Professional Training and Grooming Etiquette (PRESTIGE)

By Neyley Adriana, Foundation/1st

Tronoh, 8^th March –The popular annual event, Professional Training and Grooming Etiquette (or more commonly known as PRESTIGE) have made its debut yet again this year at Seminar Room 7, Undercroft and was held by Peer Helper Club. Over 100 enthusiastic students participated in PRESTIGE in the hopes of learning how to give their appearance and personalities a makeover. The event aimed to teach and train its participants on grooming etiquettes, how to look professional and how to give an impact to people, especially during job interviews.

The event kicked off at 9.30 am with a session called “Re-groom, Re-brand, Re-fresh” featuring Madam Murshidah, a famous advisor for personal grooming and a corporate image consultant. Her session began with an ice-breaking session where the participants had to draw an image of themselves in order to portray their personality. Afterwards she gave a talk concerning “Love and Respect”, whereby she emphasized on how confidence, and positive vibes will induce a positive aura to those around us.

The second module continued at 11.30 am with Madam Murshidah again as the speaker with the topic entitled ‘Present with Impact’. This session focused on professional communication skills and appearance. Madam Murshidah gave useful tips on how to look presentable in front of people, especially during job interviews where you would want to impress your (future) employer. In addition, she touched upon topics such as self-esteem and how to improve it, as well as how to speak to people confidently.

The event continued after lunch with the third module, ‘What Employers Want’, delivered by Muhammad Gadafi, UTP Alumni. He told the participants of his experience upon entering the industry, and spoke about having the right attitude in the working environment.

Later at noon, the participants were enlightened by Mr.Saiful Nang, a famous Malaysian photographer and a successful entrepreneur, with the fourth and last module, ‘Aspiring to Excellence’. Supplementary to sharing his humorous life experiences, Mr Saiful also shared his road-to-success story and encouraged the participants to start a business (even without any money), emphasizing that perseverance and dedication will lead to success. Uplifting and insightful, his talk gave the participants an idea of the challenges that they will inevitably face in the real world.

“This event really motivates me and teach me on the proper way of grooming etiquette and not to forget meeting many successful people and knowing their recipe of success was something that I would not forget”, said Arshad Arifin (PE, Foundation 1^st). The event finally came to an end at 5pm. For all the beneficial knowledge that PRESTIGE brings, we hope to see more of it in future.

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GE Personality Development Workshop

By Nur Dalilah Dzulkarnain, Foundation/3^rd, PG

Tronoh, 5^th March-  Aimed at increasing leadership skills and teaching people how to be inspiring leaders, TEC invited a representative from GE Corporation to give an informative talk on how to communicate like a leader, in a two hour GE Personality Development Workshop.

Ms Xiao Qhing of Outreach and Talent Development unit in GE Asean was invited as one of the speakers and Ms Ramia Balakrishnan of GE Asean answered questions regarding internship possibilities by the audience. Participating as a participant of the workshop myself, Ms Xiao started off by defining leadership and according to her, a good leader is not the one that manipulates others to gain power rather, the one who inspires everyone around them to climb through the ladder of success together.

She went on to share about the various leadership styles and reminded us that personality is what we are born with but the style of a leader is something that we need to learn. Dividing these styles into four parts which are the relator, the expresser, the analyser and the director, the audience began to grasp an understanding of what style fits them best.

As thoughtful as the workshop held, participants came home along with a certificate of participation and a birds-eye view on the leadership world.

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Banana Relay Run

By Rannad Hamadah, 1st/1st PE

UTP, 22^nd February 2014 - In collaboration with the Co-curriculum unit, the American Association of Petroleum Geologist-UTP-Student Chapter (AAPG-UTP-SC) managed to organize their very first event this year: the “Banana Relay Run”.

A number of 11 teams, each consisting of three people, had participated in the run. With banana in hand, a member from each team had to run from the chancellor complex, around the lake, and back again in order to pass it on to their teammates.

According to Project Director, Ooi Phey Chee (PG 3^rd/2^nd), the goal of this event was to bring the members of AAPG-UTP-SC together and to introduce them to students from other departments. After a lot of effort and an exhaustive run, winning teams were celebrated and awarded with medals, certificates and cash prizes by Mr. Askury Bin Adb Kadir, Advisor of AAPG-UTPSC, along with other special guests.

Millian Edward Kei (PE 3^rd/1^st) of the winning team said that he had really enjoyed the run and is eager to take part in more sport and outdoor events in the future. As for Mr. Askury, he was proud of his enthusiastic members and is looking forward to upcoming events organised by AAPG-UTP-SC.

