My new website

Assalamualaikum wr dear readers,

Upon suggestions from you and my friends, I have a new website , which is dedicated for formal work and writings. I have chosen google site because it looks professional and i have seen other academic group using it, so i guess it is professional enough to use one.

The address is as given : https://sites.google.com/site/nurulfadzlinhasbullah/

There, i will post academic related things and also perhaps academic related tazkirah.

wsalam,
Ana Muslim

My PhD story : Part II

Maaf, tergendala lama juga sebelum boleh menyambung siri ni...terima kasih kepada komen2 yg diberikan, inshaAllah bertambah semangat nak sambung siri ni ;-)

continuation from part I

Why optoelectronics?

Firstly, my degree was in Electrical and Electronic engineering from Cardiff University, there the emphasis was more on the electrical machines and power system. So, I am more familiar with machines and drives subject compared to other fields. Belum habis degree ada company from Malaysia dtg wat interview in Cardiff..the company is called Malaysia Microelectronics Solutions Sdn. Bhd... the company does chip design using CMOS technology...guess what, I went to the interview...mula2 tu saja je test market...tup tap, the boss (CEO of the company) who came was really islamic and this attracted my attention and I decided to take the job (although at that time, I was not even sure what CMOS is!)...

The company is actually an IC design company, so mostly deals with semiconductor, in particular the silicon technology (CMOS). My first day there, I was given a paper test, with basic questions on Logic gates and CMOS design..huhu, I think I failed the exam...out of 10 maybe i just got 1 right! Sedey betul...the technical boss I think was surprised at why the CEO took me for the job...but I made a point to study real hard to understand their business and technical details...It was the toughest first two months, but alhamdulillah in the end, I manage to understand what they were discussing in the meetings :)

The point of the story above is that semiconductor is actually a bidan terjun field for me...i dont know much about it...i knew just enough for the job...and yet...i've done a PhD in semiconductors , huhu...

So, back to the questions, why semiconductor, why optoelectronics? To those of you who are not familiar with optoelectronics, it means electronics that deals with light. Yeap, laser is a field in optoelectronics, detector is also in it, solar cell, LEDs.. At first, i want to do renewable energy for my PhD...either wind energy or solar energy (niatnya so that leh bantu negara2 miskin utk generate electricity)...but Loughborough Univ had a problem with their online form system and lost my application...the one who replied very fast and keenly was Sheffield univ, under Dr. John David (at that time he wasn't a proffesor yet)

Pakcik John punya field ialah detectors...saya takde la minat sangat, huhu..tapi pakcik tu pandai, kata field dia leh gak wat solar cells, lasers seme...maka saya termakan la juga kata2 manis tu...plus lepas solat istikharah berkali2...saya rasa tenteram utk sambung dgn pakcik ni...with the perception that whatever happens after that will be the best that can happen to me, (i believe this is the path that Allah guide me to do)....so i started my PhD under him....

To be honest, if somebody asked me at that time, awak minat ke engineering ni? My answer was... not really....and if somebody ask me again the same question, after 5 years of PhD , my answer will still be...i dont think so....

then came the question, how come you manage to do well in your first degree (with a first class honors) and manage to complete your PhD altho it took you 5 years? ...

I always believe that whatever we do is amanah...so when we are given an amanah, we must make sure we do the best of our ability to complete it and achieve the best of our potential....even if we don't really like to do it...so the solution is to struggle and force oneself...Alhamdulillah Allah gave me the ability to force myself to do something altho I dont like it, but forcing myself out of responsibility....I feel responsible to show to the Mat Salleh and non-muslims alike that muslim women are not oppressed, are not stupid and can be as smart or even smarter than them...I feel responsible to show that a practising muslim is capable of working hard and in the same time upholding her principles...I feel that I am representing the muslim ummah....how can I do lebih kurang, ye dak? :)

Thats why, dengan segala mehnah dan dugaan yg menimpa masa stadi ni... I still manage to cope (well, sometimes barely coping)...because I believe Allah is on myside...and doing dakwah in the same time strengthen my belief and hopefullness....I always believe Allah will never ever zalim towards his servants....and Allah's promise in the holy Quran...Intansurullaha yansurkum....If you help in Allah's way, Allah will surely help you...

ok cukup dulu entry buat kali ni... next part is sharing on the trials and tribulations of PhD life...

ps: Buat Suria, kalau su nak jadi lecturer, leh la wat PhD...kalau tak, entahlah, kadang2 rasa tak perlu buat PhD ni...(kalau setakat nak prove to oneself)...sbb banyak at stake wat PhD ni..bukan kita je yg go thro it, suami kita, anak2 kita...yg paling elok, istikharah banyak2, minta Allah bg petunjuk...inshaAllah itulah keputusan terbaik :)

My PhD story : Part I

Saya ada cita-cita.... cita-cita saya utk mengeluarkan buku mengumpul cerita-ceriti phD-phD student yg telah menamatkan study masing2...sama ada di akhirnya mrk berjaya atau pun tidak...

Kenapa? Sebagai pengajaran dan hikmah buat mereka di luar sana yg inshaAllah akan buat PhD, ataupun mrk yg ada insan yg terdekat yg akan buat PhD...pada dasarnya maybe hanya 10-15% sahaja drp the whole population yg akan buat PhD....tak ramai, jadi nature of PhD ni tak diketahui ramai sgt org...

Saya bertuah krn ayah saya buat PhD juga...jadi saya tahu la lebih kurang bagaimana naturenya...cumanya, biasala anak remaja time tu, kalau ayah yg bgtahu, ala2 tak caye gitu, huhu...tapi because of his experience, he can advise me accordingly...bagaimana pula yg mrk2 yg takde org terdekat yg pernah buat PhD? I don't think they have a clue what PhD requires out of them...so, perhaps one day, a book of this type will be able to help and guide them, or at least share our experiences with them....

