Showcasing excellence
UNIVERSITI Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR), one of the premier private universities in Malaysia, is committed to providing quality and affordable education. Its goals are to achieve global status and create societal impact through quality training, education, research and community services.
The UTAR Lee Kong Chian Faculty of Engineering and Science (LKC FES), which was established in 2004, has built a good reputation of teaching and research excellence.
The presence of its engineering and science programmes creates a unique position for students to achieve academic excellence through its inter-disciplinary research and development, intellectual exchanges and high standard of academic quality.
LKC FES offers 16 undergraduate programmes and boasts multiple successes of its engineering students in national competitions such as the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) Malaysia Final Year Project (FYP) Competition and the Innovate Malaysia Design Competition.
The UTAR Centre for Vehicular Technology (CVT) of LKC FES is a shining example of the relevancy and progress in the university’s research excellence.
One of CVT’s research projects involves research on technology for electric vehicles (EV). EVs are powered by rechargeable battery energy instead of the conventional internal combustion engines that run on fossil fuel.
CVT chairperson Dr Chew Kuew Wai and his team of postgraduate and undergraduate students have recently successfully converted an internal combustion engine vehicle into a fully electric one that runs on a 144V direct current motor.
Students in the research team benefited from the blended learning at UTAR, which included theoretical work on designs and concepts, practical work on power controls and engine components as well as research on the highenergy efficiency of the electric motor versus that of petrol fuel.
UTAR’s research has gained recognition from the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (Mosti) as shown in the RM2.79mil award given under the Mosti Flagship Programme for the university’s research of a brain computerinterface wheelchair project.
Project leader Prof Ir Datuk Goh Sing Yau, who is also a lecturer at the Department of Mechanical and Material Engineering LKC FES, says, “The research project aims to provide better mobility for a movementimpaired person such as in the case of someone with motorneuron disease. We are also improving the system to help users with speech disabilities to communicate by using their brain signals to select pictures or phrases on a display.”
Furthermore, the Centre for Healthcare Science and Technology (CHST) of LKC FES was awarded the UTAR Research Centre Excellence Award last year.
This award was based on the research centre’s achievements in publications, research funding, research collaboration, postgraduate training and the conferences, seminars, workshops and talks conducted.
UTAR invites schoolleavers to its Campus Tour and Information Day to join a tour led by UTAR student ambassadors. It will be held on April 25 from 10.30am to 4.30pm at UTAR’s campuses in Bandar Sg Long and Kampar, Perak.
UTAR is also hosting its Open Day on May 16 and 17 from 9.30am to 5.30pm at both campuses.
For more information, call 03-7958 2628 (PJ campus), 05-468 8888 (Perak campus) or e-mail enquiry@utar.edu.my or visit www.utar.edu.my