Edited by: Lau Bee Theng, IEEE R10 Newsletter Editor
The IEEE STEM Ambassador Program was developed to recognize IEEE volunteers for their contributions to pre-university STEM education. Join us in congratulating the 2021 IEEE STEM Ambassadors from Region 10.
|
Aliza Aini Md Ralib Bakhtawar Nawaal Gayathri Manikutty Graeme Gwilliam Hugo G. Espinosa Kam Weng Tam Lau Bee Theng Lochan Jolly Mohd Hafiz Ismail Mousiki Kar |
Muliady Muliady Mumtahina Islam Sukanya Nurul I. Sarkar P Susthitha Menon Parkavi A Rosminazuin Ab Rahim Sathiabama T. Thirugnana Supavadee Aramvith Takako Hashimoto Vijayalaxmi Sandeep Kumbhar |
Below are some enlightening sharing of thoughts from the STEM Ambassadors on how they are helping IEEE empower the next generation of technology innovators through their efforts in providing STEM outreach in their local communities:
“In an increasingly dynamic world, our nation’s younger generations must be ready to bring skills and knowledge to encounter problems, make use of information and resources, and know-how to gather and evaluate data to make accurate and proper decisions. These are the skills that students develop in science, technology, engineering, and math, including electronics disciplines known as STEM. If we want a country/nation where our future leaders, generations, neighbors, and workers can understand and solve some of the complex challenges and problems of today and tomorrow, and meet the demands and requirements of the dynamic and evolving workplace, improving students’ skills, content knowledge, and literacy in STEM fields is essential. We must also make sure that wherever the younger generation lives, they have the right to quality learning environments.” Vijayalaxmi Sandeep Kumbhar, India
From teaching the native language to her school Principal in her kindergarten days to teaching college students now, her journey has been a pursuit of passion. A valedictorian in both her undergraduate and postgraduate classes, she took up her passion as a profession. The joy of beholding the sparkle in a student’s eyes on learning a new concept is what drives her to teach even beyond the walls of her undergraduate classroom. She has reached out to local schools and NGOs to spread her love for STEM and encourage future generations to take science and technology as a career. Mousiki Kar, India
“Personal experience in educating my children to excel in national and international robotics competitions made me realize the value they gained from the aspects of knowledge, skills, and personalities. Therefore, since 2010 I have organized various workshops and competitions, emphasizing an attractive learning experience. Everything needs continuous and consistent effort, from activities that are only for a small region, then develop into large ones and are open to participants from abroad. Nothing makes me happier than seeing them keep on learning, fight in competitions, study STEM fields, then contribute to society through science and technology.” Mr. Muliady Muliady, Indonesia
“I played an active role in community development through IEEE pre-university STEM educational activities in New Zealand. My STEM outreach events include leading exhibitors at the 2021 MOTAL STEM Fair for pre-college students, IEEE Workshops at local community schools in Auckland, and leading a STEM-TEC demonstration at AUT LIVE (Pre-COVID-19) program for pre-university students. This event was one of the most significant annual events that Auckland University of Technology (AUT) organized to brings 5000+ pre-university students on campus. The ‘IEEE STEM Ambassador’ title is a great honor for me; it will help me serve the community better by providing new ideas for pre-university STEM outreach events in NZ.” Nurul I Sarkar, New Zealand
“Students’ curiosity, excitement, enthusiasm, and engagement every time I deliver an outreach activity is my primary source of inspiration. I believe that continuous exposure to hands-on, interactive, and practical STEM-based activities can significantly impact pre-university students and spark their interest in pursuing careers in STEM. We live in a highly technological society, and engaging young minds in STEM is more important now than ever before. Many of the outreach activities I have been involved in showcase the electronics discipline; knowing that my contributions could help engage school students into Electronic Engineering programs is highly rewarding and motivating.” Hugo G. Espinosa, Australia
As a result of over six years of promoting and presenting STEM Education material to hundreds of school teachers throughout NSW and ACT, Dr. Graame, a retired Chartered Professional Engineer and resident of St Patrick’s Green in Kogarah, has been selected as an IEEE STEM Ambassador for 2021 by IEEE. He is one of over 40 appointed internationally for 2021 when it has been introduced. Graeme has contributed voluntary assistance to various groups and organizations in the community, Australia and internationally for over 60 years, starting as a young Scout Leader at the 1st Kogarah Scout Group after he had completed his Queens Scout Award some years earlier. Graeme Gwilliam, Australia