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SEDEX 32 - Portal To The Future

By Prasad Madhavan, Foundation/2nd, ME

Chancellor Complex, 11 December 2013 – The 32^nd Science and Engineering Design Exhibition (SEDEX) was held recently at with this year’s theme of “Portal To The Future”.

The event was held in the Foyer of Chancellor Hall, from 8am to 5pm for two days. This event was split into several categories which includes Final Year Project (FYP), Engineering Team Project (ETP), Post Graduate (PG), Open Innovation Challenge (OIC) and Young Inventor’s Challenge (YIC).

There has been no change in the aim of conducting this extraordinary event for the past 16 years. It has always been in SEDEX’s interest to nurture and develop newer talents that might be able to make a difference to our country or perhaps our world in the future. SEDEX is also seen to be one step ahead in aim of improving science and technological development in Malaysia, as they give opportunity to young talents from both primary and secondary schools to participate in the Young Inventor’s Challenge category, hoping to encourage those who participated to be inventors when the time is right.

This event was a job well done as it was supported by a total of 402 participants which is tabulated as follows:

Category	Total Participants
Young Inventors Challenge	36
Open Innovation Challenge	76
Final Year Project	81
Post Graduate	31
Engineering Team Project	178

Notable winners are “Integrated Mobile Card System For Loyalty Programs” grabbing the Chairman’s Most Innovative Champion and “Forget Us Not (FUN)” for the People’s Choice Award.

The HOT team would like to congratulate the SEDEX Project Director, Mr. Kong Chin Zheng for the effort of SEDEX Committee members and himself in making SEDEX 32 a huge success. We wish you good luck for your SEDEX event in the coming years.

Photos courtesy of SEDEX 32 committee.

Post by Science and Engineering Design Exhibition (SEDeX UTP).

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Kembara Sufi XI : Manifestation Of Love

By Natasha Eliyana Azahari

Tronoh, 30^th November 2013 – Following last year’s success, the Kembara Sufi XI concert was back again, this time gloriously themed “Manifestation of Love”. Students and outsiders alike were seen gathered at Chancellor Hall to attend the concert. An Islamic concert organised annually by Rakan Masjid UTP (RM UTP) and Kelab Media dan Teknologi (MEDTECH UTP), this year’s Kembara Sufi concert featured three local acts – IM Nazrul, ex-contestant from Iman Muda , a programme airing at Astro Oasis, , UNIC, a well-known nasyeed group, and Aizat Amdan, an ex-contestant from reality programme, Akademi Fantasia.

The concert was kick started by an introduction from IM Nazrul, followed by a performance from UNIC. After a montage video on the theme done by UTP students was screened, Raqib Majid, fellow label mate of UNIC made an appearance onstage, promoting their latest single, Bintang Syurga. Singer Aizat Amdan then awed the crowd with an acoustic performance with his brother in which some of the songs performed by him were actually self-composed.

Although attendance wasn’t “full-house” like last year, the concert was still considered a success as many felt it was worth the ticket price. The concert goes to show that UTP-ians do not only emphasize on academic excellence but also believes in strengthening its student’s religious belief by encouraging the conduct of religious events such as these. 

The following are highlights of the event:

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ISC Grand Night

By Prasad Madhavan, Foundation/2nd, ME

UTP, 22nd November 2013 - Have you ever wondered how a Bollywood-themed event held by UTP’s very own international students would be like? There’s no longer the need to wonder ever since the International Students Council (ISC) launched their Grand Night in Bollywood at the MultiPurposeHall on the 22nd of November,2013.

The event was held to recognize and appreciate the members for their dedication and tremendous contribution to the ISC. According to Mr.Shehab Abdulwahid Alhemyari, president of ISC-UTP, the ISC team of 2013 has been successful in achieving unimaginable accomplishments this year. The Have-It-Late program conducted by the ISC had managed to further raise its status, having received full support from both its team members and fellow UTP students.

DVCSAA Tn Hj Moh Noor Rosli officiating the event.

As if the spicy Bollywood-theme wasn’t enough, many performances featuring popular groups such as UTP Colours of Rangoli Night (UCRN) and Mozambican Dance Group (MYMOZ ) further enlivened the event. The attendants were even more enlightened when they were treated to a magic show.
The officiator of the event, Tuan Haji Mohamed Noor Rosli, Deputy Vice Chancellor, was very satisfied with the ISC’s progress and development. He suggested for the ISC to conduct more programs similar to the International Independence Day.

