JOHOR BAHRU, 28 May 2017 – As many as 12 young lecturers from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) were chosen to participate in the next phase of the CEO@Faculty, which is an attachment with selected CEOs for a period of six months. The selected participants from UTM are:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Senior Lecturer Dr. Che Rozid bin Mamat
2. Senior Lecturer Dr. Haliyana binti Khalid
3. Senior Lecturer Dr. Hong Heng See
4. Senior Lecturer Ir. Dr. Syuhaida Ismail
5. Senior Lecturer Dr. Leow Chee Yen
6. Senior Lecturer Dr. Nor Aiza binti Mohd Zamil
7.Senior Lecturer Dr. Nor Zairah binti Ab Rahim
8. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Shukor Bin Abd Razak
9. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Siti Hamidah binti Mohd. Setapar
10. Senior Lecturer Dr. Siti Sophiayati binti Yuhaniz
11. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mohd Fadhil Bin Md Din
12. Senior Lecturer Dr. Farhan bin Mohamed

UTM and Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) both had the highest number of chosen participants, with a total of 12 participants each.

The CEO @ Faculty Programme brings together top local and international CEOs and industry players into Malaysia’s universities to share their knowledge and experiences with students and the university community. The CEOs, appointed as ‘Adjunct Professors’, have committed up to 30 hours a year of their time to provide mentorship to university students and lecturers, and even guide universities on matters such as curriculum development to ensure industry relevance.

By bridging the private-public gap and strengthening industry-academia links, the Ministry hopes to enhance university offerings and knowledge transfer initiatives with the industry. Starting in 2015 with 24 CEOs, 2016 saw 60 CEOs join the programme, including senior officials from the Malaysian civil service. The CEO @ Faculty Programme is an initiative under Shift 2 MEB (HE) “Talent Excellence”.

Congratulations to Riyad Hassouneh Ali-Rousan who have passed his PhD viva with minor corrections on 25 May 2017. His thesis was on “Stylized Lines and Shading Effects for Shape Depiction in Non-Photorealistic Rendering” supervised by Associate Professor Dr. Shahrizal Sunar (see his video presentation).

The external examiner was Professor Dr. Rahmita Wirza O.K Rahmat (Universiti Putra Malaysia), and the internal examiners was Associate Professor Dr. Nor Azman Ismail. The viva session was chaired by Professor Dr. Mat Uzir Wahit and recorded by Dr. Norhaida Suaib.

Find out more about the Faculty of Computing at the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM).

UTM Iftar with newly-registered UTMSpace Diploma students in UTM KL good show of campus diversity in UTM KL when 89 non-muslims students out of 644 newly-registered UTMSpace Diploma students joined the iftar at the UTM Mosque tonight. These are among the moments appreciated and cherished by students during their studies at the university!

Also present at the iftar were the UTM Vice Chancellor, Datuk Wahid Omar, the Pro- Vice Chancellor of UTM KL, Prof Durrishah Idrus and senior officials and staff of UTM.

Congratulations to UTM Advanced Informatics School (AIS) and Asia Pacific University (APU) as well as Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) for seeing through the fruition of the Dual Masters Degree Programme involving 500 students for the first batch beginning this September, 2017. This will result in the rise in student intake for the UTM Masters Degree Programme in one collaborative project, something that UTM has being conducting successfully for various academic programme in the past!

Such fruitful partnership between UTM AIS and APU may not have happened overnight. It has been initiated via collaboration, preserved via good relations and nurtured via activities over time. In the end, the collegiality proves vital in achieving such impactful returns through synergistic collaborative efforts.

The World Engineering Education Forum (WEEF) 2017 will be hosted by the Society of Engineering Education Malaysia (SEEM), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) and the International Federation on Engineering Education Societies (IFEES), in collaboration with the Malaysian Council of Engineering Deans.

WEEF 2017 is a platform for bringing engineering educators and leaders, industry, governmental organizations and NGOs together to form fruitful and long-term collaboration, as well as to be involved with the larger international engineering education community. With the theme, “The Era of Synergistic Collaboration”, WEEF 2017 aims to inspire international level cooperation among participants and form a lasting community in engineering education with systematic programs and activities.

WEEF 2017 will consists of:

• Global Students Forum (GSF) which will be held 3 days before WEEF where engineering students from all over the world will gather
• Global Entrepreneurship Challenge (GEC) organised by the Student Platform for Engineering Education Development (SPEED) which will be held in parallel with WEEF 2017
• 7th Regional Conference in in Engineering Education & Research in Higher Education Conference (RCEE & RHEd 2017) which will be held in parallel with WEEF 2017
• 1st Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) Education Conference which will be held in parallel with WEEF 2017
• 4th Innovative Practices in Higher Education Exposition 2017 (I-PHEX 2017) which will be held in parallel with WEEF 2017 on the third day
• Presidential Forum for Asian Technical Universities (ATU) Network and universities from IFEES member countries,
• Higher Education Expo,
• Workshops, plenary sessions, paper presentations, and academic and industries exhibitions.

