| World
recognition
The Star, Sunday June
19, 2005: THE TASTE of success is sweet indeed! When Universiti
Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) in Malaysia teamed up with the University
of Cambridge (Engineering Department) in Britain to take part
in the Mondialogo Engineering 2005 Award contest, the combination
turned out to be a real winner.
The team was judged as one of the 21 best project teams from 28
countries.
The taste of success
was infinitely sweet as the team took home an award, prize money
and Special Jury Recognition for outstanding achievement.
Nam Tran Nguyen (from the non-profit organisation Viethope in
the United States), Unimas’ Alvin Yeo, and Cambridge University’s
Mike Khaw were present at the prize presentation ceremony held
in Berlin recently. DaimlerChrysler and Unesco presented the award
and prize money totalling 300,000 euros (RM1,372,129) in all.
"The Mondialogo Engineering Contest by DaimlerChrysler and
Unesco presents a new generation of engineering students with
the unique opportunity to discover sustainable solutions for tomorrow’s
world through intercultural dialogue and exchange,” said
DaimlerChrysler Malaysia Sdn Bhd’s president and chief executive
officer Frank Steinleitner.
“I am happy to see that 10 Malaysian teams have taken up
the challenge to present unique ideas and knowledge across national
borders and cultural barriers.
“I am especially glad that an outstanding team from Malaysia
has been awarded Special Jury Recognition for their excellent
project idea,” he added.
The team representatives also expressed surprise and excitement
on their achievement.
“Taking part in the Mondialogo World Engineering Award has
been a tremendously rewarding experience for the whole team. It
is an honour to be invited to accept this award,” said Khaw.
“We're really happy to be among the best teams but getting
one of the five Special Jury Recognition prizes was a pleasant
surprise.
“DaimlerChrysler and Unesco did a fantastic job of providing
a platform for young engineers to pool skills to find solutions
to serious problems in the developing world. We are proud to be
part of it all.
“Our aim now is to successfully implement our solar power
project in Bario. We also hope to launch our non-profit organisation
dedicated to building a network of students and young professionals
who wish to contribute to sustainable development in the Southeast
Asian region,” he added.
The team from Britain and Malaysia won over the jury with their
idea entitled Photovoltaics In Rural Icts – CreatIng
Sustainable Energy In Remote Settings.
The project idea talked about implementing a photovoltaic or solar
power system in the remote community of Bario in East Malaysia
to alleviate the power shortage there.
The Mondialogo Engineering Award is an initiative of DaimlerChrysler
and Unesco to promote intercultural dialogue among young engineers
around the world.
The initiative calls on students from industrialised and developing
countries to work together on proposals for sustainable engineering
applications to aid developing countries.
The international jury assesses project ideas for sustainability,
feasibility and quality of intercultural dialogue within the project
group. More than 1,700 young engineers and students from 79 nations
had registered for the contest to form a total of 412 teams.
The international jury includes Prof Peggy Oti-Boateng (Ghana),
Prof Gülsün Saglamer (Turkey), Prof Shirley Malcom (USA),
Datuk Lee Yee Cheong (Malaysia) and Prof Wei Yu (China).
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