After having enjoyed and conducted such a successful and smooth event, both the attendants and the members ended the night with a smile on their faces. However, it does not end here; we’ll be sure to see more of the ISC in the future.

Video highlights:

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Junior Robothon 2013

Sheltering a City with Data

By Jeffry Christopher, ME, Foundation/2nd

UTP, 17^th November 2013 – 204 teams of students from different primary and secondary schools around the country gathered in the Chancellor Hall of Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, vying for top honours in the Eduspec Junior Robothon 2013 National Finals. Organized by EDUSPEC together with Dynabook Computer Centre and co-organized by UTP and Kesatuan Kebangsaan Guru-guru Besar Malaysia Cawangan Perak, Eduspec Junior Robothon is a national event for young school-going children to showcase their creativity through technology. This year’s national level competition was held with the theme of ‘Better City Better Life’ with participants ranging from 7 years to 18 years old being divided into 3 categories (Apprentice, Veteran and Expert), based on their age group and robot-programming skills.

A young participant adding some final touches to her design. Photo credit: www.facebook.com/UTPOfficial

Realizing the importance of transmission, integration and interpretation of data that will sustain a city in the coming years, the participants need to tap into their technological knowledge to establish laser communications, retrieve surveillance data, perform data analysis, elevate sky garages and perform a bonus mission using the LEGO Mindstorms NXT robots that they have programmed to emerge as the national champion. Besides the grand prize, the champions were gifted with the honour of representing Malaysia at the 4^th DIGITAL YOUTH AWARD Robotics for Children 2013 (DYA), which was held in Manila, Philippines on the 23^rd November 2013.

"The event was a huge success and it's amazing to watch these kids come up with great ideas for the future! The only thing I regret is that Tun (Mahathir) couldn't make it! (I) Was looking forward to meeting him!", said organising committee member Miza Ramlan after the event. Former Prime Minister and current UTP Chancellor Tun Dr Mahathir was initially supposed to officiate the event but had to withdraw at the last minute due to a health complication. 

Post by Universiti Teknologi Petronas - Main Page.

Post by Universiti Teknologi Petronas - Main Page.

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Amirul Ariff Retains Gold at UTP Tennis Close 2013

By Ibrahim Bin Abu Talib, ICT.

Photographs by Muhammad Hazim Bin Iskandar, BIS

UTP Sports Complex, 15^th November – Sekretariat Rakan Muda UTP (SRMUTP), never lacking ideas and activities to develop the youth community, recently organized its annual three-day UTP Intra-University Tennis Tournament. As tennis is not a particularly popular sport among UTP students, the event’s main purpose was to give an opportunity to the small community of tennis enthusiasts in UTP to participate and show off their skill.

Jason Eng (ME) about to serve.

Tengku Firdaus Hafiz (PE), one of the organising committee members, mentioned that this year there were only 24 participants including 3 female participants registered for the tournament. This number is tiny compared to other sports tournaments held on campus. Nevertheless, it was still a tough challenge for Amirul Ariff Bin Sazali (CE), the defending champion, who emerged victorious once again.

Champion Amirul with first runner-up Helmi.

Tengku hopes that there will be more students interested in tennis and perhaps would join the tournament in the upcoming years.

Winners list:

   Men's Singles

o   1^st place         :           Amirul Ariff Bin Sazali, CE

o   2^nd place        :           Muhammad Helmi Bin Zawawi, ME

o   3^rd place         :           Jason EngYong Jun, ME

·         Women's Singles

o   1^st place         :           Nur ElizaBinti Khairul, PE

o   2^nd place        :           Andrea Mujan Karim, PG

o   3^rd place         :           Nurul Naqila Binti Shamsuddin, CV

·         Men's Doubles

o   1^st place         :

§  Amirul Ariff Bin Sazali, CE

§  Jason Eng Yong Jun, ME

o   2^nd place        :

§  Muhammad Nabil Bin Mohd Nordin, CV

§  Muhammad Aidil Bin Nawawi, PG

o   3^rd place         :

§  Ahmad Faiz Bin Mohd Naim, CV

§  Muhammad Aiman Bin Sapree, CE

 HOT would like to congratulate all the winners of this year's event.

Editor's note: It was earlier reported that Tengku Firdaus was the Project Manager. This was an error. The PM for the event is Adrian Yong.