Prof. Kam Weng Tam, Professor of Faculty of Science and Technology and Director of Centre for Science and Engineering Promotion of the University of Macau, initiated the STEM activity titled “Wireless Technology Study Summer Camp“ for local high school students. The program aims to raise their interest and awareness of wireless technology with interactive wireless experiments and games, educating students and also promoting the core values of IEEE and MTT-S with emphasis on RF/Microwave-related circuit and system realizations. The project is funded by the Macao SAR government’s Science and Technology Development Fund (FDCT). Kam Weng Tam, Ken, Macao
“While organizing outreach activities for pre-university students on behalf of the IEEE BUET Student Branch, I have visited many schools and colleges as an instructor since my second year of undergrad. My job in these places was to teach Arduino to get the pre-university students familiarized with Robotics and Automation with the help of Embedded Systems. With awe, the participants would often observe how writing a few lines of code on the computer and loading them onto a little square box would make things happen like magic. The simplicity of this discovery and the curiosity firing up from this moment onwards is my true inspiration behind becoming a STEM Ambassador.” Mumtahina Islam Sukanya, Bangladesh
“STEM initiatives by Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor are dedicated to Urban Poor’s (B40) in our vicinity. In view of the current situation; (1) decline in STEM interest, (2) the COVID19 pandemic that is clouding our world, we have decided to move forward and proactively transformed our STEM Mentor-Mentee Program into the online method. We have always organised many STEM programs, forums, Training of Teachers, Superhero Run, quizzes, competitions and many more STEM activities. Hence, we felt that it is necessary for us, especially in our campus vicinity, to emphasise STEM education for nurturing future scientists, technologists, engineers and educators.” Sathiabama T. Thirugnana, Malaysia
“I reckon the need for students to develop their capabilities in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math education to succeed in this new information-based and highly technological society and pursue STEM-related careers. With this IEEE STEM ambassadorship award, I am committed to continually raising interest and awareness in science, engineering, computing, and technology and striving to help primary to secondary students discover the engineer within them at the state, national, and international levels.” Lau Bee Theng, Malaysia
“During the pandemic, most educational programs were conducted virtually using various online simulation tools to excite young minds to love Science and Electronics and engage in Science, Engineering, Technology and Mathematics (STEM) education through active learning. The chosen target group are the underprivileged Malaysia indigenous children, in primary and secondary schools. I believe STEM education can be the platform for these Malaysian indigenous children to inspire them through knowledge in science and electronics. Later, these young children and youth will return to their indigenous community and inspire their more youthful generations, improving their quality of life in the future. Through this effort, it is hoped that the global community will increasingly value IEEE as a catalyst in STEM literacy for vulnerable communities such as Malaysia indigenous children.” Aliza Aini Md Ralib Malaysia
“As an IEEE STEM Ambassador for Region 10, my inspiration in conducting STEM outreach always goes to young children who are always curious to explore new things around them. This includes marginalized children who are often being left out from the mainstream educational and social opportunities. Through the presence of IEEE volunteers in STEM outreach among these disadvantaged children, I strongly believe that we can offer an infinite world of possibilities through STEM and indirectly deliver the message that they matter to us. We hope our small contribution through STEM outreach will create big impacts in their lives.” Rosminazuin Ab Rahim, Malaysia
“Leveraging technology through humanitarian and educational activities for underserved communities and local organizations are always my passion. By being good and sincerely doing good, I believe we can contribute, small or big, to improving the education and human condition worldwide. It is an honor for me to be selected as the IEEE STEM Ambassador; this motivates and inspires me to contribute my time, talent, and treasure for the benefit of humanity and in improving global conditions, in line with IEEE Mission and Vision. Quality education should be an equal opportunity for all, as outlined in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal #4.” Mohd Hafiz Ismail, Malaysia
She received the IEEE Electron Devices Society (EDS) Educational Fund of USD10,000 for the STEM project “Electronics in Coding and Robotics”, piloted in Malaysia Section from April to December 2021. She is highly keen on imparting STEM awareness among pre-university students. Her project is included in TryEngineering STEM Portal and was piloted during the pandemic season, where the entire 6-week STEM project was conducted online by 3 EDS Chapters in Malaysia. A total of 50 participants comprising pre-university students, parents, teachers and EDS members took part in the online events. P. Susthitha Menon, Malaysia