Civil Engineering at UTP for semester May 2014 intake

I still remember Azhari Haron, one of the first student I taught at UTP. During that time, there were not many lecturers at the department. He and his batch had to learn from me from one semester to another. I can understand his frustration of seeing me again and again hahaha... Nowadays, you will be taught by different lecturers for different courses because we are 31 in numbers.

I hope I did him well. By looking at his success now, maybe he needs to belanja me one of the expensive beriyani-kambing in KL.

The new intake for May 2014 is still open. Check out the details here http://www.utp.edu.my/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1359&Itemid=2929

UTP @ 2014 Formula 1 PETRONAS Malaysia Grand Prix Showcase

For the first time…

UTP will be participating in 2014 Formula 1 PETRONAS Malaysia Grand Prix Showcase at Esplanade KLCC (Near Suria KLCC Park Entrance) from 22th to 30th March 2014.

Please support this event by informing your family members and friends about this. Also, prospective students can apply directly and submit the required documents for May 2014 Intake at the exhibition booth.

See you there!

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Guys,

Some of you might already know that I am the Programme Manager for MSc in Offshore Engineering. This programme, insyaAllah will be offered by September 2014. We will have our first intake. At the moment, we are submitting all the documents to MQA and MOE so that the programme can be opened officially.

I will be promoting the MSc in Offshore Engineering programme from 28-30th March (see the schedule below). This includes consultation sessions to interested individuals/parties who want to enroll. So, don't miss this opportunity to meet us.

For potential undergraduates, the preview will be conducted everyday from 22-30th March.

You can also do a lot of things at the park. There should be plenty of activities for you to participate and also for the kids. So bring the whole family!

See you there!

Pelawat terkenal

You can spot me if you can spot my sneakers ;)

Result for Highest Early Strength Concrete Cube Competition 2013 (HESCCC 13)

I am proud to announce that UTP has sapu bersih all the top prizes in this competition. We sent three teams and all of them won. 

We are quite lucky to beat LaFarge (one of the prominent cement/concrete supplier in the world) and engineering-renowned university such as UTM. Perhaps next year this event will be more competitive. We will see.

While testing the UTP cube, I was told that the compression testing machine at UiTM broke down with an explosion! I hope we don’t get banned for this in the next year’s event ;)

Below is the email sent by the team leader, Mr Hafiz Baharun.

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Left to right: Noorzaireen Bt Mohd Azmee, Chang Kok Yung, Sadaqat Ullah Khan,  Johan Ariff B Mohamed, Muhammad Hafiz B Baharun and Siti Nooriza Bt Razak

Assalammualaikum,

Dear Sir / Madam,

Concrete Technology Laboratory,UTP had sent three groups to participate in Highest Early Strength Concrete Cube Competition (HESCCC 13) last week at UiTM Shah Alam (19th April 2013 – 20th April 2013). This event is organized by AmericanConcrete Society (ACI-KL) together with Concrete Society Malaysia (CSM).

Alhamdulillah all three groups (UTP Team) out of 36 groups participate, we won the competition for categories involved below ;

Category A – Student Category

1st Place – Noorzaireen Bt Mohd Azmee and Chang Kok Yung (Concrete Strength – 105Mpa)

Category B – Academic Staff / Industri

1st Place  – Muhammad Hafiz B Baharun and Siti Nooriza Bt Razak (Concrete Strength – 95Mpa)

2nd Place – Johan Ariff B Mohamed and Sadaqat Ullah Khan (Concrete Strength – 77Mpa)

On behalf of the team, I would like to thanks Prof Ir Dr Muhd Fadhil Nuruddin to be our advisor for giving us support and encouragement to participate in this competition.

Not to forget En. Shaharuddin, Technologist from Chemical Department for providing the required chemical and  En. Jani & En. Hafiz, Technologist from Mechanical Department for fabricate paddle to mix the concrete

Attached herewith is the pictures of our glorious moment. Last but not least, thanks for all of your support in this competition.

Best Regards

Muhammad Hafiz B Baharun

UTP Team Leader

Highest Early Strength Concrete Cube Competition 13

New friends

Riduan and Eko.