Panjang jugak nak cerita ni...al maklum, a history of 5 years of my life....and interestingly, semua cerita PhD masing2 adalah unik...so, we actually we can learn from each other, inshaAllah...

Mana nak mula ek?

1) Pre- PhD story

My quest of PhD scholarship started after i resigned from a cyberjaya company as an IC designer. The company was a private company, small but yet very busy. I started to realise that I cannot keep living my life like that. Balik lambat, balik pun dah stress sgt, makan pun lebih kurang...esok the same, stress dan berlambak kerja....weekend pula masih duk fikir problem2 yg tak leh solve masa kat tempat kerja....hidup jadi sangat penat....nak pergi usrah pun rasa betapa terbebannya...tu masa masih single! Takleh bayangkan kalau dah ada famili...saya sanggup gaji tak setinggi kerja di situ for a quality of life...life that is worth living for!

Di takdirkan time tu saya ada kawan yg baru habis PhD...Kak Miza...she was an engineer before then quit and started her pHD and and worked as a lecturer in one the university in Malaysia... I remember once I asked her...do you love what you are doing now? (ie. lecturing)...and she replied unhesitatingly " THE BEST JOB EVER!"... and after that I too wanted the best job ever tu jugak...hehehe...so i surveyed and applied work as a tutor in UNITEN, and the purpose was solely to get a scholarship to do PhD (direct, without masters)....mind you, zaman tu, 2002 takde org lagi wat PhD direct ni...seme biasanya wat masters pastu phD...jadi kalau nak wat cam tu, kene fight gak la, sbb nak convince kan org2 atas....

well, to cut the story short...I was accepted into Uniten and they promised me in the interview that I will be able to do the PhD direct in UK...lepas kerja dalam 4 bulan, they called me and told me that TNB now having money crisis and not able to sponsor me...they can only sponsor me to do twinning PhD....of course this is not why i applied there, so, i decided to give my resignation letter and started to search for other universities which can give me what I want...

UIA or UPM?

I actually applied for two universities, UPM and UIA...UPM because my father told me it will be a good one coz it is near to our house in Seri Kembangan and it is an established univ....UIA because I love the idea of teaching majority muslim students...unlike Uniten, majority of the students are non-muslims...and I had experiences that crushed my heart and hope for the students...I do teach whole heartedly, and I do not want my spirit, energy, enthusiasm went to waste...so UIA suits this criteria very much...

I was accepted in both universities...(oh yes, for undergrad students, getting a first class honours really does help you in applying for work in academia)...the dean of the engineering faculty of UPM, even spares some time to have a chat with me...however, as the stories goes, i ended up in UIA...the interview and the university really do impress me, the mission and vision of UIA...all hits the right keys...and of course they have also promised my PhD quest...

Why do a PhD?

This is a must question for anybody wanting to pursue a PhD...and the niyyah may actually change over the years of doing the PhD...however the initial intention is important...like most tutors in universities, in order to be a lecturer we need a PhD, a doctorate...so do I...Plus actually at that time, I wanted to be like my father...i want to have a PhD just like my ayah...and i was really determined and seperti ramai org2 muda, always positive thinking! hehe...

Selepas masuk beberapa bulan kerja...UIA told me that now the country is having a recession, and the economy is too bad to sponsor many students to UK...For that year, 2004, KPT only offered 4 places for staff to study in UK (yes, for all faculties in UIA, all have to compete for that4 places)...and.the rest have to go to other cheaper countries...(masa tu, exchange rate in UK started to rise to 7!)....Of course, I was thoroughly devastated hearing the news plus marah gak la...because they had promised me!!

However, being stubborn as I am, I determined to be one of the four chosen staff ...at that time I already contacted a few universities in UK...and the fastest response was...guess who? hehehe...well my current supervisor, Prof. John David....I told him that I am having this problem now on the scholarship and he said he will help me as much as possible to secure the scholarship. I personally have a meeting with the dean of engineering at that time and told him, i really want to do this PhD...and i would like his support. Of course tak mudah la sesi tu huhu, sampai merah2 muka dean tu masa tu, hehe, but I was really determined...and in the end he asked me to collect the statistics of Univ. Of sheffield and write a small report of the credibility of the university and the group I am applying for. Of course, I didn't do this myself...john helped me all the way...my dean then were convinced and he said he will backed me up in the senate nye meeting...

To cut story short again.... alhamdulillah, Allah blessed me with the good news....i was chosen to go to UK for that year! Huh, panjang story nak ke boleh wat PhD ni...panjang lagi story masa wat PhD, hehe....then I realised, whatever it is I have to get a PhD as i was trusted by UIA to choose me amongst berpuluh2 staff yg apply tahun tu...it is surely an amanah...

Ok lah sambung lain masa nanti...to come...why do optoelectronics?

Examiners of my viva

Ni external examiner, nama dia Dr. Stephen Sweeney....drp Surrey University. Some details on him :

Stephen's primary research interests lie in the area of semiconductor laser physics with a particular onus on optimising laser performance. He has produced >150 journal papers and conference proceedings in this area including several invited papers. Stephen has recently expanded his interests into photonic sensors based on both III-V and Si technologies. Recent topics include:

• semiconductor lasers for temperature insensitive operation (quantum dots, dilute-nitrides etc)
• widely tunable lasers
• vertical cavity surface emitting lasers and LEDs for plastic fibre systems
• semiconductor lasers for optical pumping (EDFA, Raman) and printing and data storage applications
• using photonic devices to sense chemical and biological samples (liquids and gases)

Yang ni pulak internal examiner, Dr. Kristian Groom. Details on him :

Kristian received the MPhys and Ph.D degrees from the Department of Physics & Astronomy at The University of Sheffield, in 1999 and 2003, respectively. He then joined the Department of Electronic & Electrical Engineering at the same university, where he is presently based.

