Monash Graduates Become Computationally Savvy

Monash University has taken a progressive approach to postgraduate education by hosting world-leading trainers in computational science to run workshops introducing students to the sophisticated computer modelling relied upon by many modern researchers. 

Dr Robert Panoff, and Professors Angela and George Shiflet facilitated the week-long workshops where postgraduate students developed the logical and operational skills necessary to take advantage of technology available for analysing the enormous amounts of data produced in the course of scientific research.

Professor David Abramson, Science Director of the Monash e-Research Centre, was one of the primary organisers of the workshops.

“We are really keen to enhance our students’ capabilities so they will be comfortable using advanced computational methods along-side their experimental research. Computational methods are going to play an increasingly important role in research, and this is a wonderful opportunity”, Professor Abramson said.

Dr Robert Panoff is a highly-respected trainer and founder of the pioneering Shodor organisation in the United States which engages students to develop computational training tools for science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Dr Panoff’s workshop introduced students from a variety of disciplines to different kinds of computational modelling tools.

“The students were asked to examine a scientific problem and consider all the constructs and variables, and to select the most useful tool and approach for their data investigation.” Dr Panoff said.

Professors Angela and George Shiflet have been heavily involved in the development of computational science training for the sciences, and authored the first introductory textbook on the topic, 'Introduction to Computational Science: Modeling and Simulation for the Sciences’, published by Princeton University Press.

Their workshop introduced life science students to the benefits of computer modelling for analysing complex biological systems.

TAYLOR'S HOLDS WEB DESIGN WORKSHOP FOR INDONESIAN STUDENTS

TAYLOR UNIVERSITY COLLEGE

Forty students from two secondary schools in Pontianak, Indonesia had an engaging time exploring about Web design at a workshop themed “Sell it to the World” led by Taylor’s School of Computing (SOCIT) Lecturer Mr. Lili Budiman. 

Mr. Budiman observes the participants

Held at SMA St. Paulus Pontianak, the four-hour workshop exposed participants from SMA St. Paulus and SMA Santo Emanuel to the fundamental knowledge and skills needed to create an effective and attractive Web page. They were guided to think creatively and innovatively to develop a “Hip, Funky and Cool” Web design.

Through interactions with Mr. Budiman and hands-on activities, participants learned about planning and developing Web pages using markup languages like HTML, Javascript and CSS. In addition, they also got to familiarise themselves with several software used to design sophisticated Websites, namely Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft FrontPage and Microsoft Powerpoint.

The highlight of the workshop for the students was creating an actual website to market a product of their choice. This assignment was divided into three phases:

• Phase 1 – Create a storyboard to detail the overall organisation of the websit
• Phase 2 – Develop a prototype using Microsoft Powerpoint
• Phase 3 – Implement the website by using Microsoft FrontPage

The participants were motivated to come up with the best ideas and designs as three awards were given out for Best Storyboard and Best Implementation, respectively.

Mr. Budiman said he enjoyed facilitating the workshop as the students were eager to learn.

“For many of them, it was their very first time to create a website, but they were fast learners and asked a lot of questions!
According to SOCIT Dean Ms. Banumathy Devi, this workshop was tailor-made to ensure students gain the right fundamentals, are able to apply what they have learned and have a fun time.

“The Internet has become such an important tool in the 21st century and it has become a vital part of everyday life - providing everything from news to shopping to music to videos - and is likely to become even more important in the years to come. Having the ability to design a Webpage that catches people’s attention is certainly a valuable skill,” she added.

MANAGE ITS IT SYSTEM

KUCHING – Staff from Politeknik Kuching Sarawak recently visited Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus to learn how the university provides IT support to staff and students as well as the management of its information technology assets.

The group of 12 visitors was led by Shamsuria Binti Mohd Ariffin, Deputy Director (Academic Support) of the polytechnic.

They were welcomed on arrival and briefed on the university’s IT structure and policies by Caroline Hon, Director of Administration, and Jonathan Ng, Manager of Information Technology Services Department (ITS).

“We are very impressed with the efficient structure that has been implemented at Swinburne Sarawak with regards to ITS. A total of 12 ITS staff is able to provide quality service to the whole of Swinburne Sarawak due to proper implementation of ICT policies,” said Layam Anak Engkasan, who heads the ICT Unit at the polytechnic in Matang.

Swinburne Sarawak currently has a staff of about 250 including part-time lecturers and about 3,000 students. In addition to the support services its ITS provides to staff, access to the internet and a wide range of software, such as the Blackboard learning system, that supports a wide range of courses are also made available to students.

Layam said the visit was also an opportunity to exchange knowledge on the latest ICT technologies and to build closer cooperation between the two institutions.

“We have a lot to learn (from Swinburne Sarawak) with regards to setting up a proper helpdesk or service desk to ensure that the second-line ICT personnel have more free time to attend to requests or problems.