One of the good thing in attending conference was that you are going to get new friends. Riduan and Eko, both are doing their PhD in Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane, Australia. The former is a UTHM lecturer doing his PhD in Project Management while the latter is an Surabayan, doing his PhD in Geotechnical Engineering. Since my PhD was also from Australia, we were like brothers. Australian alumni.

One of the key advice I gave to Riduan was to make sure that he visited Sydney (he has never been there even though finishing in January 2013!) and also to make sure that he bring back at least one BBQ grill set. Otherwise, you cannot call yourself as an alumni ;)

Shamelessly, we use the advantage of Eko, being a local, to take us to shop and dine in Surabaya. We went to the infamous Ampel, a shopping district and Mirota, a shopping centre for batik. Later we dine at Bumbu Desa.

Well bro Riduan and Eko if you read this, nice to know you. Please keep in touch. I hope to meet you guys again at UTP's ESTCON 2014.

The dishes to choose from.

Attending APSEC-ICCER 2012

Official website ASPEC-ICCER 2012.

Alhamdulillah, I have presented two technical papers on this conference, held at Mercure Hotel, Surabaya, Indonesia. The conference was joint organize by UTM and Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS), Indonesia. FYI, I am a graduate from UTM for my bachelor and master degree. This is to my advantage as I know the majority of the UTM academics attending the conference, ex-lecturers and classmates. I feel like I was at home.

There were 5 keynote lectures which was the highlight at any conference. The best was delivered by Prof. Ir. Dr. Wahid Omar. The topic was on his team's experience managing RM1 billion of developing new buildings in UTM in JB and KL. The team consists of faculty members of UTM. One of the advantage is that the data that they received, they can analysed academically. The perceptions can be verified. One of the key findings was that the consultants and contractors involved in the projects were indifferent when sustainability was taken into considerations.

I was in the team with Prof Omar when I did my MSc. I am glad he still remembers me. We chat like a long lost friend.

The stage for keynote lectures and one of the paralel sessions.

My two papers. One of it is considered to be included in UTM's technical journal, I was told.

One of the keynote lectures.

Gala dinner on the first night.

Me in action.

Receiving the certificate of presentation right after the lecture.

EPW for MSc Offshore Engineering

EPW stands for Expert Panel Workshop.

This is the standard procedure for an institution offering a new course as guided by MQA, the governing body for higher learning.

In this workshop, you need to invite the industrial experts from the relevant industries to discuss and comments on the courses offered in the program.

We had nine experts altogether from Petronas, Shell and so on. This is on track with the program going to be offered.

The two days event was conducted smoothly. We got all the comments needed on the first day. On the second day, it is time for the academics to consolidate whatever that have been commented.

Me, as the Program Manager is targetting that this program will be offered in May 2013. If anyone of you who are interested to know more about UTP's MSc in Offshore Engineering, may write to me and I will entertain as much as I could, as this is my baby.

 Repertoire.

 Group 1 with 10 courses to look into.

Group 2 with the other 10 courses.

Yes, Impiana KLCC room is cosy.

2nd internship visit

At UTP, the students will do their internship for 7 month - currently the longest internship duration in Malaysia. It runs for almost 2 semesters (1 semester = 4 months - UTP is running trimester per year). Internship program is considered as one of the main strength in bachelor degree program.

The intention is that once the students has completed their internship, they will come back to UTP as a new person. From a student to a pre-engineer. If they didn't change, I considered them as failures even though they passed on paper.

For the UTP supervisors such as me, I have to meet them twice at site. First during the beginning of their internship to check on the plan provided by the hosting company, to make sure that the whole internship program on that company will benefit the students to the max.

Then, a few weeks before the internship ends, another visit will be conducted (2nd internship visit). This is the most critical since the students will have to present their works. The site supervisor from the hosting company will evaluate them by giving marks. At the end of the session, each of the students will be given a certificate of completion.

Last week I went to conduct the 2nd visit for 3 days. It was hectic but it was fun as well. Other than just visiting, I have made contact with the hosting companies. Some may even end with a research collaborations.

