First PhD graduate for Sunway campus

Mark Ng

Sunway campus student Mark Ng has been awarded the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, making him the first PhD graduate for the School of Engineering and the first graduate to complete full tertiary studies at the campus.

Mr Ng graduated with a Bachelors degree in Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering with Honours, after which he pursued his postgraduate studies in Control System Engineering, all within seven years. He submitted his final PhD thesis in April 2009.

His PhD research focused on the development of theoretical and mathematical analysis to detect and mitigate faults in a system with the aim of improving safety and reducing costs in industries such as the airline industry.

"It is essential to have an efficient fault detection and isolation system so that the fault can be detected and that counter-measures can be taken as soon as possible to eliminate or at least to reduce any financial damages and most importantly, to save precious human lives," Mr Ng said.

"For example, there could be a fault in the aileron (flap) on a wing of the aircraft where it is stuck or can't be adjusted during takeoff or landing to the extent that it might endanger the lives of the people onboard.

"I have developed a fault detection and isolation scheme that can monitor the entire system and detect actual faults. The scheme is robust to the unknown information about the system which has the potential to sound a false alarm or to mask the presence of the faults."

Mr Ng, currently a lecturer at the Sunway campus, has presented his findings at international conferences, such as the 2007 International Conference on Control Applications (IEEE) in Singapore and the 2008 International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC) in Seoul, Korea.

His degree and title will be conferred upon graduation in September 2009.