Ng Zheng Yu, a final year mechanical engineering student from the University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus (UNMC) won the IMM-IOM3 Materials Lecture Competition (MLC) 2017 on 16 May 2017.
The Materials Lecture Competition is jointly organised by the Institute of Materials, Malaysia (IMM) and the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3). Since its inception, it has served as a platform to cultivate young talents to showcase their skills in presenting innovative ideas on materials science.
Zheng Yu presented a 16-minute lecture, titled “Graphene Based Magnetic Nanocomposites for Dye Removal Application” which used his University’s final year project topic as the main foundation of the presentation. This research primarily aims to produce a hybrid which uses the advantages of absorption properties of carbon and magnetic properties of metal particles, which then could be used in removing dye pollution effectively from polluted water bodies, and help solve one of the world’s biggest crises. Zheng Yu was recognised for the excellent slides’ structure, content flow, technical information and presentation style, as well as his handling of questions at the end of the presentation.
UNMC Associate Professor Ing Kong, Zheng Yu’s final year project supervisor, said: “Zheng Yu is an outstanding, highly reliable and motivated student. He demonstrated high competence in the performance of his project. In addition, he is an excellent communicator and I am extremely proud of his achievement and I would like to congratulate him on his success.”
His journey to the finals began on 1 March when he won the UNMC-M3 Materials Lecture Competition jointly organised by UNMC’s Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) Student Chapter and Department of Mechanical, Materials and Manufacturing Engineering (M3) UNMC. On 18 April 2017, Zheng Yu represented UNMC in the national semi-finals which was held at Asia Pacific University of Technology and Innovation (APU), where he had competed with 12 other Malaysian universities, namely UNITEN, UTM, UKM, UniMAP, UiTM, UTeM, USM, MMU, UM, APU, Taylor’s U and UNMC. The participants consisted of post-grad and undergraduate students from various engineering backgrounds and Zheng Yu managed to advance as one of the five finalists. The national final of the competition was held a month later on 16 May 2017 and the other four finalists were students from Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP), Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM). Ultimately, Zheng Yu emerged as the MLC 2017 national champion after a round of debate and discussion among the competition judges. This result has qualified Zheng Yu to be a contestant representing Malaysia to participate in Young Persons’ World Lecture Competition (YPWLC) 2017 which will be held in Perth, Australia on 12 October 2017.
According to Zheng Yu: “I had never imagined that this could happen, to be the national champion and to represent Malaysia in Perth. Ironically, the presentation is still one of my greatest fears, but certainly my fear is drowned by my desire to share with people around me. Of course, all this would not have been possible without the constant encouragement, support and blessings from family, supervisors, friends, juniors and seniors. I am really grateful for this golden opportunity, and will definitely give my best shot for the final performance and hopefully able to make UNMC and Malaysia proud.”
Zheng won a cash prize of RM3,000 and a trophy as the winner of this competition.
About the project
In this project, a hybrid was first produced through combining graphene (a form of carbon) and magnetic particles together. The hybrids were then used to remove dye particles from water bodies which will ultimately help in solving one of the world’s biggest crises (Dyed Water Pollution). Today, manufacturing industries like textile, food, cosmetic, drugs and pigment producers have polluted water bodies with discharged dye particles which are highly visible, toxic and carcinogenic to living creatures. Dyed water pollution is the biggest contributor to overall water pollution worldwide. As such, the outcome of this research will help determine the most appropriate materials that are cost effective with least negative environmental impact during usage to deal with this dyed pollution issue efficiently.
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More information is available from Chen Khin Fai or Josephine Dionisappu, PR & Communications Manager at The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus on +603 8924 8746, josephine.dionisappu@nottingham.edu.my.
Notes to editors: The University of Nottingham has 43,000 students and is ‘the nearest Britain has to a truly global university, with a “distinct” approach to internationalisation, which rests on those full-scale campuses in China and Malaysia, as well as a large presence in its home city’ (Times Good University Guide 2016). It is also one of the most popular universities in the UK among graduate employers and the winner of ‘Outstanding Support for Early Career Researchers’ at the Times Higher Education Awards 2015. It is ranked in the world’s top 75 by the QS World University Rankings 2015/16, and 8th in the UK by research power according to the Research Excellence Framework 2014. It has been voted the world’s greenest campus for four years running, according to Greenmetrics Ranking of World Universities.
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Posted on 11th August 2017