Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) received three Science & Technology Research Grants and one consolation prize under the Science Education Award from the Malaysia Toray Science Foundation (MTSF) on 15 December 2009 at a presentation ceremony held in Hotel Nikko, Kuala Lumpur.

The University received its first MTSF Science & Technology Research Grant in 2005. Since then, the University has been receiving at least one research grant from MTSF very year. For 2009, UTAR received three out of the 13 grants for the MTSF Science & Technology Research Grant.

The recipients for 2009 MTSF Science & Technology Research Grant were:

1. Associate Professor Dr. Alan Ong Han Kiat of the UTAR Faculty of Engineering and Science and his two co-researchers;

2. Assistant Professor Dr. Sim Kooi Mow of the UTAR Faculty of Science and his co-researcher; and

3. UTAR postgraduate student Kor Sue Bee who is pursuing the UTAR Master of Science programme and her two co-researchers.

In addition, UTAR lecturer Tian Kian Wee from the Petaling Jaya Centre for Foundation Studies received a consolation prize of RM2,000 and a certificate for the 2009 MTSF Science Education Award.

UTAR President Ir. Professor Dato' Dr. Chuah Hean Teik and UTAR Vice President (R&D and Commercialisation) Professor Dr. Lee Sze Wei were present at the MTSF award and prize presentation ceremony to personally congratulate the recipients and winners.

The grants are indeed timely rewards to UTAR as the University intensifies its efforts to increase research activities and raise the level of excellence in its R & D.

The MTSF Science and Technology Research Grant is a research grant open to energetic and creative young Malaysian researchers who are residing in Malaysia and engaging in a basic fundamental scientific research field excluding mathematics and clinical medicine at a research facility in Malaysia. MTSF has been awarding the Science and Technology Grant since 1994 and recipients of the grants have been mostly from public educational institutions and agencies.

The MTSF Science Education Award aims at encouraging innovative and creative science education and Malaysian teachers teaching at secondary and pre-university level can submit essays, proposals or cases in practice to vie for the award.

MTSF, formed to advance the objective of promoting science and technology in Malaysia and recognised by the Malaysian authority, was established in 1993 through a RM4 million endowment by Toray Industries, Inc. Japan.

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Photo and Caption



( From left ) UTAR recipients with blue folders: Tian, Dr. Ong, Dr. Sim, Prof. Chuah, Kor and Prof. Lee at the MTSF prize presentation ceremony.