Since obtaining his PhD, for research into the carrier processes and dynamics in InGaAs quantum dot lasers, he has mainly worked on long wavelength GaAs-based lasers (under the EU NanoMat programme) and InP-based quantum cascade lasers, and has co-authored over 30 papers.

In 2005 he was awarded a Royal Academy of Engineering / EPSRC Research Fellowship for research into advanced semiconductor laser engineering, with his main research interests being III-V semiconductor lasers, amplifiers and superluminescent diodes, and the development of advanced fabrication technologies for such devices.

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Alhamdulillah, both of them were very nice... tanya soalan dgn cara baik, bukannya tanya soalan seolah2 cam nak menembak atau menganiaya kita....both are family man, so biasanya mrk2 ni ada gak la hati perut, hehehe.... Kebanyakan soalan were asked by Steve tu, yg internal tak banyak soalan pun, mungkin sbb dia muda lagi and tak berapa experience. Tapi tu lah, the viva lasted almost 4 hours!

Mula2 depa bgtahu start kul 2pm, jadi saya pun dtg la kul 2pm, pastu rupanya, Steve tu terlewat naik train drp Surrey (jauh gak surrey ni drp sheffield, ada gak la more than 3 hours)...so, mrk tunda ke 2.30 pm. I had to wait in the head of department sitting room. Berdebar tak tau nak kata la, huhu....pastu mrk start la viva...dalam 4 jam tu cuma 15 minit je kot rehat, sbb mrk nak ke toilet...

The atmosphere masa viva tu informal je...saya makan biskut lagi masa tu sbb lapar sgt...by dah dekat 3 jam setengah tu, saya mula lembik, dia tanya soalan sampai 3 kali baru la faham, sbb cam otak dah tak leh compute dah, penat sgt! Tapi pakcik tu keep on saying, I have to ask this question...

Kuar2 bilik tu dah gelap...kul 6pm lebih...yeap maghrib jamak la nampaknya sbb dah isyak by that time...mrk suh duk luar bilik dalam 10-15 minits before mrk panggil balik utk bgtahu kita lulus ke tak....i think that 15 minutes was the longest EVER 15 minutes i ever had! rasa cam dua jam tunggu, huhu, berdebar tok sah nak kata la...tskk

Akhirnya depa panggil masuk n bgtahu la, yg setelah berbincang mrk decided to pass me with minor correction, alhamdulillah!! Ada la lagi pujian yg lain, tapi biasalah mat salleh suka puji org, tak yah la citer kat sini...

Lepas beberapa hari viva, John bgtahu yg Steve tu berminat lagi nak jumpa saya dalam bulan January...sbb dia interested in the results...pastu yg internal tu pun masa sy jumpa nak amik correction pun kata, sorry la lama viva tu, Steve tu mesti interested dgn thesis tu sbb kalau tak takkan sampai 4 jam....he said it is a good thing..(well, i dunno, 4 hours is really traumatic for me)

Habislah satu chapter dalam hidup saya dan suami....Allah Maha Besar, segala pujian dikembalikan kpd Allah... saya doakan rakan2 yg masih berjuang berjaya juga one day, ameen...

Tension sungguh!

Tengah geram ni...

Baru baca journal paper of a korean research assistant yg pernah bekerja di Physics department kat university of sheffield....I know him and sebelum ni, beberapa kali pergi jumpa dia to discuss things...

and i even show my results at that time...sbb tak boleh explain lagi time tu....tup tap....dia publish paper baru dgn nama prof di fizik department (kawan baik john dan juga the author of the paper am writing now)...dan results dia similar to what i have but with different explanation!!!

yg sakit jiwa tu, banyak apa yg dia tulis di ambil drp first paper kami, tak tak de decency to even refer pun! teruk betul... prof yg kat fizik department tu pun marah, terkejut dan malu dgn paper yg mamat korea publish sbb dia tak bagi pun prof tu baca paper tu sebelum submit, dia sedar bila dah publish pun!!

what the???!!!

huh, kene sambung baca paper ni...sakit jiwa bila baca...manusia ni mmg la tak leh dipercayai...

just to melegakan hati, paper dia tu tak la comprehensive sgt, banyak hand waiving things...yg paper yg kami sdgn tulis ni lagi detail la, tapi it took longer sbb terlalu detail (ni penyakit prof2 ni...nak wat detail2, mula2 sy nk wat 3 pages je, skrg dah jadi 7 pages)

takpelah....nak kene diskas paper ni ngan john lepas ni...

pengajaran? Hati2 ngan manusia...

PhD ada cuti kah?

Saya gemar baca PhD comics ni...banyak kali tu mmg terjadi kat kami semua....seperti contoh komik strip diatas....hehe...kalau ikut supervisor kami, mmg la tak de istilah cuti...weekend kah, cuti umum kah...tok sah harap ler...

cam baru2 ni...raya haji...jadi sy bagitau lah sy tak akan dtg ari jumaat tu sbb raya...dia pun kata, oklah camtu, tapi wiken nanti dia akan call...tak cukup ngan tu, dia kata nanti christmas, awk tak bercuti kan? ye lah, sbb awk bukan kristian and plus dah amik cuti raya tu, huhu....sebenarnya ada la logik gak kat situ, namun...sapa yg tak nak bercuti ye dak?

in the end, dia tak call pun wiken tu, alhamdulillah...saya pun tak berapa sihat, jadi banyak habiskan masa berehat je...tidur manjang...

beginilah hidup org wat phd :) (well, true for mrk yg dpt supervisor cam supervisor kami la ) setakat sharing borak2 kosong2....