UEM Builders (you know them because so many construction projects they were involved).

SapuraAcergy (Offshore engineering design).

Two students at Wawasan Juruperunding (they have keen interest in Pahang state development especially in Raub and its surrounding areas).

RB Consult (international bridge specialists)

Kor Jurutera Perunding (Kajang's best)

Sime Darby Plantation - Engineering Division (they got 5-6 months bonus last year?)

PETRONAS Operation Gurun, Kedah (controlling the gas pipelines in the northern region)

Impiana KLCC again

OK I know, is this going to be a blog which promotes hotels, you ask (again)? Absolutely not. But since I have been on and off to KL quite a lot this few weeks, I might as well put on something.

The room I got this time is the typical room. Smaller than the last one. I have no complain on the room but I realize now that the breakfast was dull since the menu doesn't change much. This is definitely a sign for me to request for a different hotel next time. Probably Corus or TheZone. Not much of a choice anyway since I am bounded by the rate (max RM350 per night? Not really sure but definitely not Mandarin Oriental or Traders kind of hotels).

Room rate is about RM330? Can't really remember.

Anyway, I was in KL again for a meeting with the guys in Petronas on a different project. Although I am not the Principal Investigator on this one, but on the meeting I have volunteered myself to look upon one very critical issue - which means, my task is not that easy anymore. Due to that, I am going to KL again next week to meet these guys. Yes, this time no more Impiana!

 I have 4 projects with Petronas now. No wonder I find time nowadays runs very fast!

p/s: I am planning to do my industrial attachment for 4 months starting September this year. Hopefully in a Oil & Gas industry, specifically in a design office - designing offshore platforms or floaters or anything related. Anyone of you have any contacts with such company?

Deepwater Well Engineering, Park Royal Hotel 26-30 March 2012

I attended a short course for drilling and well engineers on deepwater well engineering (the title). It was supposed to be a course for these engineers to bridge their knowledge of shallow water drilling to deepwater drilling. Deepwater means where drilling works are more than 500 feet. The urgency for this course is that, in the South East Asia region, deepwater drilling has started to grow.

It was a good course (although it can be better) for an outsider like me to have a perspective on the drilling activities and the related issues on it. I see some issues discussed in this forum can be resolved by doing research. Well, that was why I am there (with a fee close to RM15K). The other academic attended this course was an Assoc Prof from University of Stavanger, Norway who flew all the way from there!

If there is a blank paper, I cannot help myself from conteng-conteng on it.

My discussion group. The task was to analyze the Deepwater Horizon disaster report and to suggest preventive actions that can be taken to avoid the same mistakes in future operations. (L to R - Dusan from Talisman, Kopal from Schlumberger, Budi from Weatherford, Sijad from ???, me and Ismail from Shell). I am the only one who is a not a drilling engineer ;)

It was an intense discussions!

"My son has the same name as you so I have to take your photo for him..."

Group presentations.

There are also PETRONAS people, two of them graduated from UTP.

Kopal in action. Note I sat at the first row. A good practice as I was eager to learn.

The Professor. Jalal A Elhilal, a Syrian now UK/US citizen. Lives in Aberdeen, Scotland. Two MSc degrees and a PhD in Nuclear Chemistry. I asked him, "How do you become a drilling specialist when your PhD has nothing to do with it?" He replied, "I did the PhD because the French government wanted to do a research on nuclear related issues which I just took it but then drilling engineer is better as a job - it pays much better".

Nobody argued the best part of the course - buffet lunch!

Jepun mahu bina lif ke angkasa (Space Elevator)

Can someone please explain this to me? I cannot grasp it.

TOKYO - Sebuah firma pembinaan Jepun mendakwa semalam ia mampu melaksanakan rancangan luar biasa untuk meletakkan pelancong di angkasa lepas dalam tempoh 40 tahun dengan membina sebuah lif setinggi 96,000 kilometer (km) atau suku jarak Bumi ke bulan.

