UTAR and Hai-O agree on new technology exploration and student internships

Fri, 27 July 2012 10:49:37 PM

Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) and Hai-O Energy (M) Sdn. Bhd., a subsidiary of Hai-O Enterprise Bhd., formalised their collaboration through two memoranda of understanding at a signing ceremony held at the Bankers' Club in Kuala Lumpur on 23 August 2010 and graced by Dr. Hou Kok Chung, Deputy Minister of Higher Education Malaysia .

The first MoU is for collaborative research into the theory and applications of an innovative heat transfer material proprietary to Hai-O Energy with the objective of expanding the usage of this new and high industrial technology which can help reduce energy consumption and conserve the environment. UTAR President Ir. Professor Dato' Dr. Chuah Hean Teik said that he was impressed by the technological breakthrough and the MoU provided a great opportunity for UTAR researchers to further develop the material with Hai-O Energy. He added that it was important for University researchers to do research for the public good.

Chairman of Hai-O Enterprise Bhd. Tan Sri Osman Cassim said, "It was the opening of a new milestone with the signing of the MoUs with UTAR." He said that by teaming up with UTAR researchers, Hai-O Energy could further develop its High Intensity Heat Transfer Technology to play a significant role in energy saving and heat recovery. He elaborated that the setting up of Hai-O Energy, a technology company with R & D capability, signified Hai-O's expansion and diversification into the field of science and technology.

On the collaboration, Chairman of Hai-O Energy Mr. Tan Kai Hee said that it would provide the opportunity to share knowledge and nurture development of energy-saving products for commercial use. He looked forward to the day when the products would be launched.

The second MoU is on the provision of internships to UTAR students and jobs to UTAR graduates in Hai-O Group. This understanding is a win-win arrangement for both partners as UTAR students and graduates will be provided with more internship and job opportunities while Hai-O Group can secure a ready source of qualified and well-trained employees.

Dr. Hou Kok Chung congratulated both UTAR and Hai-O Energy on the synergistic collaboration and said that the Ministry of Higher Education encouraged such academia-industry collaboration as it could contribute to the nation's progress and development.

The signing ceremony signified the beginning of a stronger relationship between the two partners. Also present at the ceremony were Hai-O Group directors and senior management staff and UTAR senior management staff.

During the question and answer session after the ceremony, Suvit Lee, the inventor of the innovative heat transfer technology and also technical director of Hai-O Energy, briefed those present on the theory and benefits of the technology.

 Exchanging of documents between Prof. Chuah and Tan Kai Hee. Looking on (left to right): Suvit Lee, Dr. Hou Kok Chung and Tan Sri Osman Cassim.

UTAR and Doshin into R&D in earthquake-resistant rubber technology

Fri, 27 July 2012 10:50:19 PM

Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) and Doshin Rubber Products (M) Sdn Bhd signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) at UTAR Petaling Jaya Campus on 13 May 2011 .

With the signing of the MoU, UTAR, a leading private not-for-profit university in Malaysia, and Doshin, a subsidiary of Kossan group (listed on Bursa Malaysia), formally agreed on working together in areas of common interest, including intensifying research into earthquake-resistant rubber base isolators for buildings, bridges and other structures.

Doshin, established in 1978, is the pioneer in manufacturing laminated bridge bearing pads and building base isolators. It has over 30 years of experience in providing rubber solutions for the civil engineering and construction industries.

Signing on behalf of the parties were UTAR President Ir Professor Dato' Dr Chuah Hean Teik, and Director of Doshin Rubber Products (M) Sdn Bhd Or Tan Teng. UTAR Vice President (R&D and Commercialisation) Professor Dr Lee Sze Wei and Doshin's Executive Director Lim Siau Hing signed as witnesses.

Under the MoU, the partners would work towards jointly holding a patent of an improved rubber base isolator with greener, more sustainable and economical features. The two parties were also keen to commercialise another product called 'energy-efficient aerated lightweight block/panel' patented by UTAR recently.

"The strategic collaboration between Doshin and UTAR can be an important determinant that it contributes towards the emergence of a well-integrated industry-focused and demand driven innovative new product," said Or.

After congratulated Doshin for being awarded the contract to supply bridge rubber bearing pads in the Penang second crossing project, Professor Chuah said, "Such a megabuck project will provide a lot of areas for postgraduate research for the two partners to work together."