Terima kasih...

Assalamualaikum wr wbt sahabat2 semua,

Kami ingin mengucapkan terima kasih diatas semua ucapan-ucapan yg diberikan... Terima kasih diatas kesemua doa-doa yg dihulurkan...moga Allah membalasnya....

Alhamdulillah syukur tidak terhingga ke hadrat Ilahi diatas 'hadiah' yg dikurniakan olehNya...It has been a long rugged journey with sweet and bitter experiences selama 5 tahun menimba ilmu disini... Everything has happened for a reason and I believe, everything that happened, happened for the best..

Buat sahabat-sahabat yg masih berjuang...teruskan berjuang...kita sbg hamba Allah perlu berusaha sedaya upaya kita, dan kita berdoa dan mengharapkan Allah memberi kejayaan di akhirnya nanti...syukur kita ada Allah yg Maha berkuasa sentiasa bersama kita dan yang kita boleh sentiasa meminta pertolongan padaNya...

Teringat saya kata-kata seorang senior PhD disini masa saya mula2 start buat phD dulu (kak salmiah kasolang kalau sesiapa mengenali beliau)...she said to me 'Fadzlin, every phd candidate has his/her own unique story'... memang benarlah, setiap satu drp kita akan ada perjalanan phd yg unik....ada yg 2 tahun dah siap, ada yg 7 tahun belum siap...ada yg pelbagai ujian dtg menimpa, kalau tidak ujian drp supervisor or academic wise, ada pula cabaran drp keluarga etc....tapi. ..yg pastinya, Allah tidak akan menguji kita lebih drp kemampuan kita masing2...jadi jika ada cabaran mendatang, sudah pasti kita mampu menghadapinya. ..if we persevere, janji Allah pada kita...Innamal 'usri yusra...selepas kesusahan pastinya ada kesenangan.. ..

Maaf diatas tulisan yg panjang ini...setakat berkongsi rasa dan saya berdoa semoga semua sahabat-sahabat berjaya di penghujung phd masing2....inshaAll ah, selepas kejayaan itu, kerja kita baru bermula...as well said by many of you here, masa utk berbakti kepada negara dan ummah yg tercinta....

Wasalam,
Fadzlin & Ustaz Yusof

ps: inshaAllah ada masa nanti akan diceritakan pengalaman2 sepanjang phd dan pengalaman viva saya...

Viva esok

Moga Allah mudahkan....

minta jasa baik sahabat2 semua mendoakan kejayaan saya yg prepationnya tak seberapa...

Umm Darda’ reported: “My husband reported that he heard Allah’s Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: He who supplicates for his brother behind his back (in his absence), the Angel commissioned (for carrying supplication to his Lord) says: ‘Ameen, and it is for you also.’”

(Sahih Muslim, Book #035, Hadith #6589


Jazakumullahu khairan dan terima kasih...

Countdown...

May Allah make it easy for me, ameen....

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Saja nak share lagu SM Salim ni... tak seindah wajah...always kagum dgn eloquent nya bahasa.....membuatkan betapa kagumnya kpd pencipta bahasa itu...Allahu 'Azim...

Tak Seindah Wajah
( Lakunan Hidup... )

Kusangka aur di pinggir tebing
Kiranya tebu di pinggir bibir
Kusangka jujur pancaran batin
Rupanya palsu penghias zahir

Kukira hati jiwa nurani
Suci seindah wajah terbayang
Kukira puji seikhlas budi
Kulupa lidah tidak bertulang

Di manis gula semut binasa
Kail berduri bersalut umpan
Di manis kata insan terlena
Kerana budi hamba terkorban

( 1 )
Inikah dia lakunan hidup
Di pentas dunia insan berpura
Tipu dan daya pencapai maksud
Budi dan harta merangkum noda

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Ayah is now a HoD

Tengah search UDM or Kustem if they offer electronic engineering degree (mana tahu nak balik Trg ke).... pastu terjumpa ayah nye page...

Ayah baru dilantik jadi Head of Department (HoD) of AGRICULTURE SCIENCE...

Ni webpage ayah http://www.agrotechnology.udm.edu.my/academia/hasbullah.htm

Saja share ngan pembaca... :)

ps : iskk, anak dia tak habis2 lagi phd ni....

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Hasbullah Hj Muhammad, Assoc Prof Dr
BAgricSc (UPMalaysia), MSc (Hawaii), PhD (Wales)


hasbullahmd@udm.edu.my
6 09 627 5626
6 09 627 5574


University Teaching

AHS 3171 Agrotechnology of Vegetable Crops


ACS 4133 Crop Protection II

Research Interest

Integrated Pest management System

Insect mass rearing for beneficial purposes (Protein source, silkworm)

Integrated farming practices.

Selected Publications

Hasbullah, H.M.,Symondson,W.O.C and Peter,M.C. 2003. Biological control of psyllid pests of box plant (Buxus sempervirens). 6th International Conference On Plant Protection in The Tropic. Kuala Lumpur Malaysia . 11-14 August 2003.

Hasbullah, H.M.. 2002. Artificial refugia for an European Earwigs Forficula auricularia L (Dermaptera : Forficulinidae). Plant Health conference, Kuala Lumpur Malaysia. 19-20 March 2002.