Firma Obayashi Corp mendakwa lif itu boleh dibina dengan menggunakan teknologi karbon nanotube yang lebih 20 kali ganda lebih kuat daripada besi.

Menurut firma berkenaan, lif itu dapat membawa sehingga 30 penumpang pada sesuatu masa dan bergerak pada kelajuan 200 kilometer sejam selama seminggu sebelum berhenti di sebuah stesen pada jarak 36,000km.

Ketua projek itu, Satomi Katsuyama berkata, pelancong akan tinggal di stesen berkenaan manakala kumpulan penyelidik dan pakar akan meneruskan perjalanan.

"Manusia sejak dahulu lagi kagum dengan menara tinggi. Kami akan membina lif ini dari angkasa lepas dan bukan Bumi," katanya.

Walaupun Katsuyama yakin pelan tersebut akan berjaya, beliau belum menetapkan anggaran kos, lokasi dan pembiaya bagi membina struktur berkenaan.

Firma itu membina bangunan tertinggi di Jepun, Tokyo Sky Tree, yang setinggi 634 meter.

Antara penglibatan syarikat itu dalam pembinaan bangunan ialah Dubai Metro di Emiriyah Arab Bersatu (UAE), Studio Universal Osaka, Jepun dan Stadium Australia yang digunakan untuk Sukan Olimpik Sydney. - AFP

SOURCE
FURTHER READ
www.obayashi.co.jp/english/
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obayashi_Corporation

Workshop on The Art of Writing Publishable Scientific Manuscript and Beyond

I attended the program by Prof. Dr. Bassim Hameed from USM conducted at UTP. Very nice workshop. He will explained to you how a journal paper work so you can strategize better when submitting your paper. And the "politics" involve in the world of journal circle.

His achievement last year: 34 journal papers that came out from 11 PhD and 3 MSc students.

Attentive.

Concentrating. Me and my dear friend currently doing his PhD in UTP; Ir. Mubarak Wahab

And everyone's favourite... Group photo!

His advices for supervisors:

1. Only supervise good students.

2. Good students will always produce papers.

3. Give more attention to MSc students because they need help more than the PhD.

4. Target which journal you want to send first, before start writing.

5. Don't target on impact factor, but target for the community of relevance. Citation is more important. If the paper is not read, it will definitely will not be cited.

6. Always target for the best journal - which means, always conduct a good research.

He used this strategy since 2004 and the results were impressive.

The workshop was beneficial to us. I am going to send my 3 MSc students to attend his workshop in Penang at the end of the month.

Seminar on Fire Design for Steel Framed Building, Hotel Singgahsana PJ, 12/12/2011

Saya datang dengan beberapa soalan untuk program research saya. Bila masuk je sesi soal jawab, saya terus tembak dua soalan. Semasa masa rehat, saya terus meluru untuk melanjutkan lagi beberapa soalan. Seolah-olah saya orang yang lapar. Duduk pun paling depan.

Prof Plank memberi isyarat kepada saya untuk sambung sesi diskusi selepas presentation. Namun setelah selesai, beliau terpaksa menghadiri program yang lain. Dia mengucapkan maaf tetapi beliau menyuruh saya menulis email kepada beliau untuk lanjutan perbincangan. Nampak dia berminat dengan masalah yang saya utarakan. Muka beliau nampak bersinar semacam.

Saya juga berjumpa dengan seorang jurutera yang juga banyak memberi input kepada saya tentang permasalahan saya. Beliau juga berminat untuk berbincang lanjut.

Prof Dr. Azlan, ex-pensyarah saya di UTM (masih ingat kepada saya) juga saya approach dan berbincang mengenai satu kajian yang sedang dijalankan di Lehigh University - yang mungkin boleh diadaptasi pada keadaan tempatan. Peluang baru.

Seminar ini membuka banyak ruang baru kepada saya. Idea-idea baru juga timbul. Yang saya kena fikirkan sekarang ialah kederat - mampu atau tidak.

