Makerthon 2017 USM KKJ

by Events

On 27th, 28th and 30th October 2017, Makerthon had been organized at USM Engineering Campus by USM IEEE Student Branch. Makerthon is an event which requires participants to create a project related to the theme of “Sustainability” by using their creativity and innovative. The sponsorship from National Instruments Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. and Cytron Technologies Sdn. Bhd. were the key factors to the success of Makerthon 2017. National Instruments Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. had sponsor in terms of financial aid for the project while Cytron Technologies Sdn. Bhd. had contributed by providing WiFi Module, Esp8266 for the development of projects. Three days of Makerthon were divided into Makerthon Workshop Day, Makerthon Project Development Day and Makerthon Competition Day.and workshops, including the annual IEEEXtreme Programming Competition.

On the first day of Makerthon, three workshops, Arduino workshop, SolidWorks workshop and IoT workshop were being carried out simultaneously to let participants learned basic skills for their project development. Participants were being divided into nine groups with three people each group. One mentor was assigned to each group to guide the participants. Each participant from three-member-group choose different workshop to join. At the end of the first day, the group members combined together the skills that each of them had learnt to brainstorm out the idea for their project development for the following day. These workshops ensure that those participants learn the basics of SolidWorks, Arduino and IoT so that they were able to realize their project idea.

The second day was the Makerthon Project Development Day. Starting from 8.00 am to 12.00 am, the participants had to develop project from scratches by utilizing Solidworks, Arduino, IoT and other facilities with minimal assistances from facilitator. Before the participants began to develop their project, they had to complete the first task given to them which was company introduction. They were given 2 minutes to pitch on their project. Then, by the end of the event, participants came out with their project which would be grading on the next day of Makerthon competition. This event aims at providing the opportunity for the participants to develop solution for real life problems identified with the skill set and knowledge acquired in the preceding workshop session.

On the Makerthon Competition Day, participants have to promote their projects in front of judges from industries and university during pitching session. This session aim to give the opportunity to the participants to experience the pitching process of a start-up product so that they are able to promote the product they create in the future. For this session, the superiority of project and participants’ pitching skills would determine the marks given by judges. After the participants setup their prototype, the pitching session began. It was the honour of USM IEEE Student Branch of USM KKj to be able to invite representative from company to be the judges for Makerthon Competition which were Mr. Lokesh Anand Vijayakumaran from National Instruments Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., Mr. Mohd Zamzuri Bin Zakaria from Cytron Technologies Sdn. Bhd., Mr. Yusman bin Mohd. Yusof from SilTerra Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., Mr Loke Boon Chai from Sandisk Storage Malaysia Sdn. Bhd and Assc. Prof. Ir. Dr. Rosmiwati Bt. Mohd Mokhtar from USM. After the pitching session, representative of National Instruments Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. shared the experience of working at the company and an info-sharing booth for their internship program was set up on that day.

Makerthon 2017 ended with the announcement of winners. The champion of Makerthon Competition 2017 was group “CAT” with their project “Morse Code Generator” which is a device that is targeted to ease the communication of blind people using morse code. It was followed up by the first runner up, group “Interlink” with their project “EasyPark App” which is an app that help driver to find parking place easily. The second runner up was group “Re-Life” with the project “Re-Light” which is a creation that focus on automatic light control. It was the pleasure for the participants to be able to have the judges from industry to give some technical review on the overall performance at the end of the Makerthon Competition.

Makerthon was indeed an excellent platform for participant to release their creativity to create new products that bring benefits to the world. It was a great experience for the participants to improve themselves either in terms of technical skill, problem solving skills or interpersonal skills. Makerthon 2017 was considered successful to be able to bring participants one step closer to the journey of makers.

 

 

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Entrepreneurship in the Art of Coffeemaking

by Entrepreneurship

The air was rich with the smell of coffee. Grinders hummed and glass tinkled. From the windows, sunlight streamed through, and all at once everything inside was white, chocolate and gold.

The scene would have been complete if jazz music played overhead, but in the place of saxophones were the clear voices of instructors as they spoke to three groups of eager listeners. This was how 50 people spent their bright Sunday morning on the 1st of October.

 

IEEE USM Student Branch along with 50 eager coffee learners invaded Frank Laurent Coffee Roasters for the first time in Udini Square on the 1st October 2017.
 
