Interactive and fun faculty showcases for visitors on Curtin Malaysia Open Day

Miri – 19 September 2017 – In line with the theme of this year’s Curtin Malaysia Open Day on 14 October, ‘Discover, Experience, Interact’, visitors to the event’s ‘Faculty Showcases’ will get to engage in interactive activities designed to provide a unique, fun educational experience.

With catchy themes like ‘Engineers Land’, ‘Entrepreneurs Hub’, ‘The Human Planet’ and ‘Spacetopia’, the showcases of Curtin Malaysia’s faculties of engineering and science, business and humanities, as well as its graduate school, will introduce visitors to a variety of engineering, science, business and arts disciplines.

It will be open from 10 am to 5 pm at the university’s Recreation & Event Centre. Visitors stand to receive interesting souvenirs at the showcases and the ‘Future Students Hub’ that will be housed in the same venue.

‘Engineer’s Land’ – Faculty of Engineering and Science

Visitors will get to don hard hats and coveralls and play the roles of geologists, civil engineers or petroleum engineers, or lab coats for a bit of ‘lab work’ as chemical or environmental engineers. They will also learn what it takes to be network engineers, mechanical engineers and electrical engineers.

Among the interesting things they will do will include identifying microfossils under microscopes and minerals in rocks, learn the process of paper chromatography by creating laminated bookmarks using food colouring and solvents, and trying their hand at nickel and copper electroplating.

To learn about civil engineering, they will get to manipulate a physical model of groundwater, altering water levels to observe how water pumping and infiltration can change groundwater levels. They will also learn how to build a self-supporting bridge that can withstand its own weight.

Those interested in electrical power and electronic and computer engineering, meanwhile, will get a better understanding of how robots are used across a wide range of applications by learning to construct a ‘six-degree-of-freedom’ robotic arm to complete specific tasks. They will also have fun controlling a robotic car that can play soccer.

To highlight the importance of vegetation in soil retention as part of the showcase on environmental engineering, visitors will view an exhibit replicating soil erosion caused by deforestation and learn how grass can help reduce soil erosion. They will also learn about the coagulation and flocculation processes in water treatment plants, and dye removal using activated carbon.

Children will particularly enjoy the Foundation in Engineering Department’s fun ‘Sugar Rainbow’ and ‘Air Cannon Smoke Ring’ activities and ‘Matchstick and Coin Game’, while those interested to know more about petroleum engineering will learn how the density of drilling mud is measured, and how to create a reservoir model using simulation software. There will also be a demonstration of how oil rigs work using a scale model of a rig.

‘Entrepreneurs Hub’ – Faculty of Business

The Faculty of Business’ showcase will include ‘The Heart of Business’ exhibition highlighting its five departments. Visitors will get to mingle with staff of the departments and find out more about their course offerings and activities.

At the ‘Engaging with Business Students’ exhibition, visitors can participate in educational activities run by students of the Faculty, while at the ‘Celebrating Small Business’ exhibition, they will get to meet successful young entrepreneurs engaged in digital, rural, social, women and student entrepreneurship.

In addition, there will be an exhibition of the achievements of the Faculty of Business’ staff and students in academia and extra-curricular activities through the years.

‘The Human Planet’ – Faculty of Humanities

The Faculty of Humanities will showcase its three areas of specialisation – Media and Communication; Culture and Language Studies; and Postgraduate Studies.

Highlights will include a cultural exhibition in collaboration with Pustaka Miri, mini-showcases of students’ work in film and television and Malaysian Studies units, and a games booth promoting language studies.

‘Spacetopia’ – Curtin Malaysia Graduate School

Visitors of all ages are likely to be enthralled by this space-themed showcase by postgraduate students of the Curtin Malaysia Graduate School. It will feature five exhibitions, namely ‘Mercury’, ‘Venus’, ‘Earth’, ‘Mars’ and ‘Spaceship’.

At the various exhibitions, visitors will learn about the electromagnetic spectrum and see how light can spin a light windmill, as well as invisible gasses and how though they are invisible, they are real and have measurable properties. There will also be an exhibit showing a boat floating in a pool of carbon dioxide. For biology buffs, there will be interesting exhibits of glowing flowers and a microscope where they will get to see their own blood vessels pumping in real time.

In addition, they will learn how humans are able to shape the forces of nature to carry out their will, interact with a Stirling engine which is a machine that converts heat into motion, and experience what it would be like looking out of a window of the International Space Station.

Curtin Malaysia Open Day 2017, the campus’ eleventh open day, promises to give visitors an exciting taste of life at Curtin University’s largest international campus and global hub in Asia. Geared to offer a fun, hands-on learning experience in a festival-like atmosphere, it will be a chance for potential students to explore its campus, learn about the courses it offers, and speak with lecturers and current students.

Each year, the event attracts thousands of visitors and a sizeable crowd is expected again this year, including over 400 secondary school students.

Apart from the ‘Future Students Hub’ and ‘Faculty Showcases’, other attractions on the day will include faculty-run competitions and the second annual Curtin Croc Challenge and Curtin Gaming Championship, an art exhibition and competition, food and retail stalls, a community corner, day-long live entertainment and guided tours of the campus.

For more details, visit openday.curtin.edu.my, call 085-443 806 or email corpcomm@curtin.edu.my.  

Visitors will be fascinated by Department of Applied Geology’s exhibits.

Visitors can be play the roles of engineers and participate in fun learning activities.

Visitor viewing microfossil under a microscope.

Exhibits will include an interesting array of robotics.