch as the detailed screening was done by Dr. Mohd Akhmal bin Muhamad Sidek, The Honorary Advisor of SPE-UTM SC.

Special thanks to him for that!

For more info please visit :
https://www.facebook.com/otcasia/

JOHOR BAHRU, 27 March 2018 – Vice Chancellor, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) Professor Datuk Ir Dr Wahid Omar is scheduled to receive the Asia-Pacific Association for International Education (APAIE) flag during the closing ceremony at Marina Bay Sands, Singapore, tomorrow.

The flag handing over symbolizes UTM as the next lead host for the APAIE Conference and Exhibition to be held in Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre in 2019. The APAIE 2019 will also be co-hosted by Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Management and Science University (MSU), Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP) and Universiti Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN).
UTM is participating in the APAIE Conference and Exhibition 2018 in Singapore from 25th to 28th March 2018. The UTM delegation is led by Prof. Datuk Ir. Dr Wahid Omar and UTM Pro-Vice-Chancellor (International) Prof. Dr Nordin Yahaya, who is also a board member of APAIE.
With the support from the Ministry of Higher Education, this year’s APAIE Conference and Exhibition are witnessing 14 Malaysian universities participated in the Malaysia pavilion.
During the sessions, three paper presentations have been presented by Prof. Dr Nordin Yahaya, Prof. Dr Nor Haniza Sarmin and Assoc. Prof. Dr Lee Chew Tin.
The appointment of UTM as the lead host of APAIE 2019 signifies the pivotal role UTM plays in elevating Malaysian universities in the international arena.