Initiated by Simeon Yeoh, Founder of IEEE USM Student Branch and lead by Project Director Liew Shu Yan, IEEE USM Student Branch had successfully conducted Malaysia’s first ever Coffeepreneur (coffee + entrepreneur) event. The event was held in Frank Laurent Coffee Roasters in Udini Square, aptly on the same day as International Coffee Day.
Participants began arriving from 10 o’clock in the morning, instantly greeted by the warm smiles and handshakes from the organising committee. As soon as everyone was settled, the participants were divided into three groups to facilitate smoother learning across the three planned stations.

 

One of the participants is trying to learn the art of smelling based on the coffee’s source and variety.
 
On the first station, participants were exposed to different types of coffee beans. Stored in see-through jars, the beans were labelled accordingly based on source and variety. With names like El Salvador El Brasil Bourbon, India Thalanar and Ethiopio Shakiso, the participants were transported to the various regions of the world where renown coffee producers are located.
At this same station, two instructors also demonstrated coffeemaking technique: how to measure the beans and water for a perfect balanced cup, how to stir the coffee, and how to remove the residue from the surface of the coffee. With each step, it is emphasised how a different approach and method would not produce a cup of coffee that tasted the same, thus precision is of the essence.

One of the fun things about this Coffeepreneur is all the participants get to experience a hands-on journey on coffee brewing.
At the second station, participants are explained the various brewing methods involved in coffeemaking, from brewing using pressure to steeping to dripping and boiling. A demonstration of making a cup of coffee using a technique called the “pour over” was then shown, followed by a tasting session.

 

A “pour over” technique is also introduced and explained by the baristas of Frank Laurent Coffee Roasters.
The third and final station was arguably the favourite among the participants. More than 10 people craned their necks excitedly to get a peek at the shiny espresso machine humming as it brewed using pressure. One by one, the participants got the chance to step out of the group and hold the cup of freshly brewed coffee. The next step? Latte art.
Guided by the patient instructor, each enthusiastic participant learned to pour steamed milk into the shots of espresso, trying their best to replicate the shape of a heart they have so often seen in pretty Instagram photos. Smiling faces were all around as everyone successfully managed to achieve their goal, and phones were out as the social media-savvy participants snapped their own pretty photos. Everyone then happily guzzled down their hard work.

 

The barista from Frank Laurent Coffee Roasters showed the participants on the skills to make a perfect Latte art.

    Detailed explanation accompanied by gestures gave our participants a deeper understanding about the nature and essence of Latte art.
In this way all three groups rotated around the three stations, and everyone got to try, learn and taste everything coffee.
At 1 o’clock in the afternoon, all groups had completed their rounds, and everyone gathered together with their stomachs content with rich coffee. A sharing session and Q & A session was then simultaneously conducted, with founder of the venue, Frank Laurent Coffee Roasters, Wen Zhe Ee, standing centre stage, sharing his story as an entrepreneur, such as building business branding and identity and facilitating a positive work environment.

 

After the excitement of trying their own Latte art, they can sip and taste their own hard work.
All in all, Malaysia’s first ever Coffeepreneur event conducted by IEEE USM Student Branch satisfied both the organising team and participants. In one bright day, 50 people were at once exposed to the splendid world of coffeemaking as well as the realities of having a humble dream come true. It was truly a well-spent Sunday morning.

 

The baristas of Frank Laurent Coffee Roasters are more than happy to show our participants the essential steps of coffee brewing.

 

          Photo credits to Wilfred Tan.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR                                                                                          Valarie John is a Journalism major who prefers pencil over pen and paper over screen. Passionate in all things thought-provoking and unproductive, she hopes one day to become either a self-sufficient author or a dictator. Or both.                                         

  Tan Kwang Shean, or just Wilfred Tan, is an unprententious writer who loves to record his daily life in words. With some luck, he is now a Journalism major learning the art of writing and hoping to inspire someone someday. 

 

IEEE’s Donation Drive for the Free Education Workshop for Orphans

by Events

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use it to change the world”, quipped Nelson Mandela. This quote was the source of inspiration behind the initiation of IEEE’s Donation Drive for the Free Education Workshop for Orphans.