Hasbullah,H.M. 2002. Some effects of Nosema meslini Paillot (Microsporida : Nosematidae) in adults Pieris rapae (L.) ( Lepidoptera : Pieridae). 3rd international conference on biopesticides 22-26 April 2002. Malaysian plant protection society. Kuala Lumpur Malaysia. 22-26 April 2002.

Hasbullah, H.M. 1999. Biological control on the phylloplane. Integrated Pest management Review 1(2) 112.

McEwen P K, Baker M, Muhammad H, Symondson W O C. 1997. Psyllids (Psylloidea:Homoptera) attacking box (Buxus sempervirens) in the South of England. Antenna. October 1997, 21(4) 200-201 (Cardiff).

Last update: 2009 Aug 10

3D Frenkel Poole Headache

Baru sudah berbincang dengan seorang student psl three dimensional Frenkel Poole effect on carrier trapped in a defect level...

Rasa nak berasap kepala rasanya....memang drp Form 5 lagi benda2 3D memang la lembab bebenor nak difahami... but i dont blame me (lor), generally mmg perempuan susah sket nak picture benda 3D ni...kene pulak wat derivation in 3D, berasap terus kepala...

yg kelaka tu, bukannya saya yg buat derivation tu...student tu yg buat, tapi dia cuba nak explain to me to understand it! Concentration mmg 110% tadi! Alhamdulillah, i think in the end, after nearly two hours (or at least felt like it!) , i understand the thing....rasa cam drain habis energy for today...

Apa Frenkel Poole effect ni? erm...tak perlu la pembaca2 tahu...tak menambahkan iman pun :P... tapi bila anda terpaksa menghadapi effect ni kalu buat research, you are welcome to ask me. I will be glad to explain it to you.

InshaAllah, bila dah habis phD ni, i will put my thesis here for all of you to read (if interested la)...

Ps: saja tulis ni, sbb boleh membantu merelease stress yg accumulating ni :)

Alhamdulillah, here is my second paper...

Alhamdulillah, here is my second journal paper entitled "Correlation between defect density and current leakage in InAs/GaAs quantum dot-in-well structures" published in Journal of Applied Physics. It is a paper in collaboration with the TEM people, Dr. Ana Sanchez from Spain and Dr. Richard Beanland from Warwick University. They did the TEM bits of the paper and me and John did the leakage current bit of the paper. I think it is a nice piece of work due to the relevance of this knowledge to both fields.

I think JAP is much faster than IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics, however, John insisted that my third paper (in the making) to go to JQE again...malas nak argue dah, ikut dia la...dia kata sbb for engineers like us, it will have more credit to publish in the IEEE journal. (i personally think it is for his benefit, but, i dont really care at the moment, I just want to finish my phd...and if i need to publish 3 papers or more, be it....asal siap my phd ni...)




ps : saya dah pernah jumpa Richard ni, kurus dan tinggi orgnye...kami berurusan dah lama, dah dekat dua tahun, tapi baru jumpa face to face last month di conference kat sheffield ni..first time dia tgk saya, nampak terkejut gak la, mungkin terkejut sbb sy pakai tudung kot, or terkejut sbb sy nampak muda (ni ada unsur2 perasan sket, huhu)...

Technical papers

Journal paper, conference paper, seminar paper, the difference?

What is the difference between them?

I will answer the question above with my limited knowledge on the matter...

Conference papers -- is the technical paper submitted after attending a conference. The conference standard may vary from from a well recognised conference to a just-attend-me conference. Reputable conferences are well known to each discipline of research, common ones are the SPIE, IEEE conferences. However small conferences can also be highly sought as it gathers the researchers in a very specific field to discuss and debate the current issues. For example, I find the conference SIOE (don't remember the full name) in Cardiff is a good one for laser characterisation people. The small community makes it a friendly atmosphere for young researchers as well as professors to chat and discuss. (however, too friendly atmosphere is not nice either, well at least to me, as u have to sit with professors and pretending that you are 'into' what they are discussing... while your heart just want to have a rest in the hotel)

Conference papers are peer reviewed papers but the scrutiny of the reviewing depending on how much they want you to go for their conference. sometimes conferences just want to make money hence will just accept whatever you send then with ammendments of course. If the conference is a popular one, then it will be reviewed more rigorously. However, generally the reviewing of a conference paper less than a journal paper.

Journal Paper... its a technical paper which sometimes called a letter if its length is 3 pages or shorter. A full journal paper can be as long as you want but normally, after 8 pages, the publisher will charge you more per page. Journal paper can be rated by its impact factor. Impact factor is a measure of how much the papers in that journal being cited. A very high impact factor journal is for example the Nature journal, however, normally there involves extremely fundamental sciences. For Electronic and Electrical Engineering, the very good journal to send your paper to is Applied Physics Letters (APL), the Journal of Applied Physics (JAP), IEEE journals, Physical Review (this is if your work is nearly a physics work). How to choose where to submit? Well, normally you will check where does your field community submitted their papers? Then go for that journal because, it will mean that it is more likely for people in your field to find your papers and cite them.

However, sumitting and reviewing of journal papers can take very long time depending on which journal you send to. Plus i guess depends on rizq, because, there is this one paper we send to JAP, after two months still no news from them, apparently they are having a tough time finding a reviewer to review the paper. Its because its involving two different discipilines and interlinking between them, plus its very rare for people tolook at dark current of laser devices carefully. But generally JAP is faster than IEEE journals. The fastest is APL where normally people send short paper on the research and criteria is that is the latest news on the field and just letting the community knows about the progress. APL normally has the highest impact factor due to its nature being the first place to plublish a breakthrough.