Among the workshops that will be offered include managing change, designing effective faculty development programs, conducting educational research in STEM areas, talent pipeline development in STEM, service learning, academic quality assurance and accreditation (includes outcomes-based education), graduate mobility, complex problem solving, design thinking and many more.

The event will be initiated by the Global Students Forum (GSF) that will be held on 11^th to 13^th November 2017 at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia International Campus, Kuala Lumpur, followed by the WEEF 2017 from 13^th to 16^th November 2017 at Berjaya Times Square, Kuala Lumpur.

For more information on WEEF 2017, please visit www.weef2017.org.

Johor Bahru, 8 June 2017: Universiti Teknologi Malaysia improved its performance and leaped 35 places to 253rd in the QS World University Rankings 2017/2018. UTM is among the top 26% in the QS World University Rankings and this achievement has placed UTM in good stead as one of the top 1% of universities in the world.

Based on the six performance indicators assessed, UTM made improvements in almost all categories and gained the highest points in the faculty student indicator. This notable performance is largely attributed to the strong commitment by UTM faculty members to provide the best support in facilitating students’ learning experience, while harnessing potential talents among students to strive for excellence.

UTM is also set to engage in more impactful research collaborations that can ultimately lead to improved performance through joint publications and increased citations. At the same time, UTM will continue its efforts in enhancing research collaborations with partners across the globe especially in areas of mutual interests. This would help UTM researchers to leap forward and stay relevant and visible among peers at the global level. It is also crucial in developing talents with the right capacity in research and publications. Benefits to universities range from opportunities to work on impactful research outcomes that would bring positive impact to society and community well being.

At the same time, by engaging with strategic partners, there will be more opportunities to gain access to specialised research facilities and open up potential channels for research fundings.

It is worth noting that although rankings are useful for benchmarking, they should neither be viewed as the only measure of excellence, nor should they dictate how a university should move forward.

What is more important is to focus on the fundamentals of quality education, enhancing academic and research capacity and instilling a strong mindset and culture for improved reputation at the global level. This is what UTM will continue to strive for to reach greater heights.

Congratulations Dr. Norhayati Abdullah, from the UTM Malaysia-Japan International Institute Of Technology (UTM MJIIT) for being elected as the Vice President of the Malaysia Water Association (MWA) for the 2017/2018 session .

Dr. Norhayati is notably known for her active involvement in the International Water Association (IWA) and the Malaysian Water Association (MWA). She received the prestigious IWA Young Water Professional Award in 2012 and is currently on the Board of Directors of the IWA.

The Malaysian Water Association (MWA) is an association that brings together practitioners in the water service industries value chain. The association members are derived from the mix of members coming from water supply and sewerage utilities, manufacturers, consultants, contractors, suppliers, regulators and academicians.

MWA acts as a platform for efforts towards promoting awareness of water issues among the public and makes representation on strategic issues towards promoting sustainable management of the water services in Malaysia.

Dr. Norhayati is the recipient of the Fulbright US-ASEAN Visiting Scholar Initiative 2017 and currently Senior Manager, Marketing & Branding Unit of UTM MJIIT.

JOHOR BAHRU, 11 June 2017 –  Congratulations, RMATHs UTM team from  Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) have won 2017 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards in Tokyo, Japan on Friday, 2 June on Livestream at 7:40 pm / 19:40 local time (11:40 am GMT, 6:40 am ET). Watch them here

The Asia-Pacific Stevie® Awards are international business awards competitions that are open to all organizations in the 22 nations of the Asia-Pacific region.

The 2017 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards have recognized organizations in 15 nation including Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, the United Kingdom, the U.S.A. and Vietnam.

More than 700 nominations about innovative achievements in the 22-nation APAC region were considered by the judges this year. Only top three nominations were selected to be the winner for each category.

The nomination from RMATHs UTM team won bronze Stevie® Award in the Innovation in Education or Training Apps category in 2017 Asia-Pacific Stevie Award.

A team of researchers comprising Prof. Dr. Zaidatun Tasir, Rozita Abdul Jalil and Dr. Shaharuddin Md Salleh from Faculty of Education won the award through their innovation achievement titled “RMATHs – Mobile Based Numeracy Learning Applications for Learning Disabilities Students”.

