USM students wins 1st place in NACES 2009

Students of Chemical Engineering have created history by impressing the judges and winning the 1st place in National Chemical Engineering Symposium 2009 (NACES 2009) technical presentation competition. This event was held in Universiti Malaysia Sabah which is an annual gathering of chemical engineering graduates in Malaysia from 14th August till 16th August 2009. A group of USM students from the School of Chemical Engineering comprising Kiew Peck Loo, Lunish Sadsiwam, Raveena Chithra, Prem Raj, Gopal Paramasevam and Mohd.Haaziq participated in this event.

A total of 414 delegates from 14 higher educational institutions participated in this event. NACES 2009 with the theme ‘Global Water Crisis: What Can We Do?’ is a platform to increase the awareness and to call upon future chemical engineers to ponder and to resolve the global water crisis, such as growing demand for the diminishing water resources, safe water, quality of drinking water, mismanagement of water resources and commercialization of water supply. The 3 major competitions held were Technical Presentation, Plant Design and Technical Essay Writing competition.

In the technical presentation competition the group members were required to work together and brainstorm to come out with excellent ideas on the topic ‘Clean Water: Converting Water Scarcity into Abundance’. Representatives from each group were required to present their final work of the team. The participants had to polish their presentation skills as well as coming out with brilliant and sharp ideas on the issues and the problems encountered. As champions, the USM team received a cash award of RM500, trophies and certificates.