Seminar paper? Its ranking is less than conference and journal...not many researchers go for this...

Ok, hope it is benefial for you...am sure K Yati who's phD on this topic can comment more :)

Berakhirnya tutorial.. part II

Ok, kita sambung cerita pasal tutorial lagi...

Apa beza student english + some european students dgn student asian? (asian ni seme lah termasuk chinese from china, chinese from malaysia and org melayu)...
Student english + european ni saya duk perhatikan mrk ni jenis yg suka berfikir...kalau mrk tanya soalan tak tanya apakah jawapannya...mrk akan tanya kenapa cara yg mrk buat tu salah? Di mana salahnye? This is crucial so that mrk realise mana salah dan tak mengulanginya...

Tapi kat uia lak (uniten pun sama) majority student kalau tanya soalan mesti nak jawapan terus...nak solid answer...so, jadilah saya dikalangan unpopular tutor dikalangan tutor2 yg ada...ye lah, kalau student tanya soalan, biasanya sy takkan bagi jawapan terus, saya akan bertanya lagi soalan kepada mrk, bertanya dan bertanya sampaila dia dpt jawapan sendiri! (hehe anak usrah saya biasa dgn approach ni, :P)...uish kejammnyeee...hehe (some might think).....tapi saya akan bertanya soalan balik utk membawa mrk kepada jawapan tersebut...menjuruskan pemikiran mrk utk mendapatkan jawapan tersebut... this is very important, i think.... masa degree dulu i was taught this way...sbb bila kita dah dpt ability utk berfikir tu, apa2 masalah dtg pun kita leh tackle..tak la spoon feed!! tapi sayangnya student uia suka yg spoon feed (tu masa tahun 2004 dulu)...boleh nampak di wajah mrk kekecewaan bila menerima sy sbg tutor project mrk...huhuhu...

Kesimpulannya, mungkin student melayu malas nak pikir, senang kalau dpt jawapan je...ermm..sy perhatikan tutor2 yg lain masa tu, ikut je rentak student ni, bagi terus jawapan...lembut...jadilah mrk tutor feveret... tapi i really think this wont help the student much in developing their thinking...kita (tutor2 & pensyarah) perlu berubah...biarlah student tak suka, tapi its for their own good...lain student yg menghafal dan student yg faham...student yg main hentam dengan student yg berfikir...

Camne lak ngan student melayu yg study kat UK ni? I think they are much better...maybe bcoz sistem pendidikan disini...(i'm sure akan ada yg disagree with this statement, but feel free to voice out)..sy tulis apa yg saya nampak n experience...(huhu sorry bahasa rojak habis) sbb tu company kat malaysia kalau overseas grad je mrk akan berlumba2 nk amik keje (ni specific kpd bidang engineering)...kadang tu bukannya result bagus sgt...tapi sbb mrk ada cara berfikir itu....sy tak nafikan maybe ada sorang dua yg study di malaysia yg excellent dlm berfikir, baguslah tu...tapi majoriti nya tidak...dan kitalah sbg para pendidik nanti yg kene ubah mindset student2 malaysia...biar mrk menjadi kritis dan hebat dlm problem solving...(ini bagus utk perkembangan ummah juga)

waduh2...jadi saudari rasa saudari hebat sangat lah? Ayooo, jauh panggang dari api..tidak sama sekali...just menggambarkan pengalaman secara general...maaf jika ada salah dan silap...

Pandangan saya tentang student chinese from china?
saya ada beberapa student drp mainland china ni dlm bebrapa tahun ini....mrk ni lain lah perangai dia drp chinese in malaysia...mrk sgt less competitive...dan yg kesiannya mrk suffer bab language ni... ada student tu, x dpt jawab soalan pertama dlm midterm test just because dia confuse sbb dlm soalan tu ada word conventional diode...bila sy tanya dia, faham ke camne diode conducts electricity, dia jawab ya dan menerangkan kpd sy...pastu sy tanya la kat dia, knp dlm test tu awk jawab salah?? Dia jawab dia confuse dgn word conventional tu...iskk...kesian betul...padahal dia mmg faham je konsep tu!

Masalah bahasa ni saya rasa melibatkan semua bidang...ye lah dah la kene faham material tu, kene juga la faham soalan2 dan nak terangkan balik dlm english...masalah bahasa ni, ambil masa yg lama juga utk terer...tapi kalau ada keazaman, boleh je, inshaAllah...kalau mana2 di luar sana yg ada masalah bahasa, make sure to flag it up to your tutor...tanya dia ada kelas extra ke yg kita leh amik? sebabnye beratus ribu ringgit kerajaan hantar kita kemari...so make sure kita do our best n perahkan facility universiti sehabis mungkin! Plus menurut supervisor saya, advice kepada student kalau tengah exam x faham certain perkataan, tulis dlm paper tu, kata tak faham dan juga apa yg awk sangkakan maksudnya...jadi mrk bila mark the paper dgn jalan kerja yg betul tp jawapan yg salah, they will mark accordingly....

oh satu lagi, mainland chinese ni, ada dua kategori yg kaya dan yg tak kaya...yg kaya kita leh perasan kalau dia ckp english with an american accent...(sy kalau ckp british pronunciation)... sbb mrk ni mampu hire private tutor di china utk mengajar english, and they can be very fluent in english...yg tak kaya ni, english dia bunyi cam org cina ckp english...pronunciation leh dgr hawa2 cina tu...so mrk ni yg suffers dlm study...kesian gak...

oklah tu aje dulu buat hari ni, sambung lagi nanti, iA...

ps : Kepada semua adik2 yg tgh exam... ALL the Best...Prepare habis2an, dan kemudian tawakkal alAllah....