Rozita Abdul Jalil, Research Officer from Office of Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research and Innovation) UTM also the postgraduate student from Faculty of Education UTM was representing the team to receive the award.

Standing together with the winners from international and well known company like Telkom Indonesia, PETROKIMIA Gresik(Indonesia), Cisco System (Australia and India), Freelancer.com (Australia),  Amobee (USA), Hong Kong Tourism Board(CHina), TBM Co, LTd (Japan), Oracle  and many more .

2017 Asia-Pasific Stevie® Award Official video clips here: Title : Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Wins in the 2017 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards . https://youtu.be/DJclQX7jQ1s

JOHOR BAHRU, 19 jUN 2017 – Senior lecturer from Department of Real Estate, Dr Kamalahasan has been appointed as Honorary Secretary of the Royal Institution Surveyors Malaysia Johor chapter for one year.

He received his appointment in recent RISM Annual General Meeting in Johor Bahru.

RISM is a professional body representing four distinct but closely related divisions i.e. Geomatic and Land Surveyong Division, Quantity Surveying Division, Property Management, Valuation and Estate Agency Surveying Division and Building Surveying Division. Dr. Kamalahasan is from Property Management, Valuation and Estate Agency Surveying Division.

Dr, Kamalahasan has a PhD in Real Estate and Planning from University of Reading, United Kingdom.

He has also been a member of the Association of Valuers, Property Managers, Estate Agents and Property Consultant in the Private Sector Malaysia (PEPS, Johor).

JOHOR BAHRU, June 19, 2017 – The Advanced Membrane Technology Research Centre (AMTEC), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) has successfully expanded its market to the Middle East in marketing their products to international markets.

Its director, Prof. Dr. Ahmad Fauzi Ismail said he managed to supply products and technology transfer to the the Water Research Center, Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR) through open bidding recently.

According to him, the product called “Customized Spinning Hollow Fiber Membrane System” was designed and developed entirely by AMTEC research groups that will be used in the study of separation and water treatment technology.

“This product is a system specially designed to be used for the production of hollow fiber membranes in a variety of types and sizes depending on the application.

“Two researchers from AMTEC, Mohd Suhaimi Abdullah and Ng Be Cheer were in Kuwait from 11 to 15 June this year to provide training and courses to researchers at the ISR,” he said.

He noted that through the training of researchers in the ISR can produce their own hollow fiber membranes and improve the skills, expertise and new ideas in technology-based membranous partition.

He said that in the past, UTM AMTEC membrane products have been marketed abroad at the University of King Fahd of Saudi Arabia, Prince of Songkla University, Thailand and COMSATS Institute of Information Technology of Pakistan, other than the market in Malaysia.

“AMTEC is expected to further widen the income generation through the development and supply of systems based on membrane technology through research collaborations in the future.

“As a result of further discussions, KISR are very interested in using the membrane technology introduced by AMTEC to develop a water treatment system with the concept of zero waste liquid,” said the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation) UTM.

Ahmad Fauzi further stated that KISR want to develop research-based membrane technology for sea water treatment and wastewater treatment in the future for the sustainable use of water in Kuwait.

He said the success of the international market proved that Malaysian Public Universities have no shortage of research that is able to produce quality products.

UTM Language Academy Japanese Language Lecturer Mr. R. Kumaraguru was featured on Astro Vaanavil Channels 201 and 203 on Monday 19th June 2017.

Mr Kumaraguru was interviewed by hosts Mr. Sri Kumaran and Ms. Revathy on his unique position as being one of the best Japanese language instructors in the whole country who is also of Indian descent.

Among the other questions that were asked were how he managed to build a Japanese language course at the UTM Language Academy, and how there was a large number of UTM Japanese language students who passed the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) exams and even ended up securing jobs in Japan.

Another fact that is not well known is that the Language Academy under the guidance of Mr. Kumaraguru even host Japanese language teachers from Japan during their practical training.
Mr Kumaraguru further shared that there were similarities between learning Tamil and learning Japanese, tips and techniques on how to improve language learning.

For more information on Japanese language classes, please visit: http://languageacademy.utm.my/

JOHOR BAHRU, 14 June 2017 – Funding Talk program audiences are among the target beneficiaries of the High Impact Program 2 Fund (HIP2), Platcom Ventures Sdn Bhd.

Recently, Innovation and Commercialisation Centre (ICC), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) has once again conducted a Funding Talk session in-collaborated with the PlaTCOM Ventures Sdn. Bhd. to give awareness on HIP2 funding offered by Platcom Ventures Sdn Bhd at the same time conducted a one-to-one screening session to UTM’s ready-to-commercialize products.

