Since the year 2015, the Materials Lecture Competition, MLC has been hosted by selected Higher Education Institutions in Malaysia on a rotational basis. This year, the School of Graduate Studies, UTMKL has been given the honour to host the 7th edition of MLC 2018 at the Azman Hashim Hall, UTM Kuala Lumpur in collaboration with the Institute of Materials Malaysia (IMM) and Institute of Materials, Minerals, and Mining (IOM³), UK.

This annual event is an initiative aimed to serve as a platform for young university students, researchers and engineers in Malaysia to communicate and showcase their capabilities and knowledge on issues pertaining to materials and their roles in society. MLC also helps to stimulate students’ communication competencies development required for their future postgraduate study pursuance or professional surroundings.

The semi-final of MLC 2018 held on 5^th April 2018 was participated by 11 public and private universities in Malaysia. Astonishingly, Ms Norkhalizatul Akmal Mohd Jamil from UTM Razak School was selected as the top five finalists to compete in the final round on 3^rd May 2018. The other four participants were Nur Najwa Aqilah Kamrul Zaman from UTeM, Ng Sook Hui from UniMAP, Andrew Ng Kay Lup from UM and Raffaella Pian Cheau Mei from UTP.  The first-prize winner of MLC 2018 will represent Malaysia in the Young Persons’ World Lecture Competition (YPWLC) 2018 in Cape Town, South Africa in October 2018.

From left: Nur Najwa Aqilah (UTeM), Norkhalizatul Akmal (UTM), Andrew Ng (UM), Raffaella Pian (UTP) and Ng Sook Hui (UniMap)

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A full-day filled with excitement in an English Camp organised by 2^nd year TESL students from Faculty of Education, UTM with students from SMK Seri Pulai Perdana, Skudai Johor took place at the school here today.

This program was carried out to educate, encourage and enrich the school students’ necessary skills in English communication for their daily life. Indirectly, this program helps TESL students’ to also enhance and enrich their soft skills.

Supervised by Dr. Asha Hasnimy Binti Mohd Hashim, a senior lecturer from Faculty of Education under Co-curriculum Management subject, this programme was packed with various activities and games by providing students with an overview of the interesting and fun part of the English Language, not only to serve academic purposes, but also to develop confidence among the students in order to become proficient and better speakers of English.

The first half of the programme also entailed students with the major purpose of the camp, which is to encourage students to be able to speak in front of a bigger audience through a series of Public Speaking activities.

In the first session of Public Speaking, students were interacting with the audience in a live “Product Commercial” activity. Students with their respective group members were to discuss and collect ideas together in order to attract buyers or audience to buy their so-called products in a series of campaigns, presenting the benefits of their products.

The next activities were the “Musical Box “and “Follow My Story”. A live question and answer sessions between the students and the facilitators marked the end of the first half of the programme.

After a short break, the second half of the programme was in full swing as the students were engaged in a series of enjoyable English games-stations, which were Debate, Poetry, Scrabble, Act-it-Out and Spell-It-Right station in order to get them into thinking and discovering many fun ways to learn English.

The pinnacle of the event was the prize-giving and appreciation session between the director of English Camp, Muhammad Nor Faris Bin Pamuji and the student representative of SMK Seri Pulai Perdana.

Hopefully, everlasting friendship, networking and meaningful knowledge exchange will be able to motivate the students to use English in their daily activities in order to become better English language users in the future.

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The President of the University of Tsukuba, Professor Kyosuke Nagata was awarded the Honorary Doctorate of Higher Education from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM).

He was awarded the Honorary Doctorate by the Chancellor of UTM, Her Royal Highness (HRH) Raja Zarith Sofiah Almarhum Sultan Idris Shah at UTM 60th Convocation ceremony held at Dewan Sultan Iskandar, Johor Bahru campus.

Under his leadership, the University of Tsukuba aims to be an open university, creating a flexible education and research organization as well as having a new university system that would meet the needs of the next generation.

Evidence of strong vision and leadership at the global level has resulted in the University of Tsukuba being selected as one of the Top Global Universities by the Japanese Government. Prof. Nagata has facilitated the realization of Tashkent University Innovation Centre (2015), a new technical university based on the Japanese curriculum in the Turkmenistan Academy of Science in 2016.

