PENANG – The Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) Postgraduate Students Association (PSA) is dedicated to fostering a sense of community and belonging among the postgraduate students at the university towards collective learning, enhancing mobility among them and coming together to organise local and international events.

This was stated by the newly elected PSA President, Mohammad Ali Sarvghadi, who also mentioned that PSA aims to provide a platform to all local and international students from around the world studying at USM to expand their horizons, reach their full potential, and make a difference in the world around them with their diverse talents, ideas and enthusiasm.

"PSA USM was established to provide students with the opportunity to share their ideas, communicate with each other, and engage in social and organisational activities, and also to assist in developing the postgraduate culture at USM," he said.

He added, through this platform, students not only engage and administer the social and extracurricular activities but also contribute towards the academic upbringing of the members and community through organising different academic workshops and seminars.

Furthermore, PSA has long ago extended its boundaries towards international collaboration with various postgraduate students associations, such as Prince of Songkla University (PSU), UiTM, and UUM, and has been running successful programmes like ASEAN Future Leaders Summit (AFLES) through these collaborations.

"PSA is the pioneer of organising different international events such as USM International Week and USM International Day where students get the chance to get to know each other’s culture and learn from one other.

"These types of programmes which showcase the diverse nationalities, cultures, colours and societies of the world, not only increase our knowledge and understanding but also foster the brotherhood and friendship among the students, hence creating a peaceful and harmonious environment at the campus and to a greater extend our nation," Ali added.

Apart from that, PSA also encourages its members to be involved in community welfare programmes and has been organising various programmes for the welfare of the underprivileged communities around them, such as visits to the Balik Pulau kampung, fundraising for flood victims and health awareness programmes.

PSA is also committed to promote Malaysia and Malaysian universities especially USM at different international events held during the year such as AFLES.

Text: Hafiz Meah Ghouse Meah

Credit : USM News Portal 

Congratulations to Miss Wong Xin Ying and Dr Zarul Fitri Zaaba (Supervisor) on their success winning a gold medal and Special Awards by World Invention Intellectual Property Associations (WIIPA) in The 6th International Invention Innovation Competition in Canada, iCAN 2021. Their invention title is MyHalal (MH). This mobile phone application is capable to verify the halal status of food products, food additives and food premises. MH also provides a unique capability to report in real time any misconduct when users find any Halal issues occurs on premises (i.e. doubt about halal logo, doubt about halal status etc). On top of that, MH is supported by the web application as the backbone for the system administration and technical matters. This success is meant for everyone in CS. Thank you for the continuous support from everyone. 

9 April 2021 – The Computer Science Society, in collaboration with the Centre for Research on Women and Gender (KANITA) Universiti Sains Malaysia, had organized a two-day webinar in conjunction with the International Women's Day 2021 with the theme "An Equal Future for Women #ChooseToChallenge". This webinar aimed to share and highlight actions to empower and inspire women from all backgrounds, especially in the sports and IT industry. This program was held on 30 March and 3 April. Besides, it was sponsored by HILTI Asia IT Services Sdn. Bhd., KLN Services Sdn. Bhd. and BeauTyra Cosmetics.

On the first day, the program has been welcomed by a speech from Professor Dr Aldrin Abdullah, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor Student Development Affairs and Alumni. Then it followed by the interactive session with Dato (Dr.) Nicol Ann David, a World Games' Greatest Athlete of All Time, to share her valuable journey in becoming the World First Female Squash Player that has been moderated by Ms Alya Adlina. This session has been collaborated with Creative Media Production (PTPM) for conducting a live session on our university official Facebook page with a total of 1148 participants.

While on the second day, Mr Jeremy Lau has conducted a session with Ms Mye Lene, the Head of Human Resources of HILTI ASIA IT Services, to share her experience of being one of the female leaders in the industry that males mainly dominate with 866 participants joined through Facebook live and Webex Meeting.

In line with the International Women's Day 2021 theme of "Choose to Challenge", the webinar lead by Ms Dania Ridzlon was indeed a success. The School of Computer Sciences would like to congratulate to the whole organizing committee. The Computer Science Society has proved that our students can go beyond their area to organize programs that could inspire many young generations to be agents of change and be bold to face challenges.

The link for the live session for the webinar can be watch through:

First Day with Datuk Nicol Ann David: https://fb.watch/4G9fFDkOIC/ 

Second Day with Ms Mye Lene: https://fb.watch/4G9hnK_r8j/