I still remember, during the vacation following the first semester of my university life, I was appointed to take charge of the “One Semester One Event”. Basically, it is one of the job scopes of Team X which requires us to hold an impactful event every semester. When I was appointed as the person in charge, the first two words that came across my mind are “SCIENCE, EDUCATION”.

Since the past few decades, science and technology have played an important role in thrusting the world forward and building a better lifestyle for mankind. Thus, having more talented scientists and engineers are crucial in continuing this trend for a better tomorrow for mankind.

However, in Malaysia, the number of future scientists and engineers might not fulfill the demand of society as number of students enrolled in STEM courses after PT3 are dwindling year by year.

This scenario is distressing and might be due to the wrong approach used by schools in teaching science. Over obsession with As makes students study science subjects by just memorizing facts and this makes science so monotonous for many youngsters.

Thus, this event is carried out with the objective to not just spur the interest of learning science and technology among the new generation, but also to guide them towards a more fascinating method of learning. This event was conducted in two stages. The first stage was to raise funds in USM Engineering Campus while the second was to conduct a free workshop in an orphanage.

 

Personally, the hardest portion of this event was the first stage, fundraising. As everyone knows, most undergraduates depend on loan to sustain their living expenses. Thus, it is really a challenge for me and my team to raise sufficient funds for this event. However, we tried as many ways as possible to acquire the funds. First is by positioning donation boxes at offices of all schools in USM Engineering Campus. Second is by doing lecture bash and third is by spreading news via Facebook.

As you might expect, lecture bash is the best approach to get the most amount of fund and yes, you indeed need a “thick face” for this. Before doing the lecture bash, I was distressed for a few days thinking “What if people behind cannot hear me?”, “What if the microphone suddenly malfunction? I have to shout if this is the case.” and so on. However, on that day, I suddenly felt relaxed after I spoke the first sentence. Then I just kept promoting the event and persuaded people to donate. It’s true that for anything when there is no pain, there is no gain. If I was not able to overcome my fear to speak in front of public, there may be others who can do it for me. But I will never feel as accomplished if I did not try to do on my own.

As a result of all the endeavors embarked by me and my team, we raised enough money to conduct one workshop. Also, we would like to thank the sponsor from IEEE CAS (Circuit and System) Malaysia Chapter to make this event even greater.

The workshop was held two weeks after the fundraising. Orphanage chosen for this workshop was Rumah Permata Kasih which is located at Prai, Penang. Thirteen IEEE USM SB members, including me had joined this workshop as facilitators while there were twenty orphans age between 8 to 9 years old as participants. The workshop was being conducted in two parts, one was basic electronic and the other was basic science.

 

During the basic electronic part, participants were first being briefed about the evolution of electronic, for example the size of modern electronic gadgets is becoming smaller compared to the traditional gadgets, by Atikah Hayroman, who is the assistant leader for this event.

Then, participants were provided basic electronic components like breadboard, LEDs, battery, resistors and so on. With these components, participants were being taught about the basic concept of current flow by using water flow analogy.

 

At the same time, they were also guided by facilitators on how to assemble a simple circuit which lights an LED up. Look at how patience our facilitators are. Other than just building a simple circuit, participants were also taught about the effects of increasing load or resistance to the circuit and assemble them one by one. After the hands-on, components were given to them as souvenirs and further circuit study. Who knows maybe the next Nikola Tesla was among them?

 

During the basic science part, up to seven interesting experiments had been carried out. They were Colour Changing Milk, Anti-Gravity Water, Reverse Arrow Illusion, Hologram Projector, Density Tower, Kaleidoscope and Fire on Hand (just demonstration). Each of these experiments has some basic science concept behind. Can’t wait to carry out on your own, right?

 

Participants were segregated into 5 groups. Before every experiment started, participants were briefed about the basic science concept involved in the experiment. For example, when doing the anti-gravity water experiment, the concept of pressure was first explained to participants. After the experiment was carried out by the participants, they were required to explain why the water retained in the cup group by group. By this way, participants learnt how to apply what they have learnt in real life. Of course, there was no punishment for wrong answer, but only rewards for correct or creative explanation.

I still remember that when asked for explanation about why reverse arrow illusion happens, one of them answered that light turn around the glass then only we see them. That was a great one! Even though it was not the correct answer, but his courage to speak out his idea was applaudable.

