Prepared by: Prof. Dr. Nor Haniza Sarmin, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nor Muhainiah Mohd Ali, Nabilah Najmuddin & Nurhidayah Zaid
Simposium Kebangsaan Sains Matematik (SKSM) is a yearly event by Persatuan Sains Matematik Malaysia (PERSAMA) in collaboration with few local universities. Last year, the symposium was unable to be held due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But this year, it managed to be held virtually for the first time using the Microsoft Teams platform from 28 till 29 July 2021. Universiti Malaysia Pahang (UMP) was selected to organize the 28th SKSM or SKSM28.
In this symposium, a total of 165 presenters and 61 participants from all over Malaysia gathered to share their research works in various fields of Mathematics. All presenters had submitted the video recordings of their respective paper presentations and on the day of the event, the organizer displayed those recordings in parallel sessions via Youtube Links. This symposium has become a big platform for scientists and mathematicians to assemble and encourage the changing of ideas and collaboration among them in enhancing the science and mathematic studies at the national level.
The SKSM28 event was honoured with three keynote speakers, namely Prof. Emeritus Dr. Shaharir Mohamad Zain (Former President of Akademi Sains Islam Malaysia (ASASI) and PERSAMA) with the speech titled “Daya Pengaryaan Sains Matematik Sarat Budaya Sepanjang Masa”, Prof. Dato’ Dr. Noraini Idris (President of National STEM Association) with the presentation titled “Science, Mathematics, Technology: An Engine of Growth and Innovation”, and Dr. Ts. Aswami Ariffin (Senior Vice-President of Cyber Security Responsive Services Division of CyberSecurity Malaysia) with the presentation titled “Development of CyberI3-Intelligence, Incidence and Investigation Based Big Data System”. These keynote sessions were live-streamed through Microsoft Teams and Pusat Sains Matematik UMP’s Facebook page.
There were also five invited speakers from five different local universities who had presented their research works. They were Prof. Dr. Mustafa Mamat (Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (UNISZA)) with the presentation titled “An Efficient Hybrid Conjugate Gradient Method with Descent Properties Under Strong Wolfe Line Search”, Prof. Dr. Roslinda Mohd Nazar (Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM)) with “Unsteady MHD Rear Stagnation-Point Flow of a Hybrid Nanofluid with Heat Generation/Absorption Effect”, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Lee Lai Soon (Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM)) with “Parameter Estimation of Compartmental Epidemiological Model Using Variants of Harmony Search Algorithms”, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nazrina Aziz (Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM)) with “Time Truncated Life Test for New Two Sided Group Chain Sampling Plan (NTSGCHSP-1) Using Minimum Angle Method”, and Dr. Ts. Norazaliza Mohd Jamil (Universiti Malaysia Pahang (UMP)) with “Estimation of Basic Reproduction Number of COVID-19 in Malaysia”.
In addition to that, a number of academic staff and postgraduate students from the Department of Mathematical Sciences, Faculty of Science, UTM had attended the symposium as participants and speakers in the parallel sessions. The academic staff included Prof. Dr. Nor Haniza Sarmin, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nor Muhainiah Mohd Ali, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sharidan Shafie, Dr. Fong Wan Heng, Dr. Ahmad Qushairi Mohamad, Dr. Zuhaila Ismail and Dr. Nurul Aini Jaafar. Some of the postgraduate students were Nurfarah Zulkifli, Nabilah Najmuddin, Athirah Zulkarnain, Nurhidayah Zaid, Nur Athirah Farhana Omar Zai, Muhammad Nur Syiham Abdul Razak, Nabilah Fikriah Rahin, Suzarina Ahmad Sukri, Mohammad Ridhwan Reyaz Ahmad, Muhammad Nazirul Shahrim, Wan Faezah Wan Azmi, Sabaruddin Jamali, Amirul Aizad Ahmad Fuad, Siti Salmah Yasiran, Ayuna Sulekan, Nur Marni Athirah Abdul Wahid, Norliza Mohd Zain, Nurul Anasuhah Zakaria, Siti Amnah Mohd Tayib and Noorehan Yaacob.
On the last day of the SKSM28, its award ceremony and closing inauguration were held live with 390 participants in Microsoft Teams and 291 views on Facebook. Congratulations to Prof. Dr. Tahir Ahmad for being elected as the PERSAMA fellow for the year 2021, as announced by 2019 PERSAMA Fellow, Prof. Dr Siti Aishah Hashim Ali.
Besides that, congratulations also to UTM academic staff and students who received the PERSAMA awards. The winners of Anugerah PERSAMA 2020 were Wan Nor Munirah Ariffin, Shazirawati Mohd Puzi and Fadhilah Yusof with the research work titled “T-Deck: Tash Scheduler and Generator”(Pemenang Utama award under Rekacipta Matematik category), Siti Rohani Mohd Nor, Fadhilah Yusof and Arifah Bahar with the research work titled “Stochastic Mortality Model in a State-Space Framework (Pemenang Hadiah Sanjungan award under Makalah Ilmiah category) and Fong Wan Heng, Nurul Izzaty Ismail and Nor Haniza Sarmin with the research work titled “DNA Splicing Language Generator (DNASpliceGen)” (Pemenang Hadiah Sanjungan award under Rekacipta Matematik category).
Meanwhile, the winners of Anugerah PERSAMA 2021 were Yusof Ahmad with the book titled “Structural Analysis Using Matrix Method” (Pemenang Utama award under Buku Karya Asli category), Tahir Ahmad and Vinod Ramachandran with the research article titled “Ordered Discrete and Continuous Z-Numbers”, Siti Afiqah Mohammad, Nor Haniza Sarmin and Hazzirah Izzati Mat Hassim with the research article titled “The Exterior Square of a Bieberbach Group with Quaternion Point Group of Order Eight”, Nur Azlina Mat Noor, Sharidan Shafie and Mohd Ariff Admon with the research article titled “MHD Squeezing Flow of Casson Nanofluid with Chemical Reaction, Thermal Radiation and Heat Generation/Absorption”(Pemenang Hadiah Sanjungan award under Makalah Ilmiah category) as well as Tahir Ahmad, Azmirul Ashaari, Siti Rahmah Awang, Siti Salwana Mamat, Wan Munirah Wan Mohamad, Amirul Aizad Ahmad Fuad and Nurfarhana Hassan with the research article titled “COVID-19: Dari Lensa Kelompok Kabur FACS” (Pemenang Hadiah Sanjungan award under Rencana Popular category).
Meanwhile, two papers presented by UTM students were announced as among the winners for SKSM-28 best paper awards based on the full papers and presentation videos submitted to the organizer. The UTM students were Nabilah Najmuddin, Nor Haniza Sarmin and Ahmad Erfanian with the paper titled “Independence Polynomial of the Commuting and Noncommuting Graphs Associated to the Quasidihedral Group” and Noorehan Yaacob, Sharidan Shafie, Takashi Suzuki and Mohd Ariff Admon with the paper titled “Level Set Method for Free Boundary of Invasive Cancer Cell using Different Functions of Matrix Metalloproteinases”.
Overall, Simposium Sains Matematik Kebangsaan was indeed a yearly event that is anticipated by local researchers in mathematical sciences. Although this year the method was different, which was virtually instead of physically, it does not stop the participants from getting countless beneficial knowledge.
Throughout the symposium, there was a lot of inputs especially on the knowledge enhancement in Mathematics and collaboration opportunities that can be grabbed in terms of research and publication. Hopefully, next year the symposium is able to be held physically in order to maximize the networking between participants.
For more information on SKSM28, visit https://sksm28.ump.edu.my/index.php/en/