MIDA at UTAR Perak Campus

Following the first-time visit by the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA)'s to UTAR Kuala Lumpur Campus on 11 March 2014, a delegation of five MIDA officers travelled up north two weeks after and called on UTAR Perak Campus on 27 March 2014.

The officers, comprising Industry Talent Management Division Deputy Director Zulina Mohamed, Healthcare, Education and Hospitality Division Senior Executive Officer Mohd Rushdan Mohd Ghazali, Technology & Business Frontier Division Executive Syamsul Azmir Hussein, Electrical and Electronic Division Executive Zam Suhadi Othman and MIDA Perak State Office Director Abdul Fatah Mohamed Rafaie visited the different faculties and centres, and were proudly introduced to a string of successful ongoing R&D projects.

"It's been a pleasure for MIDA to visit both UTAR campuses in Setapak and here (Perak), and also getting to know more faculties," said Zulina during a discussion at Faculty of Science, where the officers were cordially received by Dean of Faculty of Science, Assoc Prof Dr Lim Tuck Meng, Deputy Dean (R&D and Postgraduate Programmes) Assoc Prof Dr Tee Chong Siang and lecturer Assoc Prof Dr Goh Teik Khiang. "MIDA is interested to look for opportunities to link the university with potential investors and so on. Therefore it will be interesting getting to know UTAR and to discuss the facilitation of talent to address industries' human capital needs," she added.

Dr Lim and Dr Tee then gave the delegates a general idea of the researches by the faculty and also Centre for Biodiversity Research. "The establishment of the centre is the amalgamation of three diverse but inter-related groups, namely aquatic biology, natural products and biotechnology," introduced Dr Tee, and also presented an array of internally or externally-funded research projects ranging from bacterial genes to alternative ingredients in formulation of feed for Malaysian Mahseer.

The delegates, led by Faculty of Engineering and Green Technology (FEGT) Dean Dr Yap Vooi Voon, Deputy Dean (R&D and Postgraduate Programmes) Dr Lo Po Kim, Deputy Dean (Academic Development & Undergraduate Programmes) Engr Dr Ng Choon Aun and Head of Programme (Master of Engineering (Electronic Systems)) Dr Teh Peh Chiong, subsequently visited the FEGT laboratories and the Engineering Workshop. They were highly intrigued by the current cutting-edge research projects by staff and students on solar panel, optical fiber, membrane bioreactor and others.

The delegates were also attended by Faculty of Information and Communication Technology (FICT) Dean Assoc Prof Dr Liew Soung Yue, Deputy Dean (R&D and Postgraduate Programmes) Prof Dr Leung Kar Hang, Centre for Information Systems and Software Technologies Chairperson Dr Tan Hung Khoon, Head of Department of Computer and Communication Technology Goh Hock Guan, Head of Department of Computer Science Dr Ooi Boon Yaik and lecturer Dr Kheng Cheng Wai and toured the Huawei University Teaching Laboratory. They were fascinated by a series of practical presentations by the FICT academics such as the "Design and Analysis of Robust Distributed Routing Protocols for Wireless Sensor Networks Achieving Reliability and Lifetime Extension", "iCalender" and "Camouflage Emergency System" and "High Availability Resource Monitoring on Dynamic Distributed Environment".

While at the Faculty of Arts and Social Science (FAS), Dean Dr Cheah Phaik Kin and Chairperson of Centre for Applied Psychology Assoc Prof Dr Siah Poh Chua warmly welcomed the delegates to the faculty and introduced them to the various student research studies supervised by committed lecturers. Lecturer Low Siew Kim also cordially invited the delegates to UTAR's newly-launched Community Counselling Centre, where the latter were given a brief introduction on the objectives of the centre and overview of the activities done hitherto.

MIDA on their visit to UTAR Kuala Lumpur Campus previously:

http://www.utar.edu.my/contentPageNewsAwards.jsp?&YearArchive=2014&catid=16&contentid=25575/

An FEGT student displaying his project for Abdul Fatah

The guests visiting the Membrane Bioreactor Lab

Dr Lim explaining the projects by the Agricultural Science students at the C4 Land

The MIDA guests listening to an FICT postgraduate student's elaboration on his project

From left: Zam, Head of UTAR Department of Consultancy and Commercialisation Ching Yen Choon, Dr Lim, Abdul Fatah, Syamsul, Zulina and Mohd Rushdan posing before the majestic Dewan Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik after their visit