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Academic Research Exhibition (ACADREX) 2013

By Michelle Tee Sieh Wey & Daphne Chendun

UTP, 27^th October- Held in conjunction with Convocation Day from 25^th to 27^th October 2013, ACADREX involved the participation of various schools and society around Perak with the objective of inculcating a culture of innovation amongst young Malaysians. On the first day, there was a forum held on Innovation. The main highlight of this year’s ACADREX 2013 was also competition and games open to the public under the category of Primary School, Secondary School and Family. Credit goes to Mohd Helmi Azizan and Thavasegaran Muthu, high committees of ACADREX, for their valuable information.

Construct an “Ivory Tower”  using straws that will be tested on its strength and stability. 

Contestants conducting trial runs for an air vehicle competition.

ACADREX 2013 organising committee members pose for a picture together.

Participants trying out the “Hand Steadiness Tester”.

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Convofair 2013: Cake Mania Competition

By Thenmalar Rajoo, PG, Foundation/2nd

Tronoh, 27th October- Around 20 girls put their creative hats on in a female-only Cake Mania Competition during Convofair last Sunday. According to Amirah Nordzi, the person in charge of the competition, the participants are paired up in a couple and paid an entrance fee of RM 25. The event kicked off at around 11.30 a.m and the participants began decorating the plain cake given to them within 45 minutes with colourful buttercream icing provided. Around 4 p.m all the decorated cakes were proudly displayed to the eager audience and the cake with the most votes was selected as the winner. The best part was that the participants could bring home their own creatively decorated cake while the audience each got a chance to bring back a cupcake.

More photos here:

Post by Kavin Kumar.

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Goodbye Academia!

By, Ibrahim Abu Talib, ICT 

Chancellor Hall, 27^th October – Smiles and laughter were all about as new graduates reached the pinnacle of their student life in UTP. The 13^th Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP) Convocation Ceremony was held to celebrate the 1147 (with 157 postgraduate) students who had finished their studies.

The two-session ceremony was attended by UTP’s Pro Chancellors, UTP’s Board of Directors, representatives from other universities, and graduates’ family members (up to 2 per graduate). The graduation scrolls were presented to the fresh grads by UTP’s Pro Chancellor, YBhg Tan Sri Sidek Hassan.

There were also awards given to the students who had astounding achievements throughout the course of studying in UTP, be it, in academic or in extracurricular activities. The Golden Chancellor Award was given to Lee Hsiu Eik, Bachelor of Engineering (Hons.) Civil. In his speech, he shared his experience living as a student in UTP. He mentioned that every student should have a role other than being a student, so that their life will be better. Currently, he is continuing his Masters studies in UTP.

Award Recipient List

·         Alumni Award: Best Researcher

o   Master

§  Jawad Humayun

§  From Pakistan

§  Master of Science (MSc) in Electrical and Electronic Engineering

o   PhD

§  Muhammad Farooq

§  From Pakistan

§  Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Chemical Engineering

·         Best International Student Award

o   Nguyen Thi Hoailly

o   Bachelor of Engineering (Hons.) Chemical

o   From Vietnam

·         Chancellor Award

o   Gold

§  Lee Hsiu Eik

§  From Sabah

§  Bachelor of Engineering (Hons.) Civil

o   Silver

§  Siti Noor Ashikin Mustaffa

§  From Kedah

§  Bachelor of Engineering (Hons.) Petroleum

o   Bronze

§  Yong Jenn

§  From Johor

§  Bachelor of Engineering (Hons.) Chemical

Award receipients (from left): Yong Jenn, Siti Noor Ashikin Mustaffa, Nguyen Thi Hoai Vy, and Lee Hsiu Eik.

YABhg Tan Sri Sidek Hassan giving a scroll to one of the graduates.

Some of the lecturers that came to witness their students graduating.

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UTP Invitational Chess Tournament 2013

UTP Invitational Chess Tournament 2013

Thenmalar Rajoo, Foundation 2nd Sem, PG

UTP Chess Dragon had successfully organised the UTP Invitational Chess Tournament 2013 that began on the 27^th and ended on the 29^th of September this year. The three days tournament was sponsored by the Co-curriculum unit and was held in the Main Hall.

 

The first day started off with registration of the competitors, followed by rounds one and two. Rounds three, four and five were played on Saturday. The final two rounds and the closing ceremony were held on Sunday.

Mr. Abdul Rahman Mohammad Amin was invited as the Officiator of the closing ceremony for the tournament. Project Director of the tournament, Mr Wong Hoong Wei said “The main objectives of organising this tournament are to provide a chance to young potential players, produce healthy sports and to improvise the players’ skills to compete at higher levels.”

