Over 900 visitors attend IEEE National Exhibition at Curtin Sarawak

Miri – 2 September 2013 – The 4th Institution of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) National Exhibition held recently over two days at Curtin University, Sarawak Malaysia (Curtin Sarawak) attracted over 900 visitors.

It was attended by Curtin Sarawak’s electrical and computer engineering and mechanical engineering students, as well as postgraduate students from Multimedia University and University Teknologi MARA and students from a number of local secondary schools.

Held at Curtin Sarawak’s Recreation & Event Centre, the exhibition was jointly organised by the Curtin Sarawak IEEE Student Branch, the university’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Engineering in Medicine and Biology (EBMS) Malaysia Chapter.

Local businessman and philanthropist Hii King Chiong was the guest of honour at the exhibition’s opening ceremony. He was also the event’s main sponsor.

Also present were Curtin Sarawak’s pro vice-chancellor, Professor Jim Mienczakowski, and  representatives from Malaysian Development Corporation (MDeC), X-FAB Silicon Foundries and F-Secure Corporation, which sponsored the event along with RS Components, as well as representatives of DreamCatcher and Agilent Technologies.

Themed ‘Technology of the New Era’, the exhibition offered an opportunity for the participating students to showcase their projects and impart knowledge to the community through a two-way learning environment, as well as meet and network with industry experts and event supporters.

In addition, it created technological awareness through the showcasing of simple and cheap technological solutions to simple everyday problems which the community can easily adopt.

Besides project showcases, there were workshops, talks and competitions. The first two workshops were entitled ‘iCipta Arduino Workshop’ and ‘Who can Assemble a Computer the Fastest?’, while the third focused on cable crimping.

Staff of MDeC and X-FAB delivered talks entitled ‘ICT as a Career of Choice’ and ‘How to get hired: Expectations and Challenges Working in the High Technology Industry’ respectively.

Meanwhile, Curtin Sarawak’s ‘The Omniwheel Robot’ won the event’s Project of the Year Award. UiTM’s ‘A Neurofeedback Protocol for Writing Disorder Intervention for Dyslexic Children’ and MMU’s ‘Video Event Analyser’ placed second and third respectively.

In the Best Technical Paper categories, the winners were ‘Robotic Arm: Design and Construction of a 5-Degree of Freedom Industrial Manipulator’ (Best Technical Paper – Automation & Robotics); ‘Autonomous Vacuum Cleaner’ (Best Technical Paper – Electronics & Electrical Power); ‘Markerless Athlete Motion Analyser’ (Best Technical Paper – Signal, Image and Video Processing); and ‘A Novel Mn(TPP)Cl-Ionophore DOP Plasticizer PVC Membrane for n-Channel Silicon Nitrate ISFET Sensitive to Histamine’(Best Technical Paper – Biomedical and Biomechanics Devices).

Curtin Sarawak IEEE Student Branch chairperson Esther Ling, a final-year electrical power engineering student, said the exhibition achieved its objectives of sharing knowledge and growing ideas in line with its theme of improving on or changing technology towards achieving a better tomorrow.

IEEE, founded in the United States, is the world’s largest technical professional society and serves to advance innovation and technology for the benefit of humanity. Its members consist of professionals from the electrical, electronic and computing fields as well as areas related to science and technology. The IEEE Student Branch at Curtin Sarawak was established in 2008 and currently has about 50 members.

For the latest updates on Curtin Sarawak IEEE Student Branch, visit its Facebook page at www.facebook.com/CurtinSarawak.IEEE.

Professor Mienczakowski and Hii officiating at the opening ceremony.

Curtin Sarawak IEEE Student Branch chairperson Esther Ling (4th right) posing with industry representatives.

Electronic and communication engineering student Basil Andy Lease receiving the Project of the Year Award from Ng Kam Loong of X-FAB.