Spreading STEM knowledge and experiences with the public is beneficial as science and technology continuously advance throughout the years. The Electrical Engineering Students Association(EESA) club under Universiti Teknologi MARA(UiTM) Terengganu in Malaysia gathered panelists from around the globe to shed light on this topic. Panelists from USA, Turkey, Egypt, Mexico, India and Malaysia shared with the attendees about their country’s demand in the STEM field, the accessibility and experiences of their course in their respective university and the advances of STEM in each of their countries.
EESA under UiTM Terengganu Branch initiated this program at the international level hoping to be able to deliver various science and technology information through international panelists’ and as well as to expose the general public to STEM education from an undergraduates point of view Renee Garcia, shared about how researchers of nanotechnology from Mexico often travel to different countries to further explore nanotechnology development in depth. She mentioned that Nanotechnology engineering is still a relatively new branch of engineering , and that it should be acknowledged and supported in order to be able to grow.
In Egypt, Nile University lets their students invent on their own. Seifeldin said his university promotes hands-on work, especially in his major, mechatronics. He has found this to be beneficial for students in STEM as it allows them to explore further on their own basis while still complying to the syllabus .
Zeynep Ozkan, the panelist from Turkey, shed some light on Turkey’s major civil engineering projects and in demand engineering branches. Among other things that were highlighted by this talented speaker from Turkey , she also touched on the societal issues and stereotypes that surround her field of study. “Pursuing civil engineering is normally generalized for tough men, but a woman could join in too, and it was never a crazy idea for them (women) to have a blast in civil engineering”.
As mentioned by Akshat Totla during his part of the sharing, New York University in Abu Dhabi is very advanced in terms of providing facilities. The study environment of their students are also very cohesive as they often help one another. He also gave an in-depth comparison between computer science and computer engineering which helped the attendees clear up any of their former misconceptions of the two.
After a sharing session with Shah Izzati Afzan from Malaysia, participants got to know about the focus of engineering and technological development in Malaysia. She highlighted the energy production field in Malaysia as an advancing sector and also touched on the growth outlook for the technology sectors .
Ray Lee from the USA, gave a very informative sharing of the major companies that not only monopolise the STEM branches in his country but also around the world. Some of these companies include Ebay, Microsoft and Tesla. He also highlighted the electrical and computer engineering course offered by his university, University of Texas at Austin, Texas.
Almost 300 participants from Malaysia, Turkey, South Africa, Beijing, the USA and many more successfully registered and participated. The Rector of UiTM Terengganu, Assoc. Prof. Ts. Dr. Mazidah Puteh, who attended the programme, said “The implementation of STEM education has been an amplifying factor in creating exceptional graduates who can utilize their creativity and critical analysis skills to solve real life problems. In the long run, these skills are what will help shape this generation to be the strong pillars that will uphold and meet the requirements of this advancing world”. She adds, she is very glad to share this understanding of importance with students and professionals from around the globe. Many positive feedbacks from participants acknowledging the great sharing from the panelists and the webinar session ended successfully according to plan.
This program was successfully managed by Siti Ulfah Sheikh, the program organiser and Tengku Nur Izzuddin, the deputy program organiser from Malaysia. Nurin Athirah, the secretary of the program and Atiqah Syahrul as the honorable emcee. Fellow committee members of the program are Firdaus Hakimi, Nurul Syakinah, Nur Atikah Syafiqah, Husna Damia and Ammar Hariz who were involved in handling multimedia, protocol, technical and registration, respectively . Lastly, our international representative committee members who are in charge of networking and advertising, Megan Greggor from South Africa and İpek Çakiroglu from Turkey.