computing & IT

Teams of APU students from the School of Computing & Technology continue to uphold their proud tradition of competition excellence by securing the Best Poster Award, Gold Medal and Bronze Medal at the recently concluded International Intellectual Exposition (IIEX) 2017, that was held at the Ancasa Hotel and Spa, Kuala Lumpur. 

Our participation was deemed an impressive one because our students were among the youngest participants, as they competed directly against postgraduate students who came from various universities in Malaysia. Despite their young age, our students showed utmost confidences while they conducted their presentation to the panel of judges. Team Briend that comprised Megha Shailesh Patani and Karthikesan Kannan walked away with the Gold Medal and the Best Poster Prize. On the other hand, Ooi Shu He, Wong Chun Wai and Kho Zhi Yuen from Team AiRa and Vikna Raj, Larvania Somasundram, Winnie Tan Jia Ci, Loh Angie from Team Bracemed walked away with Bronze Medals, as a result of their excellent pitching skills during the exhibition.

All teams were mentored by Vinothini Kasinathan and Aida Zamnah from the School of Computing & Technology. Congratulations to the teams and their mentors, who have devoted tremendous efforts in preparing themselves for the competition! Experiences like these have definitely helped our students by exposing them to the industry out there.

APU students nailed it again!

Recently, 2 teams from APU participated in the HACK2HIRED hackathon, that was known as the largest hackathon in Malaysia by far, according to the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC). The hackathon, organized by Dream Catcher, gained support from MDEC, Malaysian Global Innovation & Creativity Centre (MaGIC) and Industry Centre of Excellence (ICoE) under the Malaysia Academic Industry Network (MYAIN). 118 participants who were all final year IT students took part in the competition, in which they were also exposed to IT industry players such as Cyber Village, Experian, ViTrox and Continental. 

The hackathon comprises 3 main activities – Warm Up Hack, Mini Hack Challenge and Main Hack Challenge, in which participants were tested on their technical strength and skill sets over 32 hours of the challenge. Tan Bee Lan, Teh Chun Jay, Leong Sen Fong, Raymond Nathan, Prethpal Singh Dhubb and Dayallen A/L Karunakaran, who were grouped into 2 teams, stood out as the 2 of the top 8 teams for the Main Hack Challenge.

It was an eye-opening experience for the students, as they gained feedback directly from the industry partners on the tasks given. This hackathon also helped to open doors for the students to job opportunities that are available in the market. Kudos to the teams and their mentor, Ms. Vinothini Kasinathan, for this achievement; we look forward to participating in more tech events like this in the future.

We have all waited for this moment of glory! 

Muhammad Alkautsar Sanusi, Abdulhamid Ahmed Ali, Gamma Rizkinata Satriana and Syahmi bin Suleiman, Level 2 students of the BSc (Hons) in Information Technology with a specialism in Mobile Technology and BSc (Hons) in Information Technology with a specialism in Information Systems Security, who represented Asia & Malaysia as one of the Top 3 Finalists at the ATOS IT Challenge 2016 Global Finals, were crowned as 1st Runner Up in Paris, France on the 14th of June 2016. What’s more? They also bagged the Social Media Award, thanks to their active engagement with their followers on the social media.

The team, under the mentorship of Hemalata Vasudavan from the APU School of Technology (SoT), battled through 8 months of planning, research and development of the ‘Go n Gone’ mobile application – an application that allows social media monitoring, filtering and deletion of inappropriate content. It was a remarkable achievement by our undergraduate students, as they competed with other finalists from the UK and France, who were made up of postgraduate & PhD students respectively.

Click here to read the interview reports with the team and their mentors, Prof. Dr. Ir. Vinesh Thiruchelvam and Ms. Hemalata Vasudavan about their secret recipe to success.

• Click here to view the interview with Team "Go n Gone"
• Click here to view the interview with the mentors of Team "Go n Gone"

“Technological innovation is indeed important to economic growth and the enhancement of human possibilities.” – Leon Kass

In accordance to APU & IBM Malaysia’s efforts to develop, facilitate and promote the Internet of Things (IoT) education, a Centre of Excellence (CoE) has been established at APU. This first of its kind IoT Centre of Excellence in Malaysia will further extend the power of cognitive computing to the billions of connected devices, sensors and systems that comprise the IoT.

Under this establishment, APU will develop, facilitate and promote the IoT education through cloud-based IoT infrastructure used by students, researchers and our faculty members. Concurrently, IBM will also provide relevant IoT resources, training and assistance in building the workforce in APU and equipping APU with current expertise in line with the latest industry requirements, as well as prepare students to meet future industry requirements.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is predicted to have an economic impact of more than $11 trillion by 2025.  IBM, a global innovation leader in Internet of Things, is working to accelerate the development of cognitive IoT solutions and services in order to help clients an d partners make sense of the growing volume and variety of data in a physical world that is rapidly becoming digitized.

The establishment of this CoE will assist APU to create a multidisciplinary learning and research environment in the field of IoT and related disciplines, including Advanced Analytics, Cloud Computing, Mobile Development and Embedded Systems. The establishment of this partnership also brings us forward in learning and delivering the latest technological skills to our students. We look forward to see amazing outcomes of this partnership in the future.

On 4th June 2016, the APU IEEE Student Branch organized a gaming competition, titled “Unorthodox: Ultimate Counter Strike Mania” at APU. The multiplayer gaming competition was open to all students at APU. Players were required to register as a team of 3-5 players and a total of 16 teams (approx. 80 players) registered for the tournament. 

The main objective of the event was to raise awareness among students regarding IEEE in APU and also establish a platform for APU students in order for them to develop their communication and team building skills while adding recreation to their busy lives. Cash awards, certificates and IEEE t-shirts were distributed by Prof. Ron Edwards (Deputy Vice Chancellor), Prof. Dr. Ir. Vinesh Thiruchelvam (Dean of School of Computing, Engineering and Technology) and Muhammad Ehsan Rana (Head of School of Computing and IT).
After rounds of intense competition, ‘OKU’ made it through and emerged as the champion of the day. The event received overwhelming response and support from the students; as this was a good platform for them to take a break from their academics, as the saying goes, “All work but no play makes Jack a dull boy”. Some of them even requested for another tournament to be held in near future!

Organizing Committee: Manoj Jayabalan (Counselor), Muhammad Ehsan Rana (Advisor), Mary Ting (Financial Advisor), Samim Mohammad Nasir (Chair), Muhtasim Matin Raafi (Vice Chair), Baktygali Adilov (Secretary), Quazi Maisha Samiha (Treasurer), Bashitha Udara (Director Committees)