Reap what you sow

Ooooohhhhhh.....beginilah rupanya perasaan malas nak selenggara blog yeeeeee....finally I succumbed to this feeling. It has been more than 10 days since my last entry. After the conference in Kuching terus rasa macam tak larat nak buat apa2, nak take it easy aja. Although day in day out I subconciously collect material for this blog, tapi ada aku update kat sini?....o_O

Sebenarnya over the past few days ada juga terfikir tentang hala tuju belog ini...hasrat asal diwujudkan belog (seperti yang tertera di tepi itu) tak tau lah samada tercapai walaupun sedikit...yang benornya lebih menyeronokkan menulis tentang benda2 personal dan merapu2 dan handbag2 dan shopping2 tetapi since aku ni bukanlah incognito maka perlu la ada sedikit cover line di situ...

Entry kali ini terpanggil pulak untuk menulis sedikit tentang penerbitan jurnal; an entry mostly targeted to other young academicians who may be reading this blog...

KPI penting untuk seorang pensyarah adalah jumlah penerbitan yang diterbitkan pada setiap tahun. I learnt the hard way last year in 2009 that one needs to plan one year in advance in order to ensure that papers are successfully published for any particular year. I had already published 3 papers in 2008; coincidentally due to submitting them in 2007; that I let complacency get the better of me.

What was I doing in 2008? So distracted and engrossed was I with my quater life crisis that I forgot to plan for my 2009 publications. By the time I got back to my senses in 2009, it was already too late to achieve more than the minimum 1 paper requirement for a senior lecturer. Even though my KPI was met, but it felt like a huge blow when a couple of young high flying colleagues were churning out close to 20 papers! It is certainly no easy feat to publish papers especially ones with high impact factor! Nak publish a couple of papers pun sikit punya payah, ini kan pula berpuluh puluh! No wonder they were awarded Anugerah Penyelidik Cemerlang 2009 from the faculty! Apa kelebihan mendapat anugerah tersebut?

• Their own designated parking space for the year 2010, which is quite convenient considering the lack of parking space close to the faculty ;) I had already tasted this privelage when I was awarded Anugerah Pengajar Cemerlang 2008 and was allocated a parking space for the year 2009.
• Monetery incentives yang agak lumayan. Based on the quantity and impact factors of the papers I reckon they got around RM20,000 to RM30,000 each. Which is pretty decent considering that a few years back this kind of incentive was nonexistant.
• Of course the long list of publications contribute towards that Professorship baby!

Sebab aku dah sentap kan, I had to clean up my act. I invited my successful colleague to hold a publication workshop for my students at the end of 2009 to share tips of the trade on successful publication. My subsequent application from the university's Research Management Centre to bring my students for a publication retreat at a nice hotel was also granted. Alhamdulillah, most of the papers submitted following that workshop and retreat were successfully published in ISI Thomson citation indexed journals in 2010. Even though we have less than 10 papers this year, but I am really satisfied that our hardwork has paid off. I want to squeeze in a couple more publications if possible this year before preparing for 2011 publications. However, to do so I'll need to spend less time on here though...T_T

What are the tips of the trade for successful publication? Some are listed below...

• Ensure you have high quality figures and diagrams. Shoddy or unprofessional figures will often lead to instant rejection.
• Ensure the diagrams tell a story so that editors can quickly scan the paper and decide whether it is worth publishing or not.
• Sometimes it is usefult to directly contact the Chief Editor prior to submission mainly to introduce yourself and to build rapport with the journal.
• Aim for a few high impact factor journal publications or many low impact factor journal publications or even better, many high impact factor journal publications!
• Once you have penetrated a certain journal, it becomes easier to publish subsequent papers there. This is why it is useful to target high impact factor journals since once you are successful, subsequent papers are easier to publish there hence publication incentives become extremely lucrative!
• And what about writing papers even BEFORE you have any results in hand? Unheard of!!! But that is one of the effective strategies for mass publication. Because writing a couple of papers is one thing, but churning out 10, 20 papers each year is another. Nak apply for Professor pun you only need 30 papers, so bayangkan je lah!
• Unless you do everything on your own which is absolutely impossible considering the amount of multitasking in this career, supervising and managing your postgraduate students is key.
• Encourage teamwork among your students to produce papers together. This approach ensures better quality work for you and more papers for each student which is good for their own CV. A very desirable win-win situation.

Thank you Dr. A for sharing your success tips with my team. I look forward to the second workshop on mass publication with you after raya naaaaaa...Mudah2an meletup2 la publications macam anda ;)

So if you want your own Elsevier tree; a tree big and strong that provides shade and shelter and bears fruits for you throughout the seasons, start planting the seeds today and insyaallah you shall enjoy the fruits of your labour...

