Rural research: Chew (foreground, centre) at the project site in Sarawak.
FOR their outstanding achievements, an academic and three graduates from Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) Lee Kong Chian Faculty of Engineering and Science were recently feted by The Institution of Engineers, Malaysia (IEM).
Dr Chew Chun Ming was conferred the Tan Sri Haji Yusoff Prize for his paper titled “Clean water and electricity supplies with solar energy: A sustainable green technology for developing nations” under the general category where it was recognised as an outstanding technical paper on an engineering subject contributed by a corporate member in the chemical engineering discipline.
Based on research of an actual system built for the rural community in Sarawak, the project received support from the Sarawak state government, which identified a remote village without any utility supplies prior to its commencement, according to a recent press release from the varsity. The main objective of the project – financially supported by the Techkem Group Research and Novel Technology (TechGRANT) fund as a corporate social responsibility project – was to provide a standalone system which harnessed solar energy to provide clean water and electricity to underprivileged villagers.
Chew said he had always felt a sense of empathy towards rural villagers living without any basic utility supply.
“I hope to further my research efforts towards sustainable and environmentally-friendly green technology, applicable to people from all walks of life to improve their day-to-day living,” he said.
Meanwhile, Liew Son Qian, Tan Wei Kun and Kwa Eng Keat made their varsity proud at the 5th Tan Sri Haji Yusoff Ibrahim Final Year Project (FYP) Competition 2021, which was organised by the IEM and the Institution of Engineering and Technology.Liew, who emerged the grand winner for his project titled “Hydrothermal growth of niobium oxide microrods in ammonium fluoride for electrochromic application”, bagged a cash prize worth RM1,000 and a trophy. He will also be invited to publish a dissertation in the IEM journal.
Tan won the third prize for his project titled “IoT based car plate recognition system” while Kwa won the special prize for his project titled “Finite element modelling of bone tissue scaffolds: Correlation between material properties and scaffold strength”.They both walked away with RM400 each.
Liew expressed thanks to UTAR for providing him with quality education, and to his supervisor Dr Ng Chai Yan and his family for their support and guidance.
Tan shared that he learnt a lot more than he had expected through his participation and gained new knowledge, especially on artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things (IoT) applications throughout the development process, while Kwa said his participation has boosted his self-confidence and motivation to gain self-improvement, he said.