About Professor Roger Plank
Professor Plank is active in both research and consultancy work. He has held several positions as visiting professor and has chaired a number of committees for the UK and European steel construction sector. Roger had a leading role in establishing the internationally renowned structural fire engineering research group. This played a key role in Cardington fire test programme on BRE's Large Building Test Facility, which has had a major influence on structural fire engineering design. Among Roger's many achievements he received the Institution's Henry Adams Award (1997), and the ASCE's Raymond C Reese Research Award (2005). His research in steel structural fire engineering has also led to the development of the award-winning design software, Vulcan which is being increasingly used in practice.

CIDB Seminar Petroleum & Gas - Gambaran dan Peluang Perniagaan 2011

Saya hadir seminar untuk promosi program MSc in Offshore Structures yang saya sedang uruskan. Ya, kerja sebagai pensyarah termasuk juga hal marketing.

Sebelum ini industri O&G agak ekslusif. Kisah O&G hanya berkisar sekitar pemain-pemain O&G saja. Beberapa tahun lepas, MSSA ada usaha untuk merapatkan jurang tersebut kerana industri O&G juga menggunakan bahan structural steel dalam industri mereka; tetapi tidak berhasil.

Hanya sekarang baru nampak industri O&G lebih terbuka. Peluang-peluang untuk kontraktor terjun ke dalam industri ini adalah agenda utama dalam seminar ini. Agaknya sebab itu kehadiran hampir penuh untuk seminar ini.

Paling penting ialah mengetahui budaya O&G yang agak berbeza dengan industri pembinaan lain. Kena upgrade 2-3 kali ganda sebelum benar-benar layak untuk terjun.

UTP dapat slot khas untuk seminar ini melalui kertas kerja oleh Ketua Jabatan Kejururuteraan Awam, UTP yang bertajuk lebih kurang - peluang-peluang di dalam industri O&G.

Kertas kerja oleh Ketua Jabatan Kejururuteraan Awam, UTP.

Nampak booth saya di belakang tu?

From the booth's point of view.

Kepelbagaian dalam penyelidikan

Zaman sekarang, kepelbagaian adalah lumrah.

Telefon bimbit bukan sekadar alat komunikasi. Ia juga adalah komputer mini, organizer, kamera mini dan alat menonton siaran TV. Mungkin lebih banyak dari itu.

Begitu juga dengan ahli akademik. Tugas hakiki mereka bukan sekadar memberi kuliah. Mereka juga harus menjadi penyelidik, konsultan, salesman, pengurus dan lain-lain lagi. Mungkin jika mereka 100% mengkaji, lebih cepat protege Isaac Newton, Johannes Kepler dan Albert Einstein (yang beriman) akan muncul dari kawasan kita. Yang kita tidak mahu ialah Charles Darwin.


Apapun, zaman ini mahu atau tidak, kepelbagaian adalah satu norma. Dalam penyelidikan, ahli akademik akan lumpuh jika beliau sekadar duduk dalam pengkhususan beliau saja.


Di USA, National Science Foundation agensi kerajaan yang memperuntukkan wang untuk kajian hampir sudah tidak ada peruntukan kepada bidang kajian yang 100% Civil Engineering. Jika ada pun, terlampau kecil. 


Di UTP juga, pengkhususan kajian yang menjadi fokus juga bukan semua ahli akademiknya mempunyai latarbelakang yang sama dengan fokus tersebut. Oleht sebab itu, ahli akademik perlu mempelbagaikan penyelidikan supaya sentiasa relevan dengan keadaan semasa.


Sebab itu sekarang saya sedang membelek istilah safety climate yang disebut-sebut oleh Dr Fakir Fikir. Mungkin istilah Psychology Engineering pula akan menjadi satu norma di Malaysia satu hari nanti.

Kesibukan ahli akademik

Dua sahabat saya, Dr. Fakir Fikir (UM) dan Dr. Airil (UTM) secara direct dan indirectly memberi semangat kepada saya untuk menghalakan dengan betul arah tuju saya. Sebenarnya ramai lagi, cuma mereka berdua ini lebih mudah untuk diikuti perkembangan mereka kerana mereka juga adalah blogger. Saya mendapat banyak manfaat dari mereka.

