Keynote Presentation

Abstract
SETI Education has always been the driving force of human civilizations. This paper starts with a random walk on the achievements of SETI for the last century, and current trends in a globalised world. It also touches on the booming trends and challenges faced such as widening gap in wealth distribution, global warming, availability of clean water, and inequality in food distribution. The way forward is to focus on SETI education, which is the key for human resource development, catalyst of change and innovation, and driver of economy growth. It shares some facts and figures on the higher education landscape in USA and some Malaysian experiences in SETI human resource development. Finally the presentation covers global mobility of engineering professionals and suggests that engineering professionals should have 3 IC’s as their guiding principles: Integrity & Competence; Integration & Communications; and Internationalisation & Cooperation.

About the Speaker
Dr. Chuah Hean Teik graduated with a BEng (First Class Honours), MEngSc and PhD in electrical engineering, all from University of Malaya, Malaysia, in 1986, 1988 and 1992, respectively. Since April 2008, he has been appointed as President of Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) in Malaysia. His research interests include microwave remote sensing, applied electromagnetics, and wave propagation for indoor and outdoor communications. He has authored/co-authored more than 250 papers in international journals and conferences. Dr. Chuah has received many awards, both locally and internationally such as the inaugural Young Engineer Award by the Institution of Engineers, Malaysia in 1991; the 1993 Young Scientist Award at the 24th General Assembly of URSI at Kyoto, Japan; the 1995 Young Scientist Award (Industrial Sector) by the Malaysian Ministry of Science, Technology and the Environment; the 1999 Malaysian Toray Science Foundation Science and Technology Award for his contributions in the area of microwave remote sensing; 2011 IET Malaysia Outstanding Achievement Award; Rotary Charity Foundation of Kuala Lumpur Research Gold Medal 2012 for excellence in original research and significant achievement in the field of electrical engineering; and most recently the Distinguished Engineer Award by the Institution of Engineers Malaysia Penang Branch. For his significant contribution in engineering profession, he was awarded Honorary Doctor of Engineering by Multimedia University in August 2013. Dr. Chuah is an eminent technical leader and is very active in professional bodies. He is currently the President of the Federation of Engineering Institutions of Asia and the Pacific (FEIAP). He was the President of the Institution of Engineers, Malaysia (2009-2011). He is a Senior Fellow of the Academy of Sciences, Malaysia; Hon. Fellow of the ASEAN Federation of Engineering Organisations and the Institution of Engineers Malaysia; a Founding Fellow of the ASEAN Academy of Engineering and Technology; Fellow of the Remote Sensing & Photogrammetry Society, UK; the Institution of Engineering and Technology, UK; the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, USA; and the Electromagnetics Academy, USA. He is also a Professional Engineer in Malaysia, a Chartered Engineer registered with the Engineering Council, UK; an APEC, EMF and ASEAN Engineer; and Hon. Member of the Golden Key International Honour Society. Dr Chuah is the current Chair of the IEEE GRS Chapter in Malaysia.