Visit to Sunway University’s School of Science & Technology by Office of Navy Research Global (ONRG) & Asian Office of Aerospace Research and Development (AOARD)

Sunway University’s School of Science and Technology (SST) recently played host to the Directors of two major United States research funding bodies. Dr Patricia Gruber, who is the Technical Director of the Office of Navy Research Global (ONRG) and Dr Kristopher Ahlers, the Director of the Asian Office of Aerospace Research and Development (AOARD), spent a day listening to presentations from SST researchers and taking guided tours of three of the SST laboratories.

Presenters & visitors
Back row – presenters
Front row (left to right): Dr Ahlers, Dr Gruber, Professor Marsh

The Dean of SST, Professor Pua, welcomed the guests and gave a brief presentation on the history and development of Sunway University. Sunway University’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Wilkinson, also met with the visitors later in the day and welcomed them to Sunway University. Dr Gruber is based in London and this was her first visit to Malaysia. Dr Ahlers is based in Tokyo and has been a regular visitor to Sunway University over recent years. AOARD has already funded three Sunway University research projects to a total value of RM946,000. The Principal Investigators for these grants are Associate Professor Dr Lin Mei-Hua and Dr Michelle Lee from the Department of Psychology. Dr Ahlers’ regular visits to Sunway University allow him to monitor progress with the existing funded research projects but also give him the opportunity to encourage other staff from Sunway University to consider applying for research funding. Both ONRG and AOARD have a focus on funding basic research that advances fundamental knowledge.

Biology Lab
Left to right: Professor Khalid, Dr Gruber, Professor Ruqaiyyah, Dr Ahlers, & Dr Chandrajit

The activities for the day were organised by the Associate Dean (Research) for SST, Professor Nigel Marsh. Associate Professor Dr Lin Mei-Hua and Dr Michelle Lee both gave presentations of the preliminary findings from their existing AOARD-funded research projects. Five presentations on potential future research projects were also given by SST staff from Biological Sciences (Professor Ruqaiyyah & Dr Chandrajit), Computing and Information Systems (Associate Professor Dr Yap & Associate Professor Dr Yau), and Nano-Materials and Energy Technology (Professor Khalid). During a break in the presentations Dr Gruber and Dr Ahlers were given tours of the Biology, Computing, and Psychology laboratories.

Computing Lab
Left to right: Associate Professor Dr Yap, Dr Gruber, Dr Ahlers, Associate Professor Dr Yau, & Dr Siti Sarah Affendi

Both Dr Gruber and Dr Ahlers told Professor Marsh that they were impressed with the quality of the presentations and the enthusiasm of the staff. Professor Marsh reported that the SST staff did an excellent job of representing Sunway University and establishing it as a worthy contender for research funding on the international stage. Dr Ahlers noted the rapid growth of the university commenting that each time he returned the university had grown by about 1000 students. Professor Marsh reported that the day ended with a meal during which the two visitors enthusiastically engaged with staff in tossing Yu Sheng.

Visitors & Psychology staff
Left to right: Professor Marsh, Dr Gruber, Dr Lee, Associate Professor Dr Lin, Dr Ahlers, & Associate Professor Dr Ng

Associate Professor Dr Lin presenting the findings from her AOARD-funded research project

Postgraduate student explaining his project in the Computing Lab