 

This was the guy！

Participants engaged a lot in both workshops. I like the moment when they were amazed by the fascinating effect of all the experiments. They were like “Wow, how can this happen?” They kept asking how and why. Of course, they were not given answer immediately but guided by facilitators towards the answer.

Both workshops were conducted full of joy and happiness from facilitators as well as participants. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all facilitators and also my team members who had given full commitment for this event. Without you all, this event will not be a success.

Wrapping things up, I felt really grateful as being an undergraduate, I was not just staying inside my hostel and focusing on my studies, but was also able to serve society. I hope that more undergraduates, regardless of what course they are pursuing, contribute to the society, especially in the education.

Edited by
Jerard John

IEEE SS12 MALAYSIA 2017

by Events

“Wow, why didn’t I think of that?’’ We have all gone through such Aha! moments when we saw how simple ideas such as car pooling and cash back reward platforms turned into great innovations. Being regretful for not being a part of an idea is not the solution. And boy, do we have brilliant students who have decided to be a part of this ecosystem by showcasing their final year project.

Hence, SS12 competition was introduced to Malaysia this year. SS12 was the world’s first ever accessibility-themed hackathon and makeathon originated from California 10 years ago that aims to develop empowering projects for the community through competitions. In Malaysia, SS12 is managed by startupcampus.asia in collaboration with IEEE USM Student Branch to foster a culture of innovation among university students and professionals by providing an inspiring platform for the community to highlight their creative ideas.

IEEE SS12 Malaysia 2017:

Malaysia’s first ever SS12 competition was recently held at @CAT Penang on the 2nd of August 2017. IEEE SS12 Malaysia 2017 has successfully gathered participants from 7 universities across Malaysia to present their projects and compete. The participating universities include Universiti Sains Malaysia Engineering Campus (USMKKJ), Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UniKL), Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP), Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP), Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) and Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM).

In this competition, every participant was given 6 minutes for their projects presentations and demonstration, 2 minutes for Questions & Answer session. It was then judged by industry representatives from National Instruments, Vitrox, Myreka and @CAT based on four key criteria, which are innovation, practicality, complexity and working design. The judgement will be conceptual selection, whether it is relevant to the final year project abstract and useful, creativity, originality of the idea and technology, plus scalability.

Unlike usual design/final year project competition which marks the ending point for winner after the competition ends, IEEE SS12 Malaysia 2017 provides the winners with opportunity to continue their journey by funding them to compete in SS12 Asia Stage, which takes place in India this year. The organisers believe by providing the winner with the opportunity of competing in SS12 international stage, they will be able to gain oversea exposure, exchange of innovative ideas and broaden their worldview subsequent helped them to improve further and trigger real innovation.

Winning Teams:

Champion: Artificial Eye by Yap Yee Yang and Ng Mun Kit

Artificial eye was a low-cost wearable blind assistance system which is expected to be capable of solving issues encountered by the visually impaired and blind, thereby improving their lives. This team will be representing Malaysia to compete in India for SS12 Continental Level with an all-expenses paid trip up to RM3000!

First Runner Up: Enhancing the Handwriting Instruction through Interactive Learning with Augmented Reality for Preschool Children by Nor Farzana Syaza Jeffri

This project is an augmented reality application with an interactive physical book that will appeal to the three learning modalities to enhance the preschool handwriting instruction.

Second Runner Up: Development of Control Algorithm for Spot Cooling by Andy Tan Wei Keat and Chan Hao Jie

This project’s aim is to develop a Control Algorithm for a Spot Cooling system and helps to detect and track a non-human decoy.

Creativity and innovation are both essential elements in today’s dynamic environment. It is often said that creativity is the seed of innovation and university students have always possessed unlimited creativity and ideas just waiting to be inspired and nurtured.

Hence, IEEE SS12 Malaysia 2017 aims to inspire these students and young professionals to create a lasting impact on society, through innovation in their respective fields of profession. This aligns with the theme of SS12 2017: Enhancing the quality of life through innovation.

IEEE SS12 Malaysia 2017 was initiated by Simeon Yeoh Hong Boon, founder of startupcampus.asia and co-founder of IEEE USM Student Branch, with the intention of fostering the seeds of innovation among university students and professionals in Malaysia. Simeon Yeoh envisions to revolutionize the education system through usage of creative technology and implementation of entrepreneurial spirit. He seeks to implement entrepreneurship concepts into students’ projects, no matter the scale. Simeon Yeoh views an innovative mind as a form of competency, akin to other traits such as leadership or work ethics. This prepares university students to be more competitive, and always ready for a challenge. He also wishes to inspire more university students to innovate and create products or solutions that can be commercialized in the market, ultimately developing their products into something great such as startups!