Doshin had sponsored an engineer, a UTAR graduate, to pursue a Master's degree related to the application of rubber base isolators in UTAR. More Doshin's staff members, including those from the top management, would be expected to pursue Master's and PhD degrees in UTAR in the future.

Documents exchanged (from left): Prof Lee, Prof Chuah, Or and Lim

UTAR, MMU Host Conference on High-Impact Technology

Fri, 27 July 2012 10:45:03 PM

 

Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) and  Multimedia University (MMU) jointly hosted the 16th Pacific-Asia Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (PAKDD),  the first PAKDD in Malaysia, which kicked off at a renowned hotel in Kuala Lumpur on 29 May 2012.

Spanning three days from 29 May - 1 June 2012, the conference featured three keynote addresses by world-renowned data mining experts, HP Senior Fellow Chandrakant D Patel, Professor Dr Charles Elkan from the University of California at San Diego, and Professor Dr Ian Witten from the University of Waikato.

The conference covered the field of Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (KDD), which is fast becoming the tool of choice for world-class business leaders for the purposes of business decision support, customer relationship management as well as business development. KDD uses statistical, mathematical and IT methods to discover knowledge that is otherwise obscured in databases.

The Pacific-Asia Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (PAKDD) is one of the longest established and leading international series of conferences in the areas of data mining and knowledge discovery.  It serves as an international forum for researchers and industry practitioners to share their latest developments, new ideas, original research results and practical development experiences from all related areas such as data mining, statistical and symbolic machine learning, databases, knowledge acquisition and automatic scientific discovery, data visualization, and knowledge-based systems.

"The choice of Malaysia as the host for PAKDD this year is a strong indication that the KDD community in the region recognises that their Malaysian peers are progressing actively in this area," said this year's Conference Co-Chair Professor Dr Ewe Hong Tat, Vice President (Internationalisation and Academic Development) of Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman.

Conference Program Co-Chair Associate Professor Dr. Ho Chin Kuan, Dean of Faculty of Computing and Informatics at Multimedia University, expressed his excitement about PAKDD 2012 being hosted in Kuala Lumpur. "KDD is an extremely useful tool that allows businesses to discover new knowledge that is currently hidden in their databases," he said. "It allows them to discover, among other things, the buying patterns of their customers, who their best customers are, and many other interesting patterns. The conference will provide a good opportunity for local data professionals to acquire cutting-edge knowledge in the field through the conference talks, tutorials and workshops, and to network and interact productively with the foreign participants."

The other two conference co-chairs of the PAKDD 2012 were Professor Dr Philip S Yu, Professor and Wexler Chair in Information Technology, Department of Computer Science, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA and Professor Dr Lim Ee Peng, Professor of Information Systems and Director of Living Analytics Research Centre, Singapore Management University, Singapore. The other two program co-chairs of PAKDD 2012 are Associate Professor Dr. Pang-Ning Tan of the Department of Computer Science & Engineering, Michigan State University, USA and Professor Dr. Sanjay Chawla of the School of Information Technology, the University of Sydney, Australia.

The three sponsors of the conference were Telekom Malaysia Berhad, the Asian Office of Aerospace Research and Development, the US Air Force Office of Scientific Research; and leader in business analytics software, SAS.  It is supported by Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) and National ICT Association of Malaysia (PIKOM).

PAKDD had its inaugural debut in Singapore in 1997, and since then it has been hosted annually in various cities in the region before coming this year to Kuala Lumpur for the first time.  The 16th PAKDD in Kuala Lumpur will be held from 29 May to 1 June 2012.  Besides Singapore, which also hosted the conference again in 2006, the other cities were Shenzhen (2011), Hyderabad (2010), Bangkok (2009), Osaka (2008), Nanjing (2007), Hanoi (2005), Sydney (2004), Seoul (2003), Taipei (2002), Hong Kong (2001), Kyoto (2000), Beijing (1999), and Melbourne (1998).

In addition to the main conference, there were four workshops, three tutorials, and a doctoral symposium. The proceedings of the conference will be published by leading international publisher Springer under the Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence series. In conjunction with this, a data mining competition with two different categories was also organised. The Open Category of the competition challenged participants to predict churn and win-backs in the telecommunication industry. The Student Category required students to use SAS data mining software to identify the correlation between the number of job applications and Malaysia's economic indicators. The data for the student category were provided by JobStreet while the student category prizes were sponsored by SAS Malaysia.

