UiTM lecturers win Special Awards and medals at Brussels INNOVA 2010

Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) academics and students won 2 Special Awards, 5 gold, 3 silver and 1 bronze medals.

INNOVA was held between 18 and 20 Nov 2010 at the Brussels Innovation Centre, Brussels. Nine UiTM academics and students participated in the expo which saw about 500 world researchers.

Noriza Isha and her team of the Faculty of Faculty of Hotel and Tourism Management UiTM Pulau Pinang and UiTM Shah Alam, Malaysia, won a Special Awards and a gold medal for her product in the Farming and Food Category. Her product is a new type of flour made from okra, or locally known as lady’s finger or 'kacang bendi'. Noriza Isha and her team turned the mature okra into flour for food snacks, and thickener or binding agent. They hope that this new flour can be another thickening agent in food industry. Their study seems to have opened a new window to diversify the use of mature okra. Mature okra are just tossed away as waste since Malaysians only like to eat young okra as their dish. Noriza said that her product has potentials to be marketed as it is inexpensive since it is made from agricultural waste. Okra is also abundant and unseasonable. Noriza’s team is made up of Ali Mohd Noor, Hussin Khan Rahmatullah Khan, Hamizad Abd Hadi, Ismaya Noh and Saidatul Afzan Abdul Aziz.

The second Special Awards was won by Ronaldi Salleh, Fattawi Mokhtar and Fadilahwati Abdul Rahman for their product, D-MIC: A Mobile Learning Application for Dyslexic Children. It is an innovation of intervention for dyslexic children that combines instructional technology and mobile technology. Ronaldi said that learning difficulties experienced by dyslexic children may contribute to later educational, social, psychological, health and employment disadvantages. As intervention for dyslexia is possible D-Mic can be one of the ways to improve their learning. It offers a personalized learning tool since it can be used individually on a hand phone. Ronaldi Salleh and team is from the Faculty of Arts and Design and the Faculty of Education, UiTM Shah Alam.

Three other gold medals were won by Hussin Khan Bin Rahmatullah Khan, Mohammad Sharfi Najib and Mohd Kamil Abd. Rahman. Hussin Khan Bin Rahmatullah Khan and team of the Faculty of Faculty of Hotel and Tourism Management won gold for their Coconut Energy Bar. Coconut Energy Bar is a snack whose main ingredient is the dried grated coconut, locally more known as hampas kelapa. Associate Professor Dr. Mohd Kamil Abd. Rahman and N. Jannah Muhd Satar won for their sensor system, Optical Sensor System. Their systems can be used to detect minor ground movement in hill slopes as a warning system for major landsllides.

While Mohammad Sharfi Najib, Nor Azah Mohd Ali, Abd Majid Jalil and Professor Nasir Taib won gold for their classification system for Agarwood. Their Agarwood classification uses K-NN Technique. Naming their product Intelligent Classification system for Agarwood using K-NN Technique, they said that the product is useful in grading agarwood since its trading relies on strict standards controls to ensure quality.

Silver was won by Nurshamshida Md. Shamsudin, Zaliyah Md. Shariff & Zulinda Ayu Zulkipli, of the Faculty of Faculty of Education, UiTM Section 17 for their proposal to teaching Chemistry, Stoichemzzle. Stoichemzzle is a chemistry jigsaw puzzle innovated based on pieces of anion and cation cards. The other silver was won by Associate Professor Dr. Roziah Janor, Zainab Mohd Noor & Saliza Sideni for 6 OBE-SCL Comprehensive Training Kit and Khairulazlan Bin Abd Karim and Sharifah Alwiah Syed Sahil for their invention of a fashion accessory cum electronic gadget, Fasget. Khairulazlan of the Faculty of Arts and Design, UiTM Shah Alam explained, in his Fasget, thumbdrives, speakers, handphones, card readers, and blue tooth devices are embedded in the bracelets and necklaces.

Reported by Dr Megawati Omar
Research Management Institute
UiTM, Shah Alam

Published: 21 Nov 2010

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