IEEE SS12 Malaysia 2017 was initiated by Simeon Yeoh Hong Boon, founder of startupcampus.asia and co-founder of IEEE USM Student Branch, with the intention of fostering the seeds of innovation among university students and professionals in Malaysia. Simeon Yeoh envisions to revolutionize the education system through usage of creative technology and implementation of entrepreneurial spirit. He seeks to implement entrepreneurship concepts into students’ projects, no matter the scale. Simeon Yeoh views an innovative mind as a form of competency, akin to other traits such as leadership or work ethics. This prepares university students to be more competitive, and always ready for a challenge. He also wishes to inspire more university students to innovate and create products or solutions that can be commercialized in the market, ultimately developing their products into something great such as startups!

JUDGES

Lim Seng Yew joined Vitrox in year 2009. Prior to this, he worked in multi national companies for 12 years, such as Dell, Altera & Agilent. He has involved in R&D for past 17 years specialized in software programming in engineering field. He is one of the co-inventors in a US patent with title “Functional Failure Analysis Techniques for FPGA” in 2002. He possesses a Computer Science Bachelor Degree from UKM and a Computer Science Postgraduate Degree from USM. His expertise is in solution development, AI & machine learning. He likes to play ping pong & swimming at his leisure.

Chan Cheng Yee joined NI Malaysia Sdn Bhd in the year 2011. Prior to this, he worked in multi-national companies for 17 years, such as Sony, Intel, and Benchmark Electronics. He was one of the pioneer team members of Intel Board Design Center specializing in Intel Desktop Board software. He possesses a Bachelor Degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from University of Lincoln. Cheng Yee is passionate about STEM and he is the LEGO Robotics mentor for SMK Simpang Empat. He is also an amateur radio operator and he will go on air whenever he is free.”

Percy started his immerse interest in electronics at an early age of 10. At 12, he was admitted to National university of Singapore under a special arrangement to pursue his interest in engineering. In 1997, his design of a computer guided Catheter guide wire simulation device, earned him his 1st patent with the US patent office. In 2003, Percy graduated with an honors degree in Bachelor of Science (Computer Engineering) from Drexel University in the US. During his time with Drexel, he involved in the Spiral project involving design of High performance computer design using FPGAs. In 2005, he furthered his tertiary education and received his Master of Science specializing in VLSI system design from Westminster University in London

Mr. Lau Ting En is one of the founding member of Myreka Technologies. He started out as an embedded engineer developing and implementing Digital Signal Processing algorithm. Throughout the 10 years  in Myreka Technologies he took on different role as embedded system architect and project manager. Today he is leading the R&D department of Myreka Technologies as Head of Department.

COMMITTEES

  • TAN TING FENG Project Director

  • WILLIAM YEAP KEAT SEONG Committee

  • TAI MING LI Photographer

  • JACK TAN ZHE JIE Committee

  • LIEW SHU YAN Committee

  • SHUM KAR YEN Committee

  • RICHARD CHEAH JUN XIAN Committee

  • YEO YING HENG Committee

IEEE SS12 Malaysia 2017 will not be made possible without the strong support by the project director, Tan Ting Feng and his managing team, IEEE Malaysia Section and IEEE Young Professional Malaysia.

IEEE SS12 Malaysia 2017 is a nationwide innovation competition, providing the golden opportunity for students to compete locally and even globally, encouraging them to work on their ideas in order to make them a reality! Bridging innovation with the qualities of entrepreneurship is the ultimate goal for both IEEE USM Student Branch and startupcampus.asia.

‘Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.’ by Ralph Waldo Emerson (American Philosopher)

Do you want to make a difference through your own project? Come approach us and we looking forward to host you in IEEE SS12 Malaysia 2018!  

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Community Leadership Programme (CLA)

by with No Comment EntrepreneurshipEvents

In hindsight, it is beyond imagination how time flies and as it has been nearly a month and a half since the very first day of joining Community Leadership Academy (CLA). And, it is the time again to have the honour of sharing the gist of this programme which took us 3 days and 2 nights. It must be crossing your mind that what is this special programme that you are totally clueless about and have not even heard of. Say no more, let us jump right into it.

