26 April 2017 was indeed a remarkable day for all the lecturers and students from USM, School of Aerospace Engineering. It is the day where we were proud enough to invite Datuk Dr Mazlan Othman, currently the Professor Emeritus of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia to our school and talk about the Space Agenda of the United Nations (UN).

Datuk Dr. Mazlan Othman is the former director of United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA). She is Malaysia’s first astrophysicist and the first woman to be awarded a PhD in physics from University of Otago, New Zealand. She was the founding Director General of ANGKASA, the Malaysian National Space Agency where her work led to the launch of first Malaysian astronaut, Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor. Furthermore, she is a Senior Fellow of Academy of Sciences Malaysia.

An overflow crowd came and this unusual programme was kick started by the welcoming speech from Prof. Ir. Dr. Mohd Zulkifli Bin Abdullah, dean of School of Aerospace Engineering.

This programme aims to introduce the space agenda of UN to students as well as the lecturers so that they will be more aware of the role and responsibilities of this organization. Besides, the session explains the future plans of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) regarding space industry.

Besides, Datuk Dr Mazlan Othman shared her experience when being the director of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA). Her words of wisdom have motivated our students to think big and achieve something great too!

The joyous sharing from Datuk was eventually ended and a token of appreciation was given to Datuk.

Sincere gratitude to all the lecturers and students who made this event a reality. Thousand thanks to the attendees for showing their interest in this event too. We look forward to meeting with Datuk Dr Mazlan Othman again in the near future!

Photo : Tan Chun Khuen     Text : Chan Ze Yu