Ts. Dr. Zaid Omar (SMIEEE, MIET) is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). He was also the former Director of Students at the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia from 2018 to 2020.
Dr Zaid completed his PhD at Imperial College London in 2012 and his Master’s degree from the University of Sheffield in 2008. Prior to that, Dr Zaid was an engineer with a security consultancy firm in Kuala Lumpur. He obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering from UTM in 2006. Dr Zaid’s primary research interests are in image processing, medical imaging, and artificial intelligence. He is a Visiting Researcher at the Centre for Visual Computing at the University of Bradford, UK, and an associate member of UTM-IJN Cardiovascular Engineering Research Centre. Dr Zaid has managed almost RM500,000 in research and consultancy grants and has collaborated closely on various projects including with The National Heart Institute (IJN), Pharmaniaga Berhad and The Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB). He has published over 40 works in the field and has successfully supervised a number of postgraduate students. More recently, Dr Zaid has also attained industrial experience as an Electronic Engineer with Augmented Innovation Sdn. Bhd. (AISB) in 2017-2018.
As Director of Students at MOHE, Dr Zaid was instrumental in helping to change the landscape for student empowerment in university campuses nationwide, culminating in a repeal of part of the University and University College Act (AUKU) and the setting up of students’ union in several public universities. He also presided over national policies for equitable access to higher education, focusing on the B40 and persons with disabilities.
Outside of work, Dr Zaid maintains an active presence. He is the winner of FameLab Malaysia and Euraxess Prize 2017, a runner-up of Study UK Alumni Awards 2020, and has been a regular volunteer for FameLab activities since 2015. He was also the chair of IEEE Young Professionals Malaysia in 2017, and a current affiliate member of the Young Scientists’ Network (YSN-ASM). He is also an active member of Pertubuhan IKRAM Malaysia, which focuses on da’wah and welfare efforts within the community.
After his FameLab win, Dr Zaid has appeared in numerous interviews on television and radio and has been facilitating science communication workshops in various parts of Malaysia. Dr Zaid believes that engineers like himself can, and should, play a larger part in communicating STEM topics to the wider public in an interesting and meaningful way.
Dr Zaid currently resides Johor Bahru, Malaysia. He is married with three children.