The participants of this tournament were categorised into three categories; the female category, IPT category and school category. The female category had two teams and there were six teams under the school category. A total of six teams participated in the IPT category. Representing UTP were UTP Knight, UTP Phoenix and UTP Dragon. Each team comprised of four players and each round consisted of three hours.

Prizes were given to the champion, first runner up, second runner up, as well as the fourth and fifth place winners. Special titles like Best Sport, Best IPT, Best School and Best Female Player were awarded to outstanding competitors.

In addition, members of the club even took an initiative by selling food and beverages during the tournament to raise funds.

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Awareness Talk : “Sexual Harassment: How to Avoid It”

By Umdatul Mujahidah, ME

Tronoh, 18^th July- Aimed at increasing awareness on sexual harassment, International Student Council collaborated with Kementerian Pembangunan Wanita, Keluarga and Masyarakat to organize a talk entitled “Sexual Harassment and How to Avoid It”.

President of Women for Women Society Perak, Dr Sharifah Halimah Binti Jaafar, was invited to be the speaker. She started off by defining sexual harassment and emphasized that both parties consenting to sexual misconduct should not be confused as sexual harassment.

Dr Sharifah explaining about sexual harassment

 She went on to share how to avoid situations that could put us at risk of sexual harassment. Even though victims of sexual harassment are usually inferior to the perpetrator, she/he should not get help in the case of such incidents. They are advised to firmly say no, keep evidences if possible and report to authorities immediately.

Sparse but attentive attendees!

Open to all, the talk was also graced by presence of officers from Kementerian Pembangunan Wanita, Keluarga, and Masyarakat and the President of International Student Council which livened up the talk. The lecture hall came to live especially when an international student shared his story of how he was sexually harassed back in his country.

There was definitely no lack of interest from the male side as there were male students who attended the talk too. Mbiko from South Sudan said that he went to the event because he was interested to know the status of women issues in Malaysia compared to how it is in his country.

According to the project manager of the talk, Vikri Januarisma, this is the first event organized by the Department of Women’s Affair, a new department introduced in the International Student Council. Overall, she thought the event went well although the attendance was less than expected.

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Breaking the Glass Ceiling

Breaking the Glass Ceiling

by Natasha Eliyana Azahari, ICT 

Tronoh, 17^th July 2013 - GE day has brought yet again another series of spectacular events. Among these events was an informative talk, or rather, a sharing session entitled ‘Breaking the Glass Ceiling; Sharing by Women Leaders. Held at the Undercroft, the sharing session managed to open the eyes of the prospective female leaders in UTP about the importance of stepping up the game in today’s competitive world. The two lovely speakers were more than willing to share their experiences while working for GE and the reason why they had chosen GE as their employer.

They had managed to get into the company through a Leadership Program GE had organized.

At the start of their career with GE, they had to go through a ‘rotation system’, whereby a trainee works for a certain period of time in different places, local and international. Through this system, they had gained the opportunity to travel to various countries around the world.

They highlighted the notion that GE is a performance-driven company as they take the well-being of their investors very seriously; a large portion of their investors are actually citizens.

Currently, both of them are working under the finance department of GE and are the forefront liners contributing to much of GE’s success. It was then revealed that both of them are married and have children. It was surprising enough to discover that the forefront liners, the success drivers of GE (a large company) are women, but to learn that they are married women, was an entirely new thing altogether. In order to take on such responsibilities, it is vital that they are physically and mentally capable.

The audience shared the same sentiment as Mrs Alisha (one of the two speakers) recounted her experience as being one of the few female staffs in GE. She listed the difficulties she had faced during her career; among them were the challengers of working in a male-dominated industry, as well as countless self-confidence issues.

“Just be thick-skinned. You need to be thick-skinned!” she exclaimed to the audience.

That being said, she linked the fact that women tend to worry more and consequently, underestimate themselves. In order to overcome it, she said, you have to be brass and just ask when you don’t understand, rather than just sit there and nod along. She also reminded the audience that is required of them to be physically and mentally prepared.

As the session approached to an end, the GE ladies team stepped forward to introduce themselves. One of the ladies in particular, Ms.Awatif, is the only female Field Engineer of GE in the Southeast Asia region up to date. Ms Awatif shared her many stories during her travels and career under GE with the audience, followed up by a tirade of questions from the floor, to which she boldly answered.

The team encouraged more admissions of female employees in the future. They hoped to see fresh faces from time to time in the company.

It was a highly beneficial sharing session for all the participants. As so, more events such as this should be incorporated more frequently, as a source of inspiration to female population in UTP.

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