To put it in perspective, this programme was tailored for undergraduate students in order to hone our event organising skills during the Startup Weekend Programme. This event was held in Cyberjaya, dubbed the Silicon Valley of Malaysia with the intention to further cultivate the spirit of entrepreneurship in the nation. It was a joint collaboration between Techstar, a multinational company , and our local government agency known as MaGIC, as part of the effort in providing guidance to existing and upcoming entrepreneurs.

Being a 3 days 2 nights programme, the event itself was held during the weekend. It was initially be from the Friday right until the end of Sunday, however, it was such a regret that we were not able to make it on Friday itself, due to an unprecedented incident within the university.

Depart from Parit Buntar at 12.30pm.

Through this opportunity , I got to know more about Kar Yen(Shum Kar Yen). The entire journey was nothing, but an opportunity to exchange and share our experiences as well as views in life. Of course, not forgetting my mentor, Ng Ping Jian. He was the one that offers me this opportunity and had guided me since the first day I joined the team. Two other mentors came in to join us upon reaching the lobby of the APEX tower. They were waiting for us and that was my very first time of having met Simon Yeoh Hong Boon, the founder of IEEE USM Student branch.

Having listened to what Kar Yen had told me all along, it made me ever more curious and wanting to know more about this individual. It so happened to be fortunate of meeting another awesome guy named Thien Ching Ling, Student representative of UNIMAP.

Curious with how the condominium would look like? So was I.

Thanks of our beloved student branch mentor, Simeon had continuously sent us the overwhelming photos of the view taken from the condominium throughout our entire journey and kept seducing us by detailing how superior were the facilities being provided at the accommodation.

To put it in perspective, this programme was tailored for undergraduate students in order to hone our event organising skills during the Startup Weekend Programme. This event was held in Cyberjaya, dubbed the Silicon Valley of Malaysia with the intention to further cultivate the spirit of entrepreneurship in the nation. It was a joint collaboration between Techstar, a multinational company , and our local government agency known as MaGIC, as part of the effort in providing guidance to existing and upcoming entrepreneurs.

Being a 3 days 2 nights programme, the event itself was held during the weekend. It was initially be from the Friday right until the end of Sunday, however, it was such a regret that we were not able to make it on Friday itself, due to an unprecedented incident within the university.

Until this moment of writing, I could still vividly recall how impressed we were at the first sight of the elegant condominium arranged for us.

After getting some rest and placing our stuff, we proceeded to the nearby shopping centre for dinner. We had our Japanese cuisine there and there was where we started getting to know each other better.

After the dinner and the after-meal strolling the mall, we headed back to the condominium and decided that we would be having a swimming session.

But unfortunately , it was already 9.50pm and we were informed by the security guard that we would not no longer be allowed to swim, seeing that the operation would be ended at 10pm.

For as much as it was disappointing to see that we were all well prepared to have a blast in the pool,  it was just as much fun for what had happened earlier when Kar Yen refused to join us for a swim.

Doing our very best to convince her but her stubbornness forced us to think of ways to change her mind. We even let her to come down with her laptop to finish up her WIE work. WIE stands for Women in Engineering which is another individual chapter under IEEE ,  and she was appointed as the director for this chapter and that’s why she was quite busy. Yet, she refused and eventually we had no option but resorted to attack her from weakness point by coming up with haunted ghost stories so as to scare her off and not stay in the room.

It worked flawlessly, just as what was intended! Well, since the swimming section was cancelled abruptly, Simeon suggested another very COOLL place to go. That is.. THAAA DAAAA

Stunning indeed, no? We got our time off from the hustle and bustle in the university, while chilling and admiring the marvelous view up from the above. Having a constructive discussion at 30 floors high and Shandy on the rocks, the ambient was nothing but that resembles of having a vacation, without the need to rush for assignments, of course! (haha) . That was the moment where Simon started sharing heaps of his fascinating experience with us.

Truth be told, I was impressed with how much he knows and had certainly gained a great deal of insights from him.  Before ending the session, guidance was given to us on what we needed to be done on the subsequent days.

With that, we ended our Day 1.

