UTB students debut innovative designs at final year project showcase
Nearing the end of their undergraduate studies, some 278 students of University Technology Brunei (UTB) shared their final year projects at the recent UTB Project Showcase 2022, carrying the theme ‘Transformation Through Project Experimentation’
The annual project showcase aimed to celebrate the accomplishments of undergraduate students from all faculties and schools by highlighting the commendable quality of their products.
A student from UTB School of Computing and Informatics, Siti Rasyidah Haji Ismail, has worked on her project for almost a year, focusing on a solution to better the quality of water supply and how it corresponds with the occurrences of flood and drought incidents in Brunei.
Her project allows for the early detection of water levels, the indication of low and high rise of water as well as the parameters of water quality.
“I have been inspired and motivated to innovate a project, which is an automated system that contributes to the society to a great extent, especially the industries, and residents in Brunei with the utilisation of low cost and advanced technologies,” said the student.
For another student, Siti Nurhamizah Haji Mahadee, her final year project involves designing an eco-campus that needs to include the main administration building, student and staff accommodation, recreational center and three different schools.
In the span of four months, the School of Design student designed her own eco-campus dubbed “Neocity Ecocampus” where the schools are centralised in clusters,
mimicking a city where campus users would spend most of their day within the facility.
“I have learnt that designing is not just for the present, but it is also for the future and how buildings are able to affect people or users and as well as the surrounding environment,” said Siti Nurhamizah.
Another final year student has also created something new with her project, investigating the effectiveness of partially replacing aggregates such as river sand and natural stones with waste ceramic tiles in concrete.
With her research, Nurul Azierah Haji Yussof was able to find out that only a certain percentage of waste ceramic tiles are feasible to use. Based on her research, the optimum is 20 per cent which gives an ideal strength to the concrete.
The youth chose this project because the utilisation of waste ceramic tiles in concrete has a positive outcome in terms of reducing solid waste disposal in construction areas which in turn will bring benefits to environmental conservation and fulfil sustainable development goals.
“So to reduce further depletion of natural resources of river sand and natural stones, it is feasible to find a potential replacement for aggregates. So I believe this is where the idea of re-using the waste ceramic tiles came in handy,” said Nurul Azierah.
The showcase was not only for the final year projects but also for other 11 Group Design Projects showcased by the Faculty of Engineering.
Students Hafizin Tarif and Zulfadhli Zakaria built their own Autonomous Electric Catamaran, an alternative method of manufacturing boats.
“Boats in Brunei are powered by fuel so we wanted to make it different powered by electric and aside from that, making it autonomous,” said Hafizin Tarif.
They were able to complete their project within six months which involved three months of planning, and two months of building and one month for testing.
The event which was held at the university’s phase 3 area provided a platform for the students to showcase and present their ideas and creativity to visitors while at the same time allowing private and public agencies to identify potential candidates for possible employment opportunities.