Berakhirnya tutorial.. part I

Minggu ni, minggu terakhir saya 'menjaga' tutorial buat semester ini dan juga harap2nya berakhirnya for good di Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering di Universiti of Sheffield ini...

Mungkin saya boleh berkongsi pengalaman dengan pembaca semua menjadi demonstrator di department ini dan membandingkan dengan tutorial di Malaysia. Saya sempat membawa tutorial di UIA selama setahun sebelum terbang ke UK utk melanjutkan pelajaran..

Termasuk tahun ini, dah 3 tahun berturut2 saya menjaga tutorial... Saya menjaga satu group untuk tahun 1 undergrad dan juga satu lagi di tahun dua... Tahun satu, demonstrator ini di panggil sebagai superdemonstrator kerana perlu menguasai 4 subjek sekaligus dan monitor student2 di dalam group masing2... Satu group adalah dalam 7 hingga 8 orang... Dan buat group tahun 1 ini, hanya dua jam seminggu....

Tutorial buat tahun 1 ni, pada semester pertama merangkumi 4 subjek berbeza, manakala di semester kedua 4 subjek yg lain pula...pada tahun pertama mengambil tutorial ini, mmg penat juga nak menelaah 8 subjek kesemuanya...dan perlu menjawab soalan2 pelajar jika ada...(biasanya adalah, cuma di akhir semester kedua, biasanya pelajar dah malas ke tutorial, tinggallah hanya beberapa kerat) ... Tapi utk tahun kedua dan ketiga mengambil tutorial ini, alhamdulillah dah mudahlah sbb gunakan sahaja apa yg telah dipelajari...

Siapa pelajar dlm group tutorial tu? ada mat saleh, ada org cina drp negara china, ada org germany, ada org india...campur2 kesemuanya...

Buat tutorial utk tahun kedua undergrad tu, saya menjaga tutorial semiconductor yg di ajar oleh supervisor saya. Saya menjaga tutorial ini baru dua tahun...bagi saya tutorial ini lagi mencabar sebab banyak konsep2 semiconductor yg perlu difahami dan di terangkan kepada pelajar2...Tutorial ini takde group2 kecil, jaga saya kene menjaga tutorial utk satu kelas, dalam 40 orang...

Mungkin ada yg tertanya2, kenapa saya jaga tutorial ni yek? Erm, pada mulanya saya ambil krn rasa excited nak menjaga tutorial di established university dan juga menimba pengalaman di samping dapat meletakkan kerja ini didalam CV. Supervisor saya yg mulanya menyuruh saya mengambil kerja ini kerana katanya saya perlu menimba pengalaman ini krn nanti saya akan balik mengajar di UIA. Supervisor saya ini sangat berhati2 memilih studentnya utk menjadi demonstrator, sbb ada juga di kalangan studentnya yg lain ingin menjadi tutor tetapi dia tak memberikan persetujuannya. Kenapa agaknya supervsior memilih saya? entah, saya pun tak tahu...kadang2 susah nak baca supervisor saya ni, kadang2 kita ingat niat dia murni tapi kebanyakan masa, banyak udang di sebalik batu...Setelah tiada lagi scholarship drp KPT dan UIA, saya mengambil peluang meneruskan tutorial ini utk mencari rezki...takdelah dpt banyak tapi boleh lah membantu dikala terdesak tu..

Banyak sebenarnya saya nak berkongsi tentang tutorial ini dgn semua...tapi kerana kesempitan masa, saya akan menulis dikit berdikit...inshaAllah sambung lagi..

Aku dan MSc student

Entry ni untuk share my experience membantu seorang masters student...

Aku telah di pertanggungjawabkan untuk mengajar sorang masters student ni utk buat projectnya...di sebabkan projeknye itu banyak kene mengena dgn phd yg tengah di buat sekarang...cumanya...i wont benefit much from his results sbb kebanyakan result tu, saya or previous student dah buat...so cumanya tolong guide dia buat project tu...

You might as why kene guide masters project ni pulak? well, my supervisor thought that I will benefit from the experience of 'supervising' a student as i will go back to IIUM and inshaAllah one day supervise a student..

This masters student, for the purpose of confidentiality, will call him LX. He is a chinese from mainland China... when the first time I saw him in the lab, showing him how to do the electrical measurements....well, I can hardly understand what he said...his english was disastrous..the pronunciation uhuh....i had him repeating some sentences many times just to understand what he was saying.... and many times too, if i asked him to do A, he will do B...so imagine doing a masters project like that....

Time progresses slowly... and with time his english getting better and better (maybe we (my SV and i, forced him to speak in english) and he can do most of the measurements, only once in a while i had to go in there and help...

He passed all his examination, surprisingly...so the only hurdle for him now is his project...unfortunately for him, he got a project which is slighly difficult in the sense that requires a lot of physics background ... and he was same as me, having little or zero background in semiconductor...what make it worse for him is that his english is not helping him as well..

Dipendekkan cerita, his supervisor (SV) which is the same as my SV decided to give him extension to finish up his project...Our SV nearly failed him coz his lack of knowledge and his terrible interim report...but I told my SV to give him another a chance, coz i know he did tried and still was trying...so there he was last week, still struggling to finish up his report..he got all of the results already, but the hardest thing was to analyse and write the thesis...