On day 2, We woke up early in the morning to prepare for the long, busy, yet exciting day ahead.

Again, I was amazed with the environment MaGIC provided.

After the exhaustive day which was packed with training programmes. Yea , guess what ? It was the dinner time ! We were invited to have our dinner at the famous town area in KL of the name of The X located along Jalan Telawi in Bangsar.

We had people from all around the world and that was where we spent some quality time to network with them.

She, Lalitha Wemel (Left) is a Regional Manager for the Startup Program from Techstars

What I would say after hearing these mentors’ sharing is that ,they were really awesome and had broadened my horizon, expanding my perspective on life and the world beyond. They were friendly and selfless in the sense of willing of sharing their stories and values with us. It was a truly, well-spent day of being able to meet with like-minded individuals.

On day three,it was the closing day and to compensate for the incident earlier,we went for a swim early morning before heading back to MaGIC. They finished it up formally with a full test run to mark the end of the 3 days 2 nights programmes.

There was our Kar Yen presenting her idea in a room fully packed with crowd.

Time was set and the judges were there to evaluate the participants. The day went by exactly what was planned for the day. All of us would be the participants and given the chance to pitch to the crowd , explaining our ideas while working in a team!

She, Jowynne Khor(Left) is the Program Director at MaGIC,whether the others four is our team members

With this , I would like to end my sharing experience from the 3 days 2 night program. Hope you all will like it!

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IEEE Malaysia Student Congress 2017

by Events

IEEE Malaysia Student Congress 2017 was organized and hosted by IEEE USM Student Branch at Dewan Auditorium, USM Engineering Campus. IEEE Malaysia Student Congress is held yearly, co-hosted by Malaysia Section and Student Branch. Each year, this event provides opportunity for members of IEEE to interact and create collaboration among student branches. The congress also consists of several talks given by invited speakers pertaining to leadership and networking.
This event’s highlight was to boost student activities by training and motivating members, introduce IEEE leaders and FYP winners, provides a platform for networking and collaboration to students from different IEEE Student Branch. IEEE Malaysia Section Chair, Education Activity Chair of IEEE Malaysia Section, WIE Malaysia Section Chair, Young Professional of IEEE Malaysia Section and Student Activities Chair of IEEE Malaysia Section had joined us in the sharing sessions.

The Congress started with welcoming remarks by program director, Mr. Loo Fang Hean. After an official welcome, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mohamad Faizal Ahmad Fauzi (Chair, IEEE Malaysia Section) delivered his speech about History, Present and Future of IEEE Malaysia Section. Next, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Lee Yoot Khuan (Education Activities Chair, IEEE Malaysia Section) introduced about IEEE Educational Activities in IEEE Malaysia. Engaging WIE was presented to participants by Dr. Nasreen Badruddin (Women in Engineering, IEEE Malaysia Section). Mr. Simon Yeoh Hong Boon, represent for YP Malaysia gave a talk about “Students to Young Professional – Effectively Adapting to Transition”.
Next, the sharing session was done by representative from all the IEEE Student Branch (IEEE SB UNMC, IEEE SB USM, IEEE WIE USM SB, IEEE SB UPM, IEEE SB INTI, IEEE SB UM, IEEE SB UniMAP, IEEE SB Universtas Indonesia, IEEE SB Institute Teknologi Bandung). Final year project (FYP) winners’ booths were set up for students and VIPs to visit. 26 FYP winners shared their experiences and inspired the students to follow their footsteps to success. FYP winners award giving ceremony was done to commend them.

The Congress was followed by group activity and networking session. Group members were delegated from different IEEE Student Branch. Tasks were given to each group. This session enabled students to build teamwork spirit and encourage collaboration between those IEEE Student Branch in future. Last but not least, all the participants received their certificates for their distribution as participants in the successful execution of this event. All invited speakers received certificates and gifts as an appreciation for joining and giving talks during the Congress. The Congress ended with photo sessions. Throughout the Congress, FYP winners and speakers from a distance had brought together to discuss and share their knowledge and experience.

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UNIVERSITY APP CHALLENGE USM: FRUITFUL COLLABORATION IGNITES SPARK OF INNOVATION

by with No Comment EntrepreneurshipEvents

It is often said that ideas are easy, implementation is hard. This is why hackathons (hack + marathon) are effective as proving grounds of ideas that encourage participants to take risks that they would normally avoid. Hackathons stimulate the creative juices of participants, and the unique environment facilitates the development of fresh ideas aimed to tackle real world problems. Hence, it is easy to see why the culture of innovation in hackathons goes hand in hand with entrepreneurship and business startups.

