Letters from alumni

Ir. Dr. Ahmad ‘Athif Mohd Faudzi

Senior Lecturer
Centre for Artificial Intelligence (CAIRO)
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

I studied for my doctorate at the System Integration Laboratory under the supervision of Professor Koichi Suzumori and Associate Prof Takefumi Kanda and received a Doctor of Engineering degree from Okayama University in October 2010. Currently I am a Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Artificial Intelligence (CAIRO) of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia.

One of my most memorial experiences of my stay in Japan is about the research culture. The regular meetings, ‘zemi’ or ‘kenkyukai’; the ‘welcome and farewell’ parties; get together programs between lab members; and many other in-lab activities will always be my sweet memories. I can feel the strong bonds between the students and their respect for the supervisor. Through these meetings I learned a lot about discipline, attitude, hard work, and team spirit. I also learnt a lot about the spirit of ‘monotsukuri’; or ‘making things’, which is the specialty of the lab in developing new actuators and their applications. During my research I actively started writing manuscripts and under the guidance of my supervisor published three papers in journals and gave 12 talks at conferences. I also received the IRIS 2010 best presentation award and OMSA Excellent Award 2010.

After graduating I have continued to collaborate with my supervisor. We are pursuing many joint activities such as staff and student exchange and research. In 2011, 2012, and 2013 I was invited as a Visiting Researcher in Okayama University. To-date we have hosted two students from Okayama University and I have sent two of my students to Okayama University for research projects.

As an academician, my post-graduate experience in Japan has indeed improved my knowledge and skills in teaching and research. Also, I am using my experience in Okayama University to develop my own Actuator and Automation Lab. My experiences have been invaluable for making decisions in managing my research projects in general.

It was a privilege to have been a member of be part of the System Integration Laboratory. It is my sincere hope that we can continue to grow the strong bonds that exist between the two universities and generate ever more opportunities in other areas.