Curtin Sarawak HDR student demonstrates research communication skills in Australian competition

Miri – 22 October 2012 – A higher degree by research (HDR) student of Curtin University, Sarawak Malaysia (Curtin Sarawak), Chin Pin Rui, recently represented his varsity in the biannual Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition organised by the University of Queensland, Australia.

The 3MT is a research communication competition that aims to develop research students’ academic, presentation and research communication skills through a three-minute research presentation describing their thesis topics to an intelligent but non-specialist audience.

The competition, which is held in September and October each year, also promotes an active research culture among HDR students, as well as provides a platform for them to showcase their varied and high quality research.

The first stage of the competition involves heats at faculty level in participating Australian universities or their branch campuses. The winners of the faculty heats will then compete in university-wide finals followed by a second stage where the finalists from the university-wide finals will compete in the grand finale that takes place at the University of Queensland.

Chin entered the university-wide final competition at Curtin’s main campus at Bentley in Perth after winning the Curtin Sarawak heat.

In his presentation entitled ‘Wireless, Electric Wire, Power Line Communication’, Chin impersonated the Joker, one of the villains in the 2008 Batman movie, ‘The Dark Knight’.

In his improvisation of the movie’s plot, Chin (a.k.a. The Joker) schemes to get his revenge after Batman catches him using Sonar Vision technology by carrying out research on Power Line Communication (PLC) that will provide simultaneous electricity and communication, therefore allowing the Joker to manipulate all the machines and electrical devices in Gotham City.

Chin said that although he is a shy person, he challenged himself to join the competition for the experience.

“It was a wonderful experience and excellent learning opportunity for me to compete with other HDR students from the Bentley Campus. I encourage all research students to participate in similar competitions as it is crucial to learn how to share your research outcomes with non-specialist audiences and convince them to buy your ideas,” he said.

Chin, whose research interest is in control engineering and power line communication, is currently pursuing a Master of Philosophy (Electrical and Computer Engineering) at Curtin Sarawak and also works as a teaching assistant in the university’s School of Engineering and Science.

In addition to winning the Samling Best Electrical Engineering Graduate Award at Curtin Sarawak’s 2012 Award and Scholarship Ceremony and the Institution of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) Power and Energy Chapter Award 2012, Chin was awarded a Curtin Sarawak Postgraduate Scholarship for his current postgraduate study.

Chin presenting his thesis in the first stage of the competition at the Bentley Campus.

Chin (2nd left) posing with the 3MT finalists.