About me
Dr. Mohd Bakri Bakar is currently an Associate Professor at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). During his tenure, he was also appointed as a Visiting Researcher at IBM Almaden Research Center USA under auspices of NanoMalaysia program. Dr. Bakri has the utmost academic and professional experiences, where he encompassed many initiatives at various levels.
He was twice honoured with the University Excellence Service Award and received the Faculty of Science’s Excellence Service Awards, Publication Award, Community Service Award, Media Literacy Award and Dean’s Special Award. He is also a recipient of Malaysian Institute of Chemistry Citation Award.
Currently, Dr Bakri is the Assistant Dean (Continuing and Transnational Education) for the Faculty of Science, UTM. He formerly served as the Faculty of Science’s Special Officer (Corporate Communication) and as an Assistant Head of the Chemistry Department.
Dr. Bakri’s scientific research specializes on synthetic chemistry, organic chemistry, plasma-assisted organic synthesis, porphyrin chemistry and their applications towards biological and photophysical system. Dr. Bakri’s research findings have been published in various high-impact journals, for example the Journal of Organic Chemistry, European Journal of Organic Chemistry, Tetrahedron and Carbohydrate Polymers. He is also a regular reviewer for Synthetic Communication journal, apart from being invited as a reviewer for various journals at international and national level. Dr. Bakri has also received a number of national and university research grants.
Dr. Bakri’s broad-based science initiatives are well-established in the area of science education, science outreach, science communication, science policy and science leadership. He has been appointed as a working group member to review and formulate the National Policy on Science, Technology and Innovation. Dr. Bakri has also contributed to the establishment of National STEM Centre. Additionally, he is actively involved in many professional and scientific societies. He is an Associate of Akademi Sains Malaysia (ASM), a lifetime member of the National STEM Association, a member of the Malaysian Institute of Chemistry (IKM) which confers the professional title ChM., member of the American Chemical Society (ACS) and a Young Scientists Network-ASM alumni.
Dr Bakri has been a committee member of the Malaysian Institute of Chemistry (IKM) Southern Branch since 2014 and is a founding committee member of the American Chemical Society (ACS) International Malaysia Chapter. He is also an exco of the Young Scientists Network-Akademi Sains Malaysia for the years 2019 and 2021.
Dr. Bakri possesses strong background in programming science strategic initiatives, developing engagement activities with various stakeholders; government, industry, community and school; and leading national and international level program that engage diverse audiences. To highlight a few of his science initiatives, he was involved as a project leader, programmer, expert and member for Minggu Sains Negara, Merdeka Meeting, Mentor-Mentee STEM, Karnival Kimia Johor, South-East Asia Global Innovation Challenge, ACS Chemistry Festival, SEED Student Global Project, and International Younger Chemists Network (IYCN) Outreach Competition.
Dr. Bakri has also contributed towards communicating and popularising science via oral and written medium. He was involved as a popular science speaker via many avenues, including Minggu Sains Negara. Many of his articles have been published in the newspaper and online medium. He is also one of the book authors of the Malaysia Science Communication Module which was published by ASM.
Dr. Bakri with Nobel Laureate Profesor Emeritus Akira Suzuki and Profesor Emeritus Hideshi Hattori.