MOTIVATED: Winning the gold medal has encouraged Chemical Engineering students Shargunan Punusamy (left) and Dheenakharhan Vijakumar to participate in more competitions and further their interest in engineering.

WNNING SMILES: (from left to right) Final year students Loke Pui Yee, Chang Jang Sen, Kho Lik Yeh, Lim Yijean and Ng Han Ject are grateful for the experience as it widened their perspectives.

PERLIS: Once again, UCSI University’s (UCSI) Chemical Engineering students received applause in the 6th International Engineering Invention & Innovation Exhibition (i-ENVEX) 2015 held in Universiti Malaysia Perlis. They bagged one gold medal and one bronze medal for their efforts. 

UCSI has won three gold medals and one silver medal in last year’s competition. 

Themed ‘Engineering for Society’, more than 600 students from various educational levels, such as primary and secondary schools, polytechnics, training institutes, as well as local and international universities participated in the annual conference. The three day exhibition also attracted some of the brightest students from Taiwan, South Korea, Oman, Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines, and Egypt. 

For Shargunan Punusamy and Dheenakharhan Vijakumar, the competition cum international exhibit was a priceless experience. 

Bagging the gold medal in the i-ENVEX Best Award class A (Agriculture, Environmental and Renewable Energy) category awards, the duo presented their project on the production and application of novel magnetic biochar to remove dye and CO2 adsorption. 

“Participating in this competition is a confidence booster and we are thankful to our supervisor Assistant Professor Dr Mubarak Mujawar for encouraging us to step out of our comfort zone,” said Shargunan. He added that the duo will be participating in the EUREKA Innovation Exhibition 2015, an annual national exhibition and competition organised by University Kuala Lumpur Malaysian Spanish Institute on 29th-30th July 2015. 

According to Shargunan, this competition has also motivated him to pursue his interest in process engineering. 

“My mother was hospitalised during the competition but I could see the joy in her face when I won the gold medal. This has convinced me to advance my interest in this field and make her proud,” he added. 

Bagging the bronze medal in the same category were final year students Loke Pui Yee, Kho Lik Yeh, Ng Han Ject, Chang Jang Sen and Lim Yijean with their research titled, ‘Comparison of biomass pre-treatments for a sustainable and economical production of bio-ethanol’. 

Kho, who was employed by Top Glove Corporation Berhad as a process engineer upon graduation, credits the team’s supervisor Assistant Professor Tan Jully for her unconditional assistance and the fun learning experience in UCSI. 

“We may have lost the gold, but the knowledge gained through this experience made us feel like winners.”