It had been a hectic one month since my last article appeared. Our Institute was in the final stage of operationalising the establishment of a professorial chair in energy informatics, fully endowed by Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB), known formally as the Tan Sri Leo Moggie Distinguished Chair in Energy Informatics. The establishment of the Chair was approved in October 2020. It was a commendable action indeed by TNB to have the Chair eponymously named in recognition of Tan Sri Datuk Amar (Dr.) Leo Moggie's enormous contribution to TNB, to the energy industry and to the nation as a whole. IICE is very grateful on the trust given by the Universiti Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN) management to become the secretariat of the Chair, a responsibility that we would never take lightly. With pride and honour, we will do our level best to ensure its success.
Tan Sri Leo Moggie is synonym with and renowned for his tremendous contribution to the development of the energy sector in Malaysia. He had been holding the portfolio as the Energy Minister for the sector for more than 20 years, beginning with the Minister of Energy, Telecommunications and Posts from 1978 to 1989, the Minister of Works between 1989 to 1995, the Minister of Energy, Telecommunications and Posts from 1995 to 1999 and finally as the Minister of Energy, Communications and Multimedia from 1999 to 2004. Upon retirement from the Government service, Tan Sri Leo Moggie was appointed as the Chairman of Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) from April 2004 until March 2020 and at the same time serving as the Chairman of UNITEN Boards of Directors and Governors. During his tenure as the Energy Minister and subsequently as the Chairman of TNB, numerous initiatives have been implemented, which have led to the significant advancement of the energy, communications and multimedia sectors in Malaysia. Thus, it is deemed very apt to name the professorial chair in energy informatics after his very own name, to recognise him as the epitome of quality and excellence of the energy and related sectors in Malaysia.
We are also proud to announce the appointment of Professor Dato' Dr. Halimah Badioze Zaman as the first holder of the Chair. Prof. Halimah is a well known figure in the area of computer science and information technology, which is the essence of energy informatics. She had been with Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) for almost four decades, gracefully climbing the ladder from a tutor to full professor, before retiring from the university in 2020. Her last position prior to the retirement was the Director of the Institute of Visual Informatics (IVI). Her passion, enthusiasm and generosity to continue to contribute as much as possible while she still has the chance to do so, and not to let the retirement deter her from this noble mission, had eventually brought her to UNITEN, or more specifically to IICE. In fact, she is still actively involved in various initiatives and activities at the national and international levels, presiding the Malaysian Information Technology Society (MITS) and sitting on the Board of Directors, Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) among others. We welcomed her with open arms, of course. We strongly believe that her vast experience in academic and research would be extremely valuable to the Institute and the University.
"A number of short-term, long-term and high impact activities have been crafted and are already in the pipeline, which include opportunity for research funding, series of talks and webinars on energy informatics, engagement sessions with stakeholders and move to establish the National Energy Centre."
With an overarching aim of the Chair to champion energy informatics research and development activities in Malaysia, and to excel in doing so, we have big agenda ahead of us moving forward. A number of short-term, long-term and high impact activities have been crafted and are already in the pipeline, which include opportunity for research funding, series of talks and webinars on energy informatics, engagement sessions with stakeholders and move to establish the National Energy Centre. With the objectives and benefits clearly laid out, the onus is on us to ensure that the bull's-eye is hit, and as usual, we welcome everybody on board to contribute and collaborate towards the success of this Chair. For now, I am super excited to be meeting Tan Sri Leo Moggie in person next week to listen to and learn from his wealth of experience and knowledge and to see how these can be incorporated into the planning for this Chair. For more information and updates about the Chair, feel free to email us at iice@uniten.edu.my.
Yours truly,
Hazleen Aris
September 19th, 2021
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