Curtin Sarawak chemical engineering students top winners in NACES 2014

Miri – 15 December 2014 – Chemical engineering students of Curtin University, Sarawak Malaysia (Curtin Sarawak) put up a strong showing at the recent National Chemical Engineering Symposium (NACES) 2014 held at Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS in Tronoh, Perak.

Second-year students Shanya Cheekhooree and Kanthan Theva Kumaran won first and second place respectively in the Technical Case Study category.

Meanwhile, a team of four final-year students comprising How Teck Kien, Melissa Siaw Yiin Aing, Lee Chin Kwan and Jude Dominc Lim Zhao Xiang advanced to the finals in the Technical Power Point Presentation category.

The students were supervised by chemical engineering lecturers Dr. Stephanie Chan Yen San and Lau Shiew Wei.

NACES is an annual event organised by the Chemical Engineering Student Society chapters of universities in Malaysia in collaboration with the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) Malaysia. It provides a platform for chemical engineering students from both public and private institutions of higher learning to showcase their creativity and innovative ideas in addressing environmental issues in the country.

This year’s event carried the theme ‘Sustainable Energy: Green Technology for Better Tomorrow’. The participants competed in seven categories – Technical Essay Writing, Technical Case Study, Technical Power Point Presentation, Technical Video Presentation, Chemical Engineering Challenge, Process Plant Design, and Chem-E-Car Challenge.

The Curtin Sarawak teams participated in two categories, Technical Case Study and Technical Power Point Presentation.

According to Dr. Chan, the students demonstrated excellent teamwork in presenting their ideas, both in the Technical Case Study and Technical Power Point categories.

Lau, meanwhile, commented that the students put considerable effort into applying their research and chemical engineering knowledge in the competition, as well as honing their presentation skills to ensure a good showing.

“In the Technical Case Study category, students get to mingle with their peers from other universities in a team project. It is a great opportunity for them to build their self-confidence, interpersonal skills and teamwork. All these are desired graduate attributes we aim to cultivate among our students throughout their course at Curtin Sarawak,” she said.

The case study this year involved solving river pollution issues in Sungai Pinang, a township near Jelutong, Penang.

Dr. Chan added that she is proud that Curtin Sarawak has been chosen to host next year’s NACES, which will be a significant milestone for the university.

For more information on Curtin Sarawak, visit its website at www.curtin.edu.my, its Facebook page at facebook.com/CurtinUniversitySarawakMalaysia, Twitter profile at twitter.com/curtinsarawak, YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/user/CurtinUniSarawak, or Instagram at instagram.com/curtinsarawak.

The students posing with Dr. Chan (back row, left) at the end of the competition.

Shanya (left) and students from other universities posing with their awards.