As a respite to the intense and intellectually demanding sessions, PAKDD participants got to enjoy several social activities such as a welcome reception on the first day, a conference banquet on the second day, and a city tour to conclude the event on the third day.  The conference attracted over 150 participants from more than 30 countries.

Prof. Ewe Hong Tat addressing the audience at the opening of the conference

PAKDD participants listening to  Prof. Charles Elkan present his keynote speech

From left to right:  Prof. Tu Bao Ho (PAKDD steering committee co-chair), Andrew Tan (Managing Director of SAS), Prof. Hiroshi Motoda, Scientific Advisor and Program Manager (Asian Office of Aerospace Research and Development (AOARD) and Air Force  Office of  Scientific Research (AFOSR)), Prof. Graham Williams (PAKDD  steering committee chair), Prof. Tou Tou Teck Yong (Vice President R&D of MMU), Prof. Ewe Hong Tat (Vice President of UTAR), Mr Liew Hon Chuen   (representing TM Malaysia Sdn Bhd), Mr. Ong Kian Yew (Executive Director of PIKOM), Prof. Pang Ning Tan (PAKDD Program Co-chair), Prof. Chin Kuan Ho (PAKDD Program Co-chair), Dr. Victor Tan (representing Multimedia Development Corporation MDEC)

21 July 2012

Grads with analytical skills

• 21 July 2012
• Academic Updates & News
• Malaysia
• The Star, 21 July 2012

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Business is the driving force of an economy. Business organisations bring together different types of resources in a creative and innovative environment to maximise opportunity and profits.
Every organisation needs business experts to help them resolve problems they will face on a daily basis. Employers want graduates with the right mix of digital skills and global business exposure.
Limkokwing University offers globally recognised degrees specialising in International Business, Accounting, Business Administration, Islamic Banking, Marketing and Entrepreneurship that also equip students with the right digital skills.
Students will gain essential exposure to how a real-world business environment works through Limkokwing University’s close collaboration with partners across a wide range of business sectors.
Business managers are in high demand among forward-thinking companies. Top employers are looking for highly skilled problem-solvers who are not afraid of taking risks to create new opportunities for growth.
Students will learn to analyse problems from an international perspective.
They will learn to formulate business operations and strategies to take a business to new heights. Studying business does not restrict their career choices. It is simply a stepping-stone to a wide range of opportunities.

ICT and multimedia

Information and communications technology (ICT) is the driving force behind almost every business organisation today. In Malaysia, the Economic Transformation Programme is emphasising on ICT and the creative industries especially multimedia, to enable the country’s migration to a high-income economy.
Limkokwing future-focused ICT and multimedia programmes will help students learn to use the latest computer software and improve their skills and talents to excel in their relevant industries.
Exhibitions are held often and the recent Prismatic event showcased the skills of the multimedia students. The main structure which stood in the middle came with large LED panels and plasma TVs and drew the attention of the students.

The Faculty of Creative Multimedia

Offers a wide range of programmes which are carefully tailored to nurture creative and innovative talents.

Communication and film production

The communication sector is abuzz with opportunities and the future holds exciting possibilities for those with the right skills. Worldwide, there is a huge demand for skilled people in the industries related to telecommunications, the internet and broadcasting.
Start by learning the technical skills and the use of software and the technology related to this field. Students can excel whether in front of the camera or behind the scenes. The audiovisual team of Limkokwing University has won six awards in the 2012 Communicator Awards that featured some of the world’s top brands recently.
This year’s Communicator Awards received entries from companies and agencies of all sizes, making it one of the largest awards of its kind in the world. Limkokwing Film & Television Academy won an Award of Excellence (Gold) for Film/Video (Art Direction) category for Lim Kok Wing: A Tapestry, Film/Video (Editing) category for Lim Kok Wing: A Tapestry, Film/Video (USe of Animation) category for Malaysia Digital Inovation Centre Launch.
The team added to their haul of Gold awards with an Award of Distinction (Silver) for Film/Video (History/Biography) category for Lim Kok Wing: A Tapestry, Film/Video (Educational Institutions) category for Malaysia Digital Innovation Centre Launch, Film/Video (Use of Visual Effects) category for Malaysia Digital Innovation Centre Launch.
This was the team’s first appearance in this competition which attracted household names such as MasterCard, Cisco, Samsung, Nike, Ford Motor Company, Panasonic, General Electric, Citibank, Intel and Microsoft.