JOHOR BAHRU, 1 November – Two Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) graduates have successfully completed their Industrial Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degrees and emerged as the first two conferred graduates from the UTM PhD Industry at the 53rd UTM Convocation ceremony.
The graduates were Ir. Syamsuri Yaakob from Telekom Malaysia Berhad and Chan Tze Leong from Proton Holdings.
Ir. Syamsuri and Chan took 36 and 38 months respectively to complete their studies reflecting their ability to Graduate On-Time (GOT).
Ir. Syamsuri’s was supervised by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sevia Mahdaliza Idrus Sutan Nameh from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering UTM and Dr. Muhammad Zamzuri Abdul Kadir, Principal Researcher, from Telekom R&D Sdn Bhd. Chan was supervied by Prof. Dr. Amran Mohd Rasli (Faculty of Management, UTM) and Wan Roslan Wan Abbas (Director Group Human Resources, Admin & Property, Proton Holdings Sdn Bhd).
Syamsuri’s thesis title is “Millimetre-Wave Radio over Fibre System with Selective Gigabit-Per-Second Signal Delivery”, while Chan’s is “Relationship Between Mindfulness, Innovative Work Behavior And Performance in the Malaysian Automotive Industry”.
The PhD Industry programme was introduced by the Ministry of Education (MOE) with financial incentives under the MyBrain 15 PhD Industry Scholarship scheme. It is an alternative to the conventional PhD, suited to the needs of the industry as it is geared towards solving challenges specifically experienced by the industry.
This programme focuses on professionals and industry practitioners with the aim to produce and enhance innovation and competitiveness via industry-based research, where the research scope is based on industrial issues or real problems at the workplaces relating to the PhD candidates’ respective jobs, and in their respective field of specialization.
UTM has the highest number of PhD Industry students in the country with 75 students registered in various faculties in UTM with students from UTM industrial partners such as Proton, Telekom Malaysia Berhad, Intel Microelectronics (M) Sdn Bhd, Seagate International (Johor) Sdn Bhd, Motorola, Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd, Sarawak Shell Berhad, Malakoff Corporation Berhad, Petronas Carigali and MISC Berhad.
Among the research areas in this programme include engineering, business management, manufacturing engineering, information technology, engineering design, renewable energy and biotechnology.
Research conducted by the students are high industrial impact projects such as Energy Optimization for Electric Vehicle, Proton Car Ecological Carbon Foot Print, Pedestrian Protection, Car Interior Cabin Noise, Ergonomic and Design and Evaluation of Driver Cockpit for Malaysian Customers.
The Industrial PhD programmed is distinct from the conventional PhD degree in terms of mode of research. Nevertheless, it still preserves the mark of novel innovative research and scholarship expected of a doctoral study.
A total of 5,590 graduates were conferred their respective degrees at the 53rd UTM Convocation Ceremony, of which 201 received their Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degrees.
