Celebrating Malaysia’s engineers
IF you had to identify one strength of Malaysian research, you would probably choose engineering. Malaysian universities generally perform better in engineering than the world rankings would suggest.
According to the QS World University Rankings, University of Malaya (UM) is currently ranked 114th.
However, it is ranked 35th in the world for engineering and technology.
If you dig even deeper and look at specific disciplines, the pattern continues. In the four major engineering disciplines, UM performs better than its overall world ranking.
Malaysia’s other research universities also punch above their weight in terms of engineering.
Looking at overall rankings provides a good overview of a university’s performance. However, the overall contribution is from individual researchers.
It is not surprising that Malaysia has excellent engineers. One of the many examples of such individuals is Higher Education Ministry’s director general Datin Paduka Ir Dr Siti Hamisah Tapsir, who is a civil engineer.
The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus (UNMC) also has a few world-leading engineers.
The following are two of the many engineers we could have chosen.
Prof Dr Ir Dominic Foo
Prof Dr Ir Dominic Foo is a professor of process design and integration in the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering.
Last year, he received the Top Research Scientists Malaysia Award.
This award recognises the accomplishments of Malaysian researchers as role models of science excellence, science ambassadors and leaders, leading the nation’s science, technology as well as innovation agenda.
One key reason Prof Foo won this award is his world-leading research in chemical engineering process design and integration.
Prof Foo is an active member of professional engineering bodies in Malaysia and the United Kingdom.
He has published three books and more than 110 papers in international refereed journals. He has also given more than 170 conference presentations.
No stranger to major accolades, Prof Foo won the Innovator of the Year Award by the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) in 2009.
Shortly afterwards came recognition from the Institution of Engineers Malaysia, which presented Prof Foo with the Young Engineer Award 2010.
In 2012, Junior Chamber International granted him the Outstanding Young Malaysian Award while in 2013, he received the Award for Outstanding Asian Researcher and Engineer from the Society of Chemical Engineers, Japan.
Besides that, in 2014 he was awarded with The University of Nottingham Vice-Chancellor’s Achievement Award.
Prof Ir Dr Denny K.S. Ng
In 2012, Prof Ir Dr Denny K.S. Ng won the Young Chemical Engineer of the Year award by IChemE.
A record number of entries were received for the award but he triumphed and became the first Malaysian to ever do so.
The award recognises individuals who demonstrate achievements and tangible applications of chemical, biochemical and/or process engineering skills to address important economic, environmental or social issues.
Prof Ng was awarded with Ten Outstanding Young Malaysian Awards 2017 under the Scientific & Technological Development category.
Prof Ng has been at UNMC for the past eight years and is currently the Business Engagement and Innovation Services (BEIS) head.
As the head of BEIS, he actively promotes collaborations between industry, academia and policymakers.
Prof Ng also actively contributes to the development of national science policies and strategies.
He was selected as a representative of the science community by the Academy of Sciences Malaysia in the Exclusive TN50 Roundtable Dialogue between Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and Malaysian scientists.
Prof Ng also initiated the Centre of Sustainable Palm Oil Research (CESPOR) at UNMC. This cross-disciplinary research centre focuses on the entire value chain of the palm oil industry, from plantations to consumers.
To date, CESPOR has secured industrial research contracts worth more than RM2mil. He has also secured more than RM5mil of research and industrial grants from the government and industry.
One of the significant research outputs is to develop a pre-commercialised scale treatment system to convert wastewater into biogas and recover the treated water.
Together with his co-workers, he has developed an integrated solution, which is known as an Integrated Recovery and Regeneration System, to transform all solid and liquid waste from palm oil mills into value-added products.
UNMC is rightly proud of the contribution that it makes to the engineering landscape in Malaysia and the two featured researchers, Prof Foo and Prof Ng, are a small representative sample of the leading scientists at UNMC who contribute to this important discipline in Malaysia.
Engineering is adding significant value to the country both in terms of its global research profile as well as the impact that it is having in society.
Prof Graham Kendall is the chief executive officer, provost and pro-vice-chancellor of The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus. Twitter: @Graham_Kendall