Students gain better insight into industry at Curtin Sarawak Chemical Engineering Days

Miri – 27 August 2012 – Chemical Engineering Days 2012 organised by the Chemical Engineering Student Club (CESC) of Curtin University, Sarawak Malaysia (Curtin Sarawak) offered valuable insights into the chemical engineering industry for 72 students who attended the event.

The 2-day event was supported by the Department of Chemical Engineering of the university’s School of Engineering and Science and sponsored by Dayang Enterprise Sdn. Bhd., United GI Product Sdn. Bhd., Mega Hotel, ParkCity Everly Hotel Miri and AT Sport.

Themed ‘Towards Career Insight & Engineering Competency’, the event aimed to help the students acquire professional and leadership skills and at the same time, provide insights into careers in chemical engineering. It also aimed to give pointers to those who will be participating in national chemical engineering competitions in the near future.

The highlights of the event were industrial talks by four invited speakers. They were Wong Lin Siong of Bintulu Lumber Development, Theodosis Yianni Kantou of Ranhill Worley Parson, Tang Lu Wee of Wehaya Engineering and Francis Wong of Shell Malaysia.

Wong Lin Siong’s talk entitled ‘Palm Oil Processing: Prospects and Rewards’ touched on the processes of palm oil production and career prospects in the palm oil industry for fresh graduates.

In his talk entitled ‘Engineer as Manager’, Kantou shared his experiences as both an engineer and manager.
This was followed by a talk on ‘Effective Communication and Teamwork Skills in Engineering Career’ by Tang, who spoke on the importance of good communication and teamwork.

Meanwhile, Francis Wong shared his personal experience progressing from engineering student to engineer in his short video of life at an offshore installation, which he presented as part of his talk entitled ‘From Student Engineer to Chemical Engineer’.

Apart from the talks, there were games and lucky draws, and competitions such as the ‘Chem-E-Car Competition’ and ‘Naces Internal 2012 Competition’ designed to test the students’ technical and soft skills.

In her opening speech, President of the CESC and event organising chairperson Hiew Wan Jun encouraged the students to join activities that can enhance their soft skills and expressed hopes that they will continually benefit from such events as the Chemical Engineering Days 2012.

During the closing ceremony, Head of the Department of Chemical Engineering Associate Professor Dr. Chua Han Bing congratulated the working committee for a successful event.

Dean of School of Engineering and Science Professor Dr. Yudi Samyudia in his speech, meanwhile, commented that participation in extracurricular activities are equally important for the development of soft skills and technical skills as classroom learning.

Participants of Chemical Engineering Day 2012 at the close of the event.

Theodosis Yianni Kantou of Ranhill Worley Parson giving his talk.