JOHOR BAHRU, 28 January 2018 – The 5^th Iskandar Malaysia Ecolife Challenge (IMELC) 2017 jointly organized by Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Iskandar Regional Development Authority (IRDA) and Jabatan Pendidikan Negeri Johor (JPNJ), sponsored by SWM Environment Sdn Bhd has been successfully conducted throughout the year of 2017.

A total of 346 primary schools involving about 34,000 Year 6 students in Johor had participated in IMELC 2017.

The purpose of the ceremony is to handover the cheques and prizes to the winners sponsored by SWM Environment Sdn Bhd.

The organizing team visited six winner schools on 23^thuntil 24^th of January 2017 to handover the cheques and prizes.

The ceremony is led by  Manager of Corporate Communications, SWM Environment Sdn Bhd, Melissa Ananthraj accompanied by Head of Environment, IRDA, Boyd Dionysius, Deputy Head of Academic Management Sector, JPNJ, Haji Shahilon Abd Halim and  Senior Lecturer, UTM, Dr. Nor Farahwahidah Abdul Rahman.

IMELC aims to create awareness of Low Carbon Society (LCS) among students, teachers and their families in achieving the target of carbon reduction for Iskandar Malaysia by year 2025 as outlined in the Low Carbon Society Blueprint for Iskandar Malaysia 2025, which was endorsed by the Prime Minister of Malaysia, and presented at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) the 18th session of Conference of Parties (COP 18) in 2012.

The cheque handover ceremony took place at SJK(C) Kuo Kuang , SJK(C) Masai, SK Kempas, SK Nong Chik, SJK(T) Permas Jaya and SJK(C) Tampoi. These schools won the final presentation of IMELC 2017 which was previously held on 7^th November 2017 at Dewan Seminar JPNJ. Below is the result of the competition and the prizes:

Final Presentation:

First place: SJK(C) Kuo Kuang (RM10,000 cash prize)

Second place: SJK(C) Masai (RM8,000 cash prize)

Third place: SK Kempas (RM5,000 cash prize)

Recycling Module:

First place: SK Nong Chik (18,949.5kg collected; RM2,000 cash prize)

Second place: SJK(C) Kuo Kuang (11,024kg collected; RM1,500 cash prize)

Third place: SJK(C) Masai (8,765kg collected: RM1,000 cash prize)

Water and Electricity Saving Module:

First place: SJK(T) Permas Jaya (RM1,200 cash prize)

Second place: SK Kempas (RM800 cash prize)

Third place: SJK(C) Tampoi (RM500 cash prize)

SJK(C) Kuo Kuang bagged a total of RM11,500 cash prize in total. All the schools also received a 3R cage from SWM Environment Sdn. Bhd.

From the data collection and analysis by UTM, a total of 510,126.29kgCO₂ is reduced by the participating schools. A total of RM15,543.96 electricity bills and RM30,860.56 water bills were saved and RM27,281.33 was collected from recycling module. If the pattern is replicated to all 346 schools for a year, a total of 2,215,733.55kgCO2 can be reduced and RM21,975,339.90 can be saved and earned. As more awareness on LCS is instilled in the school teachers and students, more LCS related projects are carried out by primary schools as the by-product of IMELC. IMELC 2018 will continue to be expanded to 403 schools.

In conjunction with the Ministry of Higher Education’s motto “Soaring Upwards”, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), being one of the main research universities in the country, has always envisioned to produce research outputs which can benefit the country and society, thus facilitating Malaysia’s dream to be a developed nation. Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) is one of the main areas which is heavily discussed around the world. It is an umbrella term which foresees the birth of emerging technologies with disruptive effects, which in return will lead to the development of a smart city.

One of the pillars of innovation of 4IR is the autonomous vehicle (AV). The automated driving feature of the AV enables the host vehicle to navigate independently without any intervention of human driver. In Malaysia, the pioneering research group in the field of driverless vehicle is the Intelligent Drive team of the Vehicle System Engineering Research Group (VSE) from Malaysia-Japan International Institute of Technology (MJIIT), UTM, Kuala Lumpur.

