Team spirit spells success
tHE phrase “working together is success” from the late industrialist Henry Ford holds true for students of UCSI University’s Faculty of Engineering, Technology and Built Environment – it is a place where teamwork and competition co-exist.
Take for example the win in the Schlumberger Ocean Plug-in Competition last year, where a two-man team from the faculty bagged the grand prize of RM15,000.
Beating 30 teams from Malaysia and Singapore, Chemical Engineering student Satyaraj Muniandy and Mechanical Engineering student Prabu Gunasagaran from team Nonit successfully designed a well testing plug-in using Schlumberger’s Petrel software and Ocean framework.
The plug-in named “TESWell 2013: Well Testing and Production Analysis” evaluates well conditions and predicts fluid behaviour in a reservoir and estimates its parameters.
Coding and technical features were done by Muniandy while Gunasagaran managed the 70-page user manual and documentation.
The duo were determined to make time for their project, despite being based in different states.
“We discussed the project over several weekends, only communicating through the phone or e-mails on most days. With so little time on our hands, efficient and effective communication was important,” said Gunasagaran.
“To create the manual, it was vital for me to really understand Satya’s work and translate the technical terms into something which are easier to understand,” he said. “And in order for me to do so, he needed to give me comprehensive explanations. It’s a two-way thing.”
According to Gunasagaran, having constant exposure to different software during classes and in the labs helped him adjust fairly quickly to the Petrel software.
Muniandy gained better time management skills since enrolling at UCSI and this has helped him in designing the plug-in.
And the duo’s big win is just one of the faculty’s many success stories.
Like the prodigious duo, Architecture student Wan Mei Zhen led her team of five to bag second place and RM5,000 in the recent Pertubuhan Akitek Malaysia (PAM) – Lafarge Architecture Student Competition.
The national competition required partici- pants to create affordable housing designs and the team impressed the judges with their “cube-like homes”, inspired by “neuhaus”, German for “new house”.
“If you can’t afford a house, you can buy a ‘cube’ and add-on accordingly when you get a bigger income. It’s easily expandable,” said Wan, pointing out that the concept was a combination of all their ideas.
Edging out more than 150 entries from top universities in Malaysia such as Universiti Malaya, Universiti Sains Malaysia and Taylor’s University, the team had opportunities to meet experienced architects and big names in the industry.
“It was an awesome (experience),” Wan said, “Although we had many discussions and debates among ourselves because of differing ideas, we come to an agreement as a team.”
Good teamwork is measured by respect, shared trust and the free exchange of knowledge and ideas.
And by instilling leadership, responsibility and teamwork in students, the faculty is taking steps to groom them personally and professionally for their future careers.
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