Represented by Dr. Ng Sing Kwei, HIP2 will comprehensively aid in the IP licensing and royalty payments, prototype development, productization, as well as product testing and certifications, within the duration of 1.5 years.

The main objective of this program is to discover commercialization funding opportunities and nurture UTM entrepreneurs with innovative strategy towards promoting economic growth and development.

Amongst the six beneficiaries are the “Commercialisation of Encapsulation & Nano Carrier Technology for Wellness Products” by Phyto Biznet Sdn. Bhd., the “Halal Smart Auditor” by the Holistic Lab Sdn Bhd, the “E-SMART – Online Sustainable Energy Management & Accreditation System” by the Optimal Systems Engineering Sdn Bhd, the “Molluscure – Mollusk Toxic Metals Removal System” by the Focus Industrial Systems Sdn Bhd, the “Portable Biomass Thermal Energy Generator (BioTEG) for Drying” by the Portland Energy Sdn. Bhd., and the “D’HAIR: Promoting Hair Growth Activity and Hair Tanning” by the Bio Pro Resources Sdn Bhd.

The Funding Talk program has been an effective initiative for at least more than 700 of UTM’s Researchers and collaborators ever since it was introduced from 2011, as it serves an effective platform to provide financial opportunities for University’s commercialization activities.

To date, UTM has collaborated not only with the Platcom Ventures Sdn Bhd, but a few more leading funders in Malaysia such as Malaysian Technology Development Corporation (MTDC), Cradle Fund Sdn. Bhd., Unit Peneraju Agenda Bumiputera (TERAJU), Biotech and many more, via securing at least not less than RM10Million amount of industrial and commercialization fund.

Professor Dr. Maketab bin Mohamed, has been formally appointed as the new Director ofOccupational Safety, Health and Environment (OSHE) Unit.

The appointment of Professor Dr. Maketab bin Mohamed is effective from 1st July 2017. Congratulations Prof.!

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Remote sensing technologies, using satellite and aerial data, could revolutionise the management of the oil palm industry, bringing both business and environmental benefits, say environmental experts writing in the journal Geo-spatial Information Science. Yet much greater collaboration between industry and academia is needed to achieve the true potential of these technologies.

To date, palm oil plantations have generally been monitored using costly and time-consuming land-based assessments, and many countries lack the resources to do regular surveys. Remote sensing, on the other hand, can provide quick, repetitive, accurate information on huge areas of oil palms using high-resolution satellite imagery. It also provides the necessary independent monitoring needed for certification agencies, such as performed by RSPO (Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil) and ISCC (International Sustainability and Carbon Certification).

Mainly grown in Southeast Asia and Africa, oil palms are a highly productive, producing more vegetable oil per hectare than any other oil crop. However, the conversion of tropical forests to palm oil plantations has devastated the environment—resulting in the loss of a huge number of plant and animal species. Amid rising demand for cheaper vegetable oil and biofuel, the challenge is to increase the production of oil palm while reducing the impact on the world’s forests and the environment.

Geoinformation technologies could lead to huge improvements in the sustainable management of palm oil plantations—helping to solve some of the environmental problems by, for example, detecting illegal deforestation and enabling early diagnosis of disease and pest problems, as well as improving productivity by assessing crop and soil conditions more effectively.

However, some of the remote sensing data exploration methods are still at the research and development stage, and progress is slow, explains Dr Kasturi Devi Kanniah from the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia in Malaysia and her colleagues. Although the potential opportunities are already being explored by plantation companies, the techniques are often kept confidential. The authors call for industry and academia to join forces to speed up the development and implementation of these technologies, and increase the responsible management of the whole sector. Various opportunities exist, such as:

1) Using remote sensing imagery to identify lands suitable for oil palm expansion—protecting high carbon stock forests (which if cleared release high amount of greenhouse gases), and land with high conservation value.

2) Developing remote sensing technologies to improve the accuracy of yield prediction and performance—by measuring observable biophysical parameters like the greenness of the palm canopy, height of the tree, and soil conditions.

3) Expanding the use of unmanned aerial vehicles to provide regular and timely monitoring of oil palm plantations in tropical countries where clouds often restrict the use of satellite images.

With the open data policy of the European Copernicus programme monitoring at a proper scale and suitable repeat cycle becomes feasible. The availability of multisensor optical and active microwave imagery at high spatial resolution fosters the use of geoinformation at plantation and tree level. “The article describes the state-of-the-art in remote sensing for palm oil and provides an overview on the potential to improve a sustainable oil palm plantation management, including urgent research questions.” says Dr. Christine Pohl from University of Osnabrueck. Her research team together with a network of other experts from the University of Twente in the Netherlands and ISCC in Cologne are investigating the support of sustainability assessment using geoinformation.