As one of the founders of IEEE USM Student Branch, Simon Yeoh believes that university and college students are the best target audience for startup initiatives simply because they are the most energetic and creative at this stage of life. But perhaps the most crucial factor of all is that these students are less likely to be deterred by failure, thus making them the ideal candidates to embrace risks and opportunities.

Such a basis has led – together with the thirst to drive change in the community – to the founding of IEEE USM Student Branch and startupcampus.asia. Together, we strive to foster startup communities in universities and colleges by educating, raising awareness and providing guidance for aspiring young entrepreneurs. We intend to bridge the gap between startup-related initiatives in the public and tertiary students, who would usually find the content hard to swallow. A shocking survey discovered that many students – even those majoring in business administration – lack awareness in the Malaysian startup ecosystem. Their ears are usually unaccustomed to topics like Malaysian Global Innovation & Creativity Centre (MaGIC), accelerator programmes, and startup business models. We strive to change that fact.

Thus, on the 18th and 19th of February, IEEE USM Student Branch together with MaGIC and Cyberview Sdn. Bhd. under the organisation of StartupMalaysia.org and the initiative of Ministry of Science, Technology & Innovation (MOSTI) made the University App Challenge (UAC) a reality.

 

University App Challenge underway at USM

The event gathered a total of 115 participants from seven universities across Malaysia to the main campus of its host venue USM on the beautiful island of Penang. The seven universities included USM’s engineering campus, USM’s main campus, University of Malaya, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, Universiti Malaysia Perlis, Penang SEGI College and Penang Wawasan Open University.

With a goal of encouraging local university students to explore the world of technology, innovation, and creativity through working with like-minded youths in a fun and competitive environment, the challenge was set out from the start to be a success.

Hopeful participants arrived at the hall bright and early at nine o’clock ready to go through scheduled pitching, validation and the building of web/mobile applications with the guidance of expert mentors. The first day of the 48-hour challenge focused primarily on a boot camp for all of the participants before they were divided up into groups. In this way, everyone received equal exposure to the information and experiences shared by the line of mentors.

The idea pitching session
UAC in full swing
The final pitching session

UAC champion team Artic Blaze certainly did not experience any form of brain freeze throughout the challenge as they managed to win the hearts of the judges with Shop N’ Go, their price, brand and mall comparison app, thus promptly bringing home a total of RM3,500 in cash prize.

First runner-up Mechatronic Makers’ Smart Car app that could be used to lock a car and check car health, among other functions, also caught the judges’ attention (and if he were there, Optimus Prime’s, too, surely) and brought them home RM2,000.

Welcoming the award of RM1,000 for second runner-up with a tight hug was Hello World, whose app functioned as an emergency distress button. (A text message is automatically sent to trusted numbers whether family or friends with the execution of a simple command, such as pressing the power button three times rapidly.)

Deputy Vice Chancellor of USM, Profesor Dato’ Dr Adnan Hussein and Dean of USM Electrical & Electronic Engineering Profesor Ir. Dr Mohd Rizal Arshad presenting awards to the winners

Other notable apps designed within the short timespan are FTW’s food calorie recognition app, Genius SC’s insomnia-reducing app, Mighty Dreamers’ public transport-centric app, and IM26C4U’s RPG app that could improve parent-child interactions.

Needless to say the challenge definitely brought out a spark of innovation and creativity in the participants, which was the main goal of the challenge in the first place. Yet, the two-day event was not all sunshine and rainbows as the very nature of designing an app from scratch in such a limited time involves hard work, perseverance and at least a certain amount of savoir faire in reaching group compromise and gaining jury appeal.

All in all, the challenge succeeded in attaining its main objective, and had left not only the participants but also the organising committee with an improved set of soft skills. As advisor of IEEE USM Student Branch, Dr Mohd Tafir Mustaffa said: UAC was a big leap for the committee to step outside of our comfort zone and learn to cooperate with established companies and NGOs, thus preparing us to deal with similar companies out in the working world when we soon fly out of our nests.

App Challengers gather for a final group photo