Pathum Thani, 3 Sept 2026 – The Water Engineering and Management (WEM) together with the Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering (FCEE) had the honor to host the official visit of the delegation from the Universiti Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN), led by two senior lecturers and officials of the Department of Civil Engineering – UNITEN College of Engineering, namely Ts. Dr.-Ing. Zarina Itam, the Head of Marketing and Mobility Unit, and Gs. Ts. Dr. Nazirul Mubin bin Zahari, the Head of External Relation. The delegation was received and welcomed by Dr. Nurul Husna Hassan, Assistant Professor in the WEM program, Dr. Wenchao Xue, the Academic Program Chair of the Environmental Engineering and Management (EEM), and Ms. Alistina Shrestha, FCEE Manager for External Affairs and Marketing.
The visit began with a convivial introduction from both institutions on their general structure, history, and research focuses. The two teams agreed that there were a number of major overlaps in both institutions’ interests and development directions that indicate great potential for future collaboration and joint program development.
The UNITEN delegates then visited WEM’s Hydraulics Lab and Irrigation Engineering and Management (IREM) Lab. The guests expressed great impression with the facilities available to students and researchers at WEM and interest in collaborating on research with WEM faculty members.
Presentations on case studies of advanced hydrological and water quality solutions in Malaysia
The visit continued with back-to-back seminars presented by Dr. Itam and Dr. Mubin, respectively.
The first one focused on the case study of recovering cenosphere from pulverized fly ash (PFA) generated from Malaysian power plants to prevent water pollution and other environmental risks. This follows a source-pathway-receptor framework that aligns with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 6 and SDG 12.
The second seminar was about engineering measures to mitigate the issues of air entrapment and intake losses due t vortex formation at dam intakes. The findings provide critical insights into dam design, planning and operation to optimize a power plant performance. This project aligns specifically with SDG 7 and SDG 9.
Dr. Zarina Itam (left) and Dr. Nazirul Mubin bin Zahari (right) presenting case study research conducted by UNITEN to WEM students
The seminars were warmly received by WEM students and researchers and concluded with a presentation of tokens of appreciation to Dr. Zarina Itam and Dr. Nazirul Mubin bin Zahari by Dr. Nurul Husna Hassan.
Dr. Dibesh and Dr. Nurul presenting tokens of appreciation to UNITEN