Kuala Lumpur, 10 March – Five students from Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP) have earned their spot to intern with Mercedes-Benz Malaysia (MBM) after emerging as winners in the Ideas Challenge Round of The Vision of an Electric Future and Sustainable Mobility for Tomorrow Virtual STEM Series sponsored by MBM in partnership with Petrosains, The Discovery Centre.
Calling themselves team Zefal, they beat four other teams to clinch the top spot in the tertiary category. Team Commutators from Monash University was 1st runner up while team MEEngineers from UTP was the 2nd runner up.
Under the secondary category of the Ideas Challenge Round, five students from team Vitality in SMK Putrajaya Precinct 18(1) emerged as winners, beating four other teams from SMK Seri Hartamas (1st runner up), SMK USJ 13 (2nd runner up), followed by SMK Saujana Utama and SMK Seri Bintang Selatan.
En. Ezarisma Azni Mohamad, CEO of Petrosains Sdn Bhd said, “Congratulations to the winners and all participants! We are inspired by the fact that our young people are thinking ahead in terms of how we can continue to live in a sustainable manner without putting unnecessary strain on our natural resources and environment.
At Petrosains, we are proactively cultivating an interest in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects through our science centres in Kuala Lumpur, Johor Bharu, Kuantan, Kuching and Kota Kinabalu. We also have numerous online workshops to cater to lifelong learning available to everyone, including students, teachers, and family units.
Human activity and productivity are increasingly being replaced by technology-led innovation, therefore it is important for our workforce to harness 4IR technology. Getting involved in STEM in an informal setting from a young age would also benefit our national ambitions towards enabling a highly skilled workforce that can contribute to a strong economy,” he added.
Quotes from winners
Ahmad Arief Daniel Azlin from team Zefal, winner in the tertiary category said, “The event was fantastic and an eye opener, the techniques and idea generation methods were really new to me. Ideas presented by other groups were highly innovative and futuristic as well. I would like to thank my group members for their hard work throughout the event. Thank you too to the organisers and sponsors for this once in a lifetime opportunity.”
Luqman Hakeem Hamdan from team Vitality said, “My team and I are honoured to have won. These past few weeks have been very exhausting. We faced a lot of obstacles and at one point, even felt hopeless. However, with our determination and cooperation, we managed to pull ourselves together and focus fully during the last few days. I would like to thank all the facilitators that helped us. I am truly happy right now and will definitely join this competition again if given the chance.”