Prof. Nagata is actively involved in various academic and professional associations, including the Chairman of the Board of Directors, United States-Japan Research Institute (2017- current), and Japan Association of National Universities (2014- current).

He is also a Member of the Council for University Chartering and School Juridical Person, Ministry of Education (MEXT) (2017-current), Temporary Member of Council for Science and Technology (2017-current), Chair of the University Committee of Japan’s Central Council for Education (2015-current) and Member of Council for Cultural Affairs (2017-current).

Prof. Nagata started his career as a research fellow at the Memorial Sloane-Kettering Cancer Institute in the U.S before becoming an Assistant Professor at the School of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Tokyo Institute of Technology (1991-1999), and Professor at the Institute of Basic Medical Science, University of Tsukuba (2001-2003).

He was also appointed as a Professor at the Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Science, University of Tsukuba (2004-2009), Special Advisor to the President of University of Tsukuba (2010-2012) and Professor at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Tsukuba (2011).

For his excellent work and significant contributions to the academic and research work, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the Russian-Tajik Slavonic University (RTSU), Tajikistan in 2015. He was also awarded the Sugiura Award from the Japanese Society for Virology in 1993.

Prof. Nagata was born in Tokyo on 14 October 1953 and graduated from the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, the University of Tokyo with a Bachelor of Pharmaceutical Sciences (1976), Master of Pharmaceutical Sciences (1978) and Doctor of Pharmacology.

Development of holistic, entrepreneurial and balanced students has been the focus of Ministry of Higher Education since the introduction of iCGPA. This inspiration can be fulfilled through the advantage of Faculty of Education Outward Bound Centre as a venue for experiential teaching and learning activities. Situated next to UTM University Health Centre, Outward Bound offers a venue for students to tap their undiscovered potentials through experiential learning.

Activities conducted at the Outward Bound Centre are exemplified by four pillars: physical fitness (building physical and emotional stamina to face challenges), craftsmanship (modelling quality and intention in one’s actions), self-resilience (being resourceful, recognizing and applying personal strengths) and compassion (selflessly engaging in the welfare and dignity of others).

In order to survive in today’s competitive world, future graduates need to be exposed and experience activities that can challenge their emotional, cognitive and physical strength.

This aspiration can be achieved by taking part in the activities provided at the Outward Bound Centre. The campsite in the Outward Bound is ready to accommodate more than 150 participants at the same time. Camping amenities, kayaks, air-conditioned hall, obstacle course area and many more are available at the campsite.

In addition, the centre becomes a venue for Faculty of Education’s Sports Science students to experience the concept of “train the trainer”.  Sports Science students have to enrol in Outdoor Education subject in their first semester and upon completion, they will receive a certificate recognised by the Ministry of Youth and Sports Malaysia (KBS).

The certification enables the students to become certified outdoor trainers so that they can conduct and manage activities at the centre.

Due to its location, fully equipped facilities, certified trainers, interesting activities and affordable packages, the centre has received visitors not only from UTM but also students from schools all around Johor.

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Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) emerged as the big winner in Innovate Malaysia Design Competition 2018 (Southern Region). UTM was awarded with a total of six prize awards which included five first prize awards and one Excellent Award (Overall Champion) in this competition. All the winners in this Southern Region will advance to the Grand Finale of Innovate Malaysia Design Competition 2018.

The team from Faculty of Electrical Engineering (FKE) has won the first prize in Microsoft Track and the Regional Excellent Award in Innovate Malaysia Design Competition 2018 (Southern Region).

The project title is Machine Learning on Fetal Distress during Pregnancy. The product of the project is “bbCare”, a portable IoT device which can help a pregnant mother to monitor her fetus condition during the pregnancy. Fetal electrocardiogram (ECG) and electrohysterography (EHG) are collected and sent to a smartphone for signal processing and transform into cardiotocography (CTG), then the extracted features of the CTG are sent to Azure Cloud for Machine Learning and online data storage.

This project is also clinically advised by Dr Woon Shu Yuan from Hospital Sultanah Aminah. The team members are Lee Kong Yong, Tew Ken Sam and Cheah Weng Soon from FKE. The team is supervised by Dr Yeong Che Fai and Dr Eileen Su Lee Ming

Another team from UTM FKE won in MathWorks Track. The project title is Automated Prescription Lens Calculator for Myopia using Machine Vision and Proximity Sensor. This system can help people to diagnose and identify their myopia (nearsightedness) by themselves with the MATLAB Engine. The project was developed by Liew Tian Chin and Albert Sia Kah Dak who is supervised by Dr Amirjan bin Nawabjan.

