JOHOR BAHRU, 15 May 2018 – The 24 years old Iraqi-born Master in Civil Engineering student, Omar Seddeq was selected as the first place winner in the Earth Day Walk : UTM Virtual Challenge organized by Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) Sustainable Unit.
The second and third winners were the civil engineering Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) student, Mohd. Azlan Ahmad and followed by second year Faculty of Bioscience and Medical Engineering (FBME) undergraduate student, Hemagirri Mani Sekaran.
Speaking after the prize receiving ceremony, Omar Seddeq said that this event was actually a competition which selected its winners based on how much walking steps he or she made on the April 19th 2018.
“The selection of winners was based on the steps reading on the Pacer Application that is available on Google Play Store for android users and Apple Store for iPhone users. Once downloaded, you have to activate it once you started walking on the competition day,” he said.
In this historic competition, Omar was making 66,747 steps followed by Mohd Azlan (51,905) and Hemagirri (51,879).
Meanwhile, the Deputy Director of UTM Sustainable Unit, Dr. Shazwin Mat Taib said that the Car Free Day or CFD Programme was conducted with an objective to reduce the pollution inside the campus.
“The UTM CFD programme is one of the university’s efforts in the campus sustainability programme drafted with its main intention to reduce air pollution, to promote a healthy lifestyle and to improve environmental awareness among campus community,” said Dr. Shazwin.
The CFD programme was set to be implemented on one chosen day in every month and will involve the roads inside the Lingkaran Ilmu area to be closed from 8am until 5pm.
All winners received their certificates from UTM Vice Chancellors, Prof. Datuk Ir. Dr. Wahid Omar at UTM Monthly Engagement ceremony held at Dewan Sultan Iskandar, Johor Bahru campus.