Kerajaan kita sudah memulakan transformasi. Suka atau tidak, ia memberi kesan kepada ahli akademik. Ini menyebabkan kesibukan. Jika tidak sibuk, anda akan terlepas kapal.

Apabila ada peluang, saya selalu katakan kepada pelajar UTP yang berwarganegara Malaysia, jika anda tidak ambil peluang buat research untuk MSc dan PhD di IPTA/IPTS, ia akan disambar oleh pelajar luar negara yang majoritinya akan kembali ke negara asal dan tidak menyumbang kembali kepada negara kita. Kebanyakan IPT menyediakan elaun bulanan (dan fee waiver) jika MSc dibuat dengan reserach. Begitu juga dengan PhD. Lubang-lubang ini banyak dan tidak kedapatan di negara lain (yang mungkin lebih kompetetif). Sebab itu ramai pelajar luar membanjiri negara kita sekarang ini untuk peluang buat MSc dan PhD, DIBAYAR.

Untuk MSc, anda akan korbankan masa 1.5 hingga 2 tahun. Untuk PhD, 3-4 tahun. Anda boleh buat analisis feasibility mengenai keuntungannya jika dibandingkan dengan bekerja terus selepas ijazah pertama. Dalam sebuah contoh kerja dalam buku Engineering Economy 15th Edition (author: Sullivan), jika diambil kira hingga umur pencen (60 tahun), memang korbankan masa untuk MSc atau PhD lebih baik dari segi perolehan wang. Itu belum mengambil kira yang anda DIBAYAR untuk menyiapkan MSc dan PhD (by research).

Oleh itu, silalah apply. DI SINI Peluang terbuka luas.

Dua Geran penyelidikan saya telah approve bejumlah RM300K dan dengan geran ini 3 calon MSc akan dibayar untuk menyiapkan kerja research mereka (permohononan ditutup kerana saya sudah mempunyai calon yang sesuai). Mereka akan dibiayai selama2 tahun.

Bekas supervisor saya di Australia juga telah menjemput saya untuk menulis satu bab buku mengenai penggunaan FRP. Saya bersetuju.

Petronas juga sekarang begitu rapat dengan UTP untuk melakukan penyelidikan. Berbeza dengan beberapa tahun lepas. Isnin depan saya akan KLCC untuk round-table discussion mengenai satu prospek projek bersama Petronas dan industri.

Saya juga perlu memikirkan beberapa buah karya teknikal yang perlu diselesaikan yang sudah lama tergantung.

Juga dua course yang perlu dikuliahkan untuk semester depan. Tambah kepada MSc in Offshore Structures (by taught course) yang sekarang sedang saya lead untuk ditawarkan akhir tahun depan. Oh ya, juga student exchange program antara Lehigh University dan UTP yang juga saya lead.

Jika dikumpulkan semua dalam kepala, memang akan jadi skrin biru. Jammed.

Ini kesibukan berganda. Tetapi lebih baik dari tidak buat apa-apa.

Tiada lagi istilah Prof kangkung di Malaysia, insyaAllah.

SKG11 Biannual Forum 2011

Held at Pan Pacific, KLIA.

SKG11 ialah Skill Group dalam PETRONAS yang berkaitan dengan Civil, Structures & Pipelines.

Saya ditugaskan untuk buka booth untuk promosi MSc in Offshore Structures yang akan ditawarkan oleh UTP pada Sept 2012. Saya adalah Program Manager untuk MSc ini. Oleh sebab itu saya sendiri kena promote ;)

Jaga booth.

Mastermind (my Head of Department) dapat slot khas untuk promote MSc in Offshore Structures.

About 30% of the participants are ex-UTP students. Sempat sembang-sembang dengan mereka. Jurutera PETRONAS yang hebat!

Lobi. Apa la tak ready lagi dah snap...

Dua proposal research grant saya telah diendorsed oleh senior staffs PETRONAS. Moga ini menambah pemberat untuk saya dianugerahkan grant tersebut. Total fund requested = RM300K.

*semua gambar diambil oleh wife ;)