“We also learned of some new technologies that have not been introduced in the local polytechnics as yet, such as the use of FM-200 in your data centre and BlackBoard course management system,” she said.

Layam said that some of the hardware and software at the university may be available in some government institutions of higher learning but it is also imperative that these resources be well-managed with the help of policies that define and determine how an ICT unit operates: proper procurement specifications, customer support, response-time policies, acceptable usage policies and so forth.

She said that Swinburne Sarawak was chosen for the study tour as “we wanted to visit a private institution of higher learning in order to broaden our horizons as we have mostly been communicating and exchanging knowledge only with other government institutions of higher learning”.

The delegation also stopped by at the university’s 700-capacity library to look at its self-checkout system where students and staff may borrow books without involving library staff. Biotechnology labs and the IT data centre were the other places visited.

UMS, Japanese Company Collaborate in Nano Fibre Technology

KOTA KINABALU: Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) yesterday agreed to collaborate with a Japanese company in the development of nano fibre technology.

The dean of the Engineering and Information Technology school, associate professor Dr Rosalam Sarbatly, said during the signing ceremony of the letter of intent with Tokyo Econet Limited Company, that the role of nano fibre technology and engineering towards sustainable development was new.

He explained that nano fibres comprise fibres with a diameter of less than 0.1 micron.

The production of nano fibres will be of great technological importance as a filtering media, he said.

Through the collaboration, UMS and Tokyo Econet Ltd will focus on three applications of nano fibres.

These are freshwater production, oil spills clean up and oil and gas industry processing, he said in his speech which was read by Professor Dr Duduku Krishnaiah.

“To focus on the desalination, the process intensification by reverse osmosis has been recognized since 1980s. Compared to the traditional techniques, the membrane process requires small plant size, low energy consumption, high efficiency and low waste production. The high consumption of energy of the traditional thermal techniques is one of the main drawbacks for desalination.”

Lately, membrane distillation has been reported to have the capability to compete with reverse osmosis in desalination, he said.

“The advantages of membrane distillation over reverse osmosis include low cost and energy saving, safer, more efficient in the rejection of non-volatile compounds, fewer mechanical technique/part demands and lesser fouling.

“However, the nano fibres can fulfill the desalination requirement in water purification due to several contributing factors,” he said.

He added that nano fibres may also be successful sorbents for oil spills cleaning.

However, the information on the usage of nano fibres in oil spills clean up using organic, natural and synthetic polymers is limited.

Mitsuhiro Takahashi represented Tokyo Econet Limited Company at the signing ceremony.

BE WARE OF MALWARE

"In 1986, there were only a few hundred known Malwares. Today, that number has grown to 900,000," said

Goh handing out goodies to Nilai UC students during the Q&A session.

 Goh Chin Teng, technical consultant at computing science company, F-Secure-PowerBloc. Goh was at Nilai University College to give a seminar on the very real and increasing dangers of cyber threats and Internet crimes.
In today's digital age, the single biggest threat to your electronic data and personal computer is Malware. This is an acronym for 'malicious software' which is designed to damage or disrupt a system. Some of the more common forms of malware include 'viruses', 'worms' or the infamous, 'Trojan Horses'. As reflected by the statistic above, malware has become a global concern.
"It is important that we educate the young on the dangers of malware so they are able to protect themselves and avoid being a victim of data theft or getting hacked. The seminar will educate students here on how malware is created and how they can analyse it so as to prevent getting their technical gadgets infected," said Goh. He also explained that malware is usually sent in low numbers initially to avoid detection and utilizes techniques such as 'spear-phishing' to infiltrate a system. This is apparently a huge threat to vast social networking sites such as 'Facebook' and 'Friendster'. Goh also warned students that malware can even appear in the form of ordinary files such as PDF, Word Document or Powerpoint which could pass through many a system undetected. Goh also spoke on the growing problem of mobile malware which is spreading through wireless networks and Bluetooths.
Apart from lecturing students on the dangers of spyware, Goh said F-Secure-PowerBloc was also on the lookout for potential future employees. Given that Nilai UC has a large number of Computer Science students, it is not surprising that the company began their nationwide tour of education institutes at the tertiary institute's award-winning 105-acre campus. After the talk, students also took part in a Q&A session as well as quizzes which saw many of them bagging t-shirts and other goodies.
Talks and seminars such as this are part of Nilai UC's on-going efforts to give its students an all-rounded education. This helps with exposure to real-life working conditions and as well as allowing for students to comprehend what is expected of them as future employees. Ganesh Mahendranathan, a Foundation Studies student, encapsulated it best when he said, "This seminar shows how important it will be, not only for those working in the IT industry, to combat the threat of malwares but also for those who will be handling sensitive and secret company information. We must all be alert to the fact that someone may try to steal that info."