The team, led by Associate Professor Dr. Hairi Zamzuri with the support of Dr Mohd Azizi Abdul Rahman and Dr Mohd Hatta Mohd Arif, has initiated the in-house work in the said field since 2012. However, as AV is a very competitive and challenging area, the first phase of research in 2012-2016 focused on the Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) and Vehicle Active Safety work, which are the main components of AV.

Since 2017, the team has quietly worked on a fully-automated vehicle development. An AV prototype was developed through the collaboration between UTM and Moovita Pte Ltd . The protoptype is based on a 7-seater vehicle and encompasses several aspects and combining different modules (i.e. perception, localization and mapping, as well as guidance, navigation, and control). Just six months of extensive development and testing with two days setup demo, beginning Friday, 19 January 2018, the vehicle made its debut to the public. The team has successfully showcased the driverless vehicle prototype at the Malaysian Global Innovation & Creativity Centre (MaGIC, Cyberjaya). The significance of this demo is it exhibited the first driverless vehicle in Malaysia with full Level 5 automation. It is with much pride to mention that the showcased prototype was developed mostly by Malaysian talents.

Surely, this is only a step forward to a long and arduous journey ahead which will pose challenges and demands for further improvements. However, this achievement should be remembered and is hoped to expedite and catalysed the AV development in Malaysia. In addition, to enable the vehicle to be fully utilized on Malaysian roads, research in the area of AV development, covering other aspects such as user acceptance, policymaking as well as improvement on the prototype, should be continuously carried out.

UTM, soaring upwards!

Resources by The Dean, Faculty of Civil Engineering

Terreal, a well-known builders for roofing products originated from France will collaborate with UTM in testing its products in the Aeronautical Laboratory.
The Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research and Innovation), Prof. Datuk Dr. Ahmad Fauzi Ismail said that UTM Aeronautical Laboratory is equipped with a high-tech subsonic wind tunnel which meets aerodynamic testing requirements.
“Clay and mineral-based roof tile produced by Terreal will be tested in the UTM wind tunnel to study the effects of strong wind towards the building roof in accordance with standards applicable in America, Europe, Australia and most other countries.
This is intended to analyse the strength of such roof fixings under wind pressure load,” said Prof. Ahmad Fauzi.
He was saying that after the MoU signing ceremony between UTM and Terreal which held at Dewan Sultan Iskandar, Johor Bahru campus. Also attending was Industrial Manager Terreal Malaysia, Franc Molto.
The cooperation between UTM and Terreal has been established over the past two years and more future collaboration plans will be discussed by both sides.
“This MoU will embark UTM industrial collaboration with Terreal and to further strengthen the cooperation besides supporting its industrial training programmes and consultations,” said Prof. Fauzi.
The document was signed by Prof. Datuk Dr. Ahmad Fauzi Ismail on behalf of UTM while representing Terreal was its Industrial Manager, Mr. Franc Molto.

The ten days program started 7 January 2018 and will end 16 January 2018. The program is organized by academic and non-academic staffs of Faculty of Education, led by Dr. Zainudin Hassan.

Throughout the program, the delegation will attend workshops, seminars, and outdoor activities. The program is designed to develop the participants’ generic skills, enhance their knowledge in areas related to education and expose them to the current usage of multimedia and technology in learning.

A workshop on Using Games in Teaching and Learning is to expose the participants to suitable games which they can use in classrooms. In addition, the participants will also get the opportunity to understand about primary school education in Malaysia since they will visit two schools in the area of Skudai.

This program is one of the initiatives by Faculty of Education UTM to foster international collaborations with international universities

It is hoped that study visit program will help to increase visibility of the faculty and UTM at the global stage and thus achieve UTM’s mission for a greater recognition by global communities.