Swinburne S’wak teams stage commendable show at SEA-GIC 2020
KUCHING: Two teams from Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus emerged finalists of the Southeast Asia Global Innovation Challenge (SEA-GIC) 2020, which was held virtually on Dec 3 last year.
Organised by the American Chemical Society (ACS) Malaysia Chapter, the prestigious annual pitching competition meant to promote innovativeness and creativity among Southeast Asian students through the delivery of ideas on solving realworld problems.
Run in collaboration with Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP) and ACS UTP, the SEAGIC 2020 challenge highlighted the theme ‘Battling Climate Change Thru Chemistry’, which involved the showcase of chemistry-related projects in the areas of carbon dioxide utilisation, renewable energy, green chemistry, transportation, and building.
Among those representing Swinburne Sarawak were chemical engineering students Emily Tan Sze Min, Nuralya Alyssa Azureen Ismail and Slyvester Chai Yew Wang – led by their advisor and senior lecturer Dr Ngu Lock Hei.
Their project, ‘CO² Utilisation in Bicarbonate Lime Mortar with Industrial Waste’ – one that converts the over-emission of industrial waste carbon dioxide to a construction material – earned them second place.
Speaking on behalf of the team, Chai said the competition had been a wonderful platform for disseminating awareness of the state of the environment by allowing the exchange of various innovative ideas for combating climate change through chemistry.
In his remarks, Dr Ngu regarded empowering various stakeholders and the younger generation as ‘crucial in our continuous battle and effort towards a sustainable future for all’.
Meanwhile, final-year undergraduate students Ong Jia Ling and Ng Chi Yan also qualified as a team finalist for their project entitled ‘ The Future Paradigm for Hydrogen Production via Catalytic Dry Methane Reforming’.
Supervised by chemical engineering lecturer Dr How Bing Shen, the project meant to evaluate the feasibility of using two novel catalysts in green hydrogen production.
Through a dry methane-reforming process, it promotes a pathway for cleaner hydrogen production for overall economic and environmental sustainability.
For Ong, the event had provided her the opportunity to communicate with other young researchers and at the same time, it had yielded interesting outcomes throughout the competition’s journey.
“Despite joining SEA-GIC amidst a busy schedule as finalyear students, we value the experience and we feel proud of our achievement as young Swinburne researchers,” said Ong.
From 58 participating teams from Malaysia and Indonesia, only 15 made the cut for the finals.
Other finalists were from Universiti Sains Malaysia, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Universiti Malaya, Universiti Teknologi Petronas, Universitas Islam Indonesia, University of North Sumatera, Brawijaya University, Universitas ‘Aisyiyah Surakarta, and Halu Oleo University.
For more information about Swinburne, go to www. swinburne.edu.my, Facebook page (@swinburnesarawak), Instagram (@swinburnesarawak), Twitter page (@Swinburne_Swk), or YouTube channel (Swinburne Sarawak).