UTM recognises a Swedish professor for his contributions in water innovation and wastewater technology.

WORLD-renowned water expert Prof Gustaf Olsson whose expertise has also benefited Malaysians has been recognised for his contributions.

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) has conferred an honorary doctorate in engineering on the professor who has had a close rapport with the varsity over the last decade.

Prof Olsson taught a course on automation and control in wastewater treatment on his first visit in 2002 and has continued to be actively engaged with UTM students and lecturers after he retired from Lund University in Sweden in 2006.

He received the honorary doctorate from UTM chancellor Raja Zarith Sofiah Sultan Idris Shah at its campus in Johor Baru.

UTM vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Zaini Ujang described Prof Olsson as “a passionate teacher, a generous friend and a great motivator”.

The Swedish expert, he added, had also promoted UTM at the international level and established global networks among academia, industry and environmental professionals.

Describing the honorary degree as an extraordinary recognition, Prof Olsson said that he had enjoyed every moment and opportunity to work with UTM staff.

“As you get older, you realise what a privilege it is to work with young people. The impossible is reachable; you can try new avenues and are not bound by old and sometimes obsolete traditions,” he said in his acceptance speech at the ceremony.

Prof Olsson shared that he first met Prof Zaini in 1999 at international conferences arranged by the International Water Association (IWA).

“As a result of our discussions at such meetings, he then invited me on my first visit to UTM in 2002,” he added.

Prof Olsson’s background is in nuclear engineering, control and automation.

“I was a nuclear engineer at a time when nuclear power was considered to save the world. In the early 1970s I was challenged by the operational problems in wastewater treatment,” he said.

He explained that the plants were designed as if the flow rate and the concentrations of the pollutants were constant over the day and over the year.

“Instead they can vary significantly on an hour-to-hour basis. Thus, we discovered that automation can deal with this,” he said.

For example, he added that in the biological treatment of wastewater, the water is supplied with compressed air in order to maintain the organisms that will break down the pollutants, since they need the oxygen in the water. When the load is high more air or oxygen is required and when the load is low, then only little air is needed.

“Too much air will cost unnecessary energy and money and too little air will make the organisms suffer — the same way as we human beings will suffer from too little air, or the way fish will suffer or die with lack of oxygen in the water,” he said.

Prof Olsson said this was the beginning of control and automation in wastewater treatment, adding that now the area was well developed and established.

“In the 1970s, our attempts were looked at with great suspicion by those who stuck to tradition!” he said.

Prof Olsson said that he was inspired to specialise in water innovation and wastewater technology because it was a meaningful job.

“Everybody needs water, and clean water at that. I can share my experiences with anybody, including my own children, and they can see the good purpose of this work.

“It is a global need. Furthermore, there are very few secrets in this area. This means that we can readily share experimental data and measurements from real water systems. That makes the research process more enjoyable,” he added.

Although retired, Prof Olsson has emeritus professor status at Lund University. He still continues to teach and share his knowledge regularly on automation aspects in both water operations and in the process and manufacturing industries at the varsity.

Besides working with UTM, he is also a guest professor at Tsinghua University, China and an “honorary faculty member” at Exeter University, United Kingdom.

Prof Olsson was the editor-in-chief for a major journal, Water Science and Technology between 2005 and 2010, and remains an editor at the journal.

He has completed a new book entitled Water and Energy – Threats and Opportunities, where he explains and analyses the interrelationship between water and energy.

Prof Zaini shared that Prof Olsson held a workshop earlier this year on how to write a thesis.

“This was a great experience! It is important to write a paper that is publishable for an international readership and understand how to communicate our message.

“Prof Zaini took the initiative to arrange this course at UTM, inviting PhD students from all over the world, which was supported by the IWA,” said Prof Olsson.

He explained that each participant had to bring an unpublished manuscript.

The goal, he added, was to make their papers publishable for an international audience at the end of the week.

“Many of the students had not realised what it takes to make results interesting for an international audience. This is different from reporting just to the professor! I think everybody was inspired, including myself,” he shared.

The course, he added, would be repeated at UTM in January 2013.

“UTM has become a role model for other groups as they have come up with similar courses in South Africa, Kenya and Switzerland,” he said.

Source: The Star

27 Oct. 2012