RMIT Convocation 2012 @ Intercontinental Hotel, KL

Since I was not going to travel to Melbourne, I chose to attend the convocation in KL. It was an intimate but beautiful ceremony. Those graduating with PhD were treated like VIPs with special holding room, before and after the ceremony, front row seats for their guests and the graduates on the stage during the ceremony. For me it was extremely meaningful as I was able to share this moment with my whole family.

Alhamdulillah

I am so thankful, for the news that I've received today. Finally, after more than 4 years and so much heartache, I can put a close to this chapter in my life and move one. I thank Allah for giving me the strength to endure the most challenging obstacle in my life so that I can achieve my dream. And to my late father who gave me the confidence to keep on going.

Request

I’m pretty much back into the routine of going to the office daily. Zade and Mama are settling in too. Finally, I'm able to see clearly the significance of my research project. Another one of my abstract has been accepted for a conference in Melbourne. When I opened my e-mail this morning, I got a note from the one of the editors of a technical magazine, asking a few questions about my research development as he wanted to feature my work in an upcoming issue. I was feeling good. Things are not that bad after all.

Then my sv came in to my office and pulled up a chair. I wonder if this is going to be another discussion about where I’m going with this research. I explained to him about what I wanted to do next with the controller of the actuator and the problems that I needed to address. After listening to my explanation he said that is where your PhD is – overcoming the hurdles and challenges with controlling the actuator. Pheww. I could finally breathe easy now.

Then he dropped a bombshell. He made a request that I can’t refuse. He told me to pursue it even with me giving tons of excuses. Now he’s sending me off on a wild goose chase. I sure wouldn’t be able to concentrate on my work with this hanging over my head. I’m predicting more sleepless nights ahead. Just when I thought that everything was going great!

Back to Work

We got back to Melbourne on Monday after almost 2 months in Malaysia. And thankfully Mama is here with Zade and I. Zade has been feeling much better about returning here once he found out that his Mima was coming along. I’ve returned with mixed feeling. Happy that we had a great holiday back home, relief that my chapter here is at the last stage, insyaAllah, but sad of the prospect of another year without Danial here by my side.

Life has to go on one way or the other. I should start moving and change to higher gear if I want to go home. So I’m back at the office and I have set up an appointment with my SV to set the next course of action. To my surprise he popped into the office before confirming the appointment. Well might as well get it over with. After the usual round up of what has been done thus far, he put forth a question that would cause me to dwell and guarantee some sleepness nights. How would my research add to the body of knowledge? It must not be simply an application or modification of knowledge or methodology. It must go beyond providing a solution to the problem. And bla bla bla….

I didn’t know how to answer those questions. Atleast not when he caught me off guard. Never was an impromptu speaker. So now I’m taking some time to ponder and re-examine where I stand. There goes my plan to start work on the controller this week. Well there’s always next week.

The Pressure's On

This week my supervisor has suddenly shown interest on my research work. He decided that my design needs to be changed as he doesn't think that the model that is currently being fabricated will give good results. He wants me to use ABS i.e. a type of plastic for the wing skin which I have been proposing in my last two papers that he had failed to read obviously. Now I need to change my whole design as the new model which does not require ribs will be manufactured using a rapid prototyping machine which comes with its own set of limitations. On top of that, I just found out today that he wants the wind tunnel test to be carried out in August which is 2 months away. This is due to the fact that the reasearch grant that is funding my project will expire in November and a report of the experimental results will be due at that time.

I'm not complaining about all the extra work that I need to do, I just wish that I was given some warning. I have two months to finalize my design, draw it up using CATIA, manufacture the model, install the SMA wire - which have yet to be purchased by RMIT, make sure that the model works and set it up for the testing. However there is silver lining. Another postgraduate student will be paid to help me with the assembly and testing. Phew! Atleast I had a good lunch today. Nasi lemak that I made for the first time. It turned out better than expected. Yummy.

Relief

I have been trying to get the application to built my protoype in order before leaving for a short break. I wanted to submit it two weeks ago but I had to make minor changes to the drawing. Since it was Easter last week, my supervisor and Gil, the technician who's going to help me fabricate the wing, were on vacation. So I had to put it on hold for another week. This morning my supervisor finally signed the request form. Then I went to see Gil at the workshop and handed him the drawings. So I'm all set. Alhamdulillah. The only thing left for me to do is get the Nitinol wire from AGR Matthey. I've e-mailed them before Easter and called them last week to request a quotation but I have not receive any feedback. If I don't hear from them by the end of the day I just might go the hq in Thomastown.

Lunch for SAMME Postgraduate Students and Staff

I received an invitation for lunch today but didn't plan to go cause I probably couldn't have any of the food served. However Chong wanted to go and asked me to go with her. So I thought of accompanying her and might have some salad and a drink. To my surprise the food served was halal, so I was able to eat after all. I had a bbq burger with salad and coleslaw. It was such a lovely day that we decided to eat outside at the picnic table. It was a nice lunch with wonderful company.

AIAC13 and the Avalon Airshow

The AIAC13 was held at the Melbourne Convention Centre on the 10th and 11th of MArch 2009. I presented a poster for the UAV Conference. I would say it was a mid size conference as I've participated in a bigger one in Malaysia. What I found interesting was that researchers from DSTO presented their findings in this conference. It is highly unlikely for a similar organisation in Malaysia to allow any research findings to leak out.



I was supposed to attend the Avalon Airshow as the entrance ticket was included in the conference registration. The conference organiser provided shuttle to the airshow but the last one leaves at 9 am from the MCC. Since I couldn't get there in time, I decided to take the Vline to Lara. I bought a roundtrip ticket but due to an unfortunate incident, I wasn't able to go. Stephen did go and took some nice pics for me.






All photos from the Airshow are from Stephen. Thanks.

Papers and Meeting Deadlines

So far this balik kampung trip is not looking too good. I'm still working on my AIAA and AIAC13 papers. Just can't wait to get this over with. I have a week left before I need to submit them to my supervisor. I can put on hold the preparation for my presentation till I get back from my short vacation in December. I'm just so thankful that Mama's lending me hand. I just can't get all my work done in time without her looking after Zade. Tick tock, tick tock.