LX has asked me to proof read his thesis 2 weeks ago, but I refused. This is because I was tutoring him and it will be in appropriate if I checked his english coz I will help him to correct his technical writing as well...I have offered phd students in my group to help him with the english, yes, paid of course...but nobody was interested...

so in the end, with desperation my SV asked me to help him...i was reluctant, firstly because i was and am too busy, even my work i can hardly do them all..secondly , i was down with a fever, so cant really concentrate and thirdly, i am kinda fed up with him! uhuhuh you might asked why...its because, sometimes you have to explain to him a concept in semiconductor for three times , and still he wont understand it...its not because he is stupid, its just the language barrier and the lack of the semiconductor background! Plus i am not a very patient person...

That was last wednesday that my SV asked me to help the boy, LX... He said, charged him highly, coz he deserves to be charge..and you (meaning myself) dont have to actually help him...so might as well earn some money...

So guess what, in the end, I helped him...going through his results, advising him to replot the graphs, guiding him how to analyse his results and lastly reading and correcting his thesis! Poor boy... LX told me he never has worked as hard as for this masters...

Some background of LX... he is a rich boy...well, his parents are rich, having a furniture company and exporting it to UK and europe...so his parents paid the £20,000 fees for the masters... when I asked LX why he wanted to do a master, he said, because he dont want to work in his father's company as yet..he want to be independent ...LX told me he didnt work hard at all for his degree (that was back in China), he just passed his degree... but now he determined to pass his masters as it will be a shame to go back to China failing his masters... he also told me, for the pass 9 months (of the project duration), it has not only gave him bodily tired, but also heart tired ..i laughed...i told him, that is nothing, try to do phd and be tired physically and emosionally for five years!! He quickly replied, he will never do a phd...hehe

Panjang pulak cerita ni.... akhirnya, i managed to somehow correct his thesis in 3 days...today he is on his way back to China due to his visa ended today...Honestly, the first time i read his thesis, i cant understand 80% of the thing he wrote in there...dah la demam, tambah sakit kepala baca tulisan english yg takleh difahami...not only that, banyak pulak tu technical yg salah...ayoooo, and i have to correct for all that, imagine!!

Anyhow, during the tutoring, i asked him , sentence by sentence what he meant, and when i understand it, i translate it to understandable english....unfortunately, in 3 days mana la boleh baiki semua 50 pages...so i just changed parts which are clearly wrong...and corrected some grammatical english so that the reader can read it...i would say in the end, it has improved at least 60% than the original writing he gave me...and plus i was paid, alhamdulillah :)

What is the lesson that I learned?

1) I told my SV this is tough coz his english is very hard to read...and my SV said, u think Malaysian student is very much different? ermm...honestly i dunno coz i had never marked a project in Malaysia before, but maybe there will be some students who's english is not very good...and my SV said, this a good training for me to cope with this situation :P

2) I learn that many rich boys are maybe are like LX....hidup suka2 je...semua dpt senang...for LX he was like that before jumpa my SV...LX thought it was easy to pass a MSc in UK...nope, he has to work for it... mungkin ramai gak kat mesia yg mana mak ayah kaya, anak2 hancur, tak nampak nak struggle and strive...hancur...kadang2 kene push sket org macam ni, baru mrk appreciate life..

3) After helping the boy to correct his thesis, it gives me some insight of how my SV corrected my writing...rupanya bukan mudah...appreciate gakla my SV going thro my so called 'Rubbish' english and perfecting it (oh yes, my SV says my english is rubbish...terima je la)

4) it feels good to help somebody yg dalam desperation... kesian ada gak..demam2 pun baca gak la thesis dia...kalau tak sia2 la £20,000 parents dia bayar for him to study...i will never want my parents to loose that kind of money..

5) Lastly, i cant wait to go back to IIUM and serves there...meet all the students and contribute back to my country, to my people and of course to my religion!

To conclude : I hope Mr. LX will pass his project...although i thought that the english can be improved tremendously more (and my SV agreed to give him more time just to correct on the english, but LX refused, he said, the thesis is already good)... we'll just have to wait and see..

maaf tulisan diatas campur bahasa inggeris dan melayu, tulis dalam keadaan nak cepat...jika menyakitkan mata, sila skip sahaja...

My first published paper

Alhamdulillah akhirnya keluar juga la paper hamba ini...yang memakan masa selama setahun 6 bulan!!...phew..lama yg amat.. setahun lebih sahaja gi balik gi balik draft ngan supervisor, pastu 3 bulan di hantar ke JQE utk direview, and 3 bulan untuk menjawab soalan2 reviewers dan baiki mana yg patut...yg baki nye tunggu pulak queue utk di publish!

Jadi pengajarannya, tak yah la hantar ke IEEE Journal of quantum electronic ni (JQE) sebab nye lembab yg teramat...kita cuba Journal of Applied Physics pulak ye nanti? (inshaAllah, semuanya dengan izin Allah)....

Sedang menulis paper kedua, adui peritnya....dari paper yg patutnye nak buat short je, jadi semakin long n longer, semenya 'terima kasih' kpd supervisor yg sibuk suh panjangkan dan detailkan ia lagi... ya Allah mudah kanlah...Allahumma yassir wa la tu'assir ya kareeeeem!

Enjoy reading the paper! :)

ps: drp paper nak kene kembangkan utk chapter thesis lak...susahnye phd ni...kepada sahabat2 yg sedang bertarung ngan phD di doakan moga terus kuat semangat dan cuba yang terbaik, kita cuba yg terbaik dengan sedaya upaya kudrat yg ada, lepas tu kita tawakkal inshaAllah... rezeki semuanya ditangan Allah, Tuhan sekalian alam, dan bukannya di tangan kita ataupun tangan supervisor kita...
Dependence of the EL on Spacer - Hasbullah NF 2009

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