A PhD student of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) under supervision of the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Dato’ Ir. Dr. Zaini Ujang has been awarded the prestigious Best Water Resources and Hydrology PhD Thesis Award.
The thesis entitled “Development and Characterization of Phototrophic Aerobic Granular Sludge” was selected as the best among PhD theses submission from all universities in Malaysia by the UNESCO-International Hydrological Programme (IHP) Malaysia.
Dr. Farrah Aini Dahalan received the Award from Minister of Energy, Green Technology and Water Dato’ Seri Peter Chin Fah Kui who represented the Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yasin at a ceremony at Parit Buntar commemorating the World Water Day 2012 on 24th March 2012.
World Water Day 2012, organised by UN-Water with the cooperation of the UN Human Settlement Programme and the UN Environmental Programme with the support of UNESCO, is to beef up the programme ‘Water for Life Decade 2005-2015,’ which aims to encourage efforts to achieve international commitment on water issues.
Dr. Farrah Aini attributed her success to untiring guidance and motivation from her supervisor, co-supervisor -Dr. Zainura Zainon Noor, Prof. Emeritus Gustaf Olsson from Lund University, Sweden, other faculty members and colleagues.
According to her, Prof. Zaini was never reluctant to comment on her works anywhere and anytime during his busy schedule.
The sacrifices of Prof. Dato’ Ir. Dr. Zaini Ujang in achieving excellence in education is commendable.
Farrah Aini is a microbiologist, biochemist, biotechnologist, environmentalist, researcher and a certified diver.
She was born in Petaling Jaya, Selangor and formally educated at Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) in 1998 for Matriculation Programme.
She obtained B.Sc (Honours) (Microbiology) degree in 2003 from the then Faculty of Science and Environmental Studies where she was awarded the dean’s lists before completing M.Sc (Environmental Biotechnology) at the Faculty of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences in 2007. Enthusiast in environmental studies, this young energetic scientist research interests involve bioremediation, biodegradation/biotransformation, enzymology, microbiology, biochemistry, biotechnology and environmentally related issues.
Besides concentrating on biodegradation of hydrocarbon, she is also relatively familiar with biodegradation of Polyethyleneglycol (plastics), Sodium Dodecyl Sulphate (SDS) (detergents), Phenol, Acrylamide, and bioassay of heavy metals.
She is now working on the Development of Phototrophic Aerobic Granular Sludge which is an advancement and improvement of wastewater treatment system (Collaboration with Tu Delft University, Netherlands).
Currently, Dr. Farrah Aini is teaching at the School of Environmental Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP). She is also one of the Research Fellow at Biogranulation Technology Research Unit (BTRU) in UTM led by Dr. Aznah Nor Anuar.