For the Intel Track, UTM FKE student, Gajendran Rao A/L Muragan has won the first prize with his project entitled  An IoT-based E-Parking Management System for Smart Cities. The project uses image processing technology to detect the inappropriate parking happening in the parking slot. This project is supervised by Dr Yusmeeraz Bt Yusof

Winner of Google Track was also a team from FKE with the project title of Intelligent CCTV for Workplace Safety and Security using TensorFlow Deep Learning Application. The team members are Lim Ji Chen, Chin Linn Kern and Matthias Tiong Foh Thye from FKE. The team is supervised by Prof. Dr Ramesh K S @ Mohd Zaidi Bin Abd Rozan, and Dr Mohd Shahrizal Bin Rusli.

For the SOLIDWORKS Track, a team from Faculty of Mechanical Engineering (FKM) has won with their project titled The River Rubbish Collector. The team members are Asyraf Sharif Bin Badar Sharif, Adam Maxwell Doumin, and Farah Atiqah Binti Ibrahim. The project is supervised by Dr Muhamad Noor Harun and Dr Muhammad Noor Afiq Witri Muhammad Yazid.

Last but not least, a team from Faculty of Biosciences & Medical Engineering (FBME) has won the TM Design Challenge. Their project title is UP2 Board Intermediary Device for ECG Patch Continuous Monitoring of Paediatric Patient with Congenital Heart Disease. The team members are Muhamad Khairi B Kamarudin and Amir Mustakim B Ab Rashid. The team is supervised by Dr Muhammad Haikal Satria.

Congratulations to all the winning teams and good luck in the Innovate Malaysia Design Competition 2018 Grand Finale.

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A workshop was successfully organized on 11th April 2018 at T02, Faculty of Biosciences and Medical Engineering (FBME), UTM by a research team involved in Southeast Asia Small Scale Research Partnerships-Newton-Ungku Omar Fund (UK-SEA-NUOF), known as Newton Fund in short. The research project under this fund is an international collaboration between United Kingdom and Malaysia, led by Professor Neil Bruce (University of York, United Kingdom) and Dr. Chong Chun Shiong (FBME, UTM), starting March 2017 with the research title: Sustainable production of compost, biofuels and chemicals from oil palm residues.

The purposes of this workshop are to update the current progress of the project and to discuss the possibilities of future research. Professor Neil Bruce had made his third visit to UTM for these purposes. Postgraduate students involved in this project, including Mr. Lam Ming Quan (Supervisor: Dr. Chong Chun Shiong), Ms. Nurshafika Abd Khalid (Supervisor: Dr. Adibah Yahya), Ms. Siti Fatimah Jamaludin and Ms. Nurul Aida Nabila (Supervisors: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Madihah Md Salleh & Prof. Datin. Dr. Zaharah Ibrahim), Ms. Sharvini Siva Raman (Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Zainura Zainon Noor), Mr. Liew Kok Jun and Mr. Teo Seng Chong (Supervisor: Dr. Goh Kian Mau) presented their progress of this project in front of the researchers from both UK and Malaysia sides. This workshop also promoted knowledge exchange between Malaysia and UK, to widen the horizon from both sides. Previously, two similar workshops were organized at Hotel Jen, Puteri Harbour, Johor on March and August 2017 respectively.

Professor Neil Bruce is a Professor at Centre of Novel and Agricultural Products (CNAP), Department of Biology, University of York, UK. His areas of expertise are environmental biotechnology and microbial biochemistry. He will make his next visit on this coming August, as a plenary speaker of the Asian Federation of Biotechnology Malaysia Chapter International Symposium (AFOBMCIS) 2018 in Sarawak.

The research team would like to take this opportunity to express their gratitude to all the UTM staffs and students involved in this workshop.

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Culture Corner 13.0 saw “Royal Monarchies” as its theme and provided a platform for students from around the globe to share about the unique features of ruling in their countries. The Royal Monarchy is a system of leadership that is headed by a King or Queen that not only serves as a symbol of identity and leadership but also serves the society in strengthening their unity, stability and continuity within their jurisdiction, among others.

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