*Apart from Elsevier, other popular publishers include Taylor and Francis and Springer.


Kalau korang bosan baca entry ni, lepas ni saya buat entry handbag pulak eh hehehe! ;D


- A juggling act from my iPad

C is also for...

Congresses and Conferences.

The World Engineering, Science and Technology Congress 2010 (ESTCON 2010) organized by Universiti Teknologi Petronas is currently being held in KLCC from 15-17 July 2010. I am attending one of the 7 parallel international conference; the International Conference on Process Engineering and Advanced Materials (ICPEAM), in conjunction with the 24th Symposium of Malaysia Chemical Engineers (SOMCHE).

Although there was a slight hiccup during registration, (payment status was not updated so they said I hadn't paid and hence my registration was delayed hrmph!) usually anything Petronas related memang kelessss. The registration kit comprising of the conference materials was very professionally done using high quality materials. Even the feedback form was glossy paper!

So what, you say? Weelll...it isn't easy organizing a conference. I have been involved in organizing conferences for many years now, so I appreciate the small attention to detail ;D As a matter of fact, I am currently involved in organizing the 4th World Engineering Congress 2010 (WEC2010) which will be held 2-5 August 2010 in Kuching Sarawak. I am holding the post of Congress Treasurer as well as Chairperson for the Conference on Advanced Processes and Materials (CAPM).

Congratulations for UTP for organising a successful event. Mari kita promote UTP sikit, cewah!

 Congress Program Book.

 Conference Program Book.

  

 Notebook and pen.

 Lanyard and proceedings CD.

 Glossy certificate.

The purpose of a congress/conference is not only for knowledge dissemination and networking, it is also a business venture. What's more, it is very desirable to be able to brand the congress/conferences so that you get to attract participants each time and hence get to make more profit! Take SOMCHE for example, it is a conference synonymous to Chemical Engineering and hence each year would surely attract participation from chemical engineers nationwide. Local universities in Malaysia would take turns organizing this annual conference. One surefire way to attract participants is to offer publication of selected papers in renowned journals. Sometimes SOMCHE organizers have been successful at ensuring the publication of at least one volume of the special issue in time for the conference, which requires careful planning, organization and execution. This time I was delighted to see that our paper was already published in the first Special Issue of the Journal of Applied Sciences!

 

  

  

 List of reviewers for the Special Issue.

Jika anda (academicians) berpeluang melibatkan diri dalam aktiviti pengembangan seperti contoh yang tersenarai berikut (in no particular order), do take the opportunity to do so.

• 
  
  Organizing committee of national and international conferences e.g. secretary, treasurer
• 
  
  Chairperson of Congress/Conference
• 
  
  Conference Session Chairperson
• 
  
  Journal reviewer
• 
  
  Journal editorial committee

This is because each of these contributions count towards your annual KPI and promotion. Remember, kalau nak naik pangkat it is all about scores people! In academia, EVERYTHING you do or are involved with COUNTS towards your promotion. So when you are filling up that score sheet, all of these contributions will certainly add up! 

Last but not least, saya sangat suka kalau conference buat kat KLCC; the venue is perfect for both business and pleasure. Because at the end of the day I get to hang out at my favourite place...I think by now you know where hehehe ;D 

Blog your way up. Not

Update terkini:

Bibik baru masih belum datang.

Saya terpaksa ambil cuti minggu ini.

Wedding preparations coupled with lack of help at home telah menggugat this juggling act! Kerja ofisku tak siap, dah lepas deadline which is soooo bad!

This draft needs to be published sebelum menjadi totally basi ;D

Tahukah anda bahawa Professor Madya atau Professor itu merupakan pangkat di menara gading? Ini bermakna jika anda telah berpencen, anda tidak boleh lagi menggunakan gelaran tersebut di hadapan nama anda. Tetapi jika anda mempunyai PhD, maka gelaran Dr. itu kekal ke akhir hayat.

Saya pun baru sahaja mendapat tahu apabila nama bapa saya pada kad jemputan kahwin adik menjadi pendek daripada yg biasa saya lihat.

Mari kita lihat contoh gelaran2 menarik pensyarah wanita yang boleh dapati di akademia:
1. Dr. Suraya Abdul Rashid.
2. Associate Professor Dr. Suraya Abdul Rashid.
3. Professor Dr. Suraya Abdul Rashid.
4. Datin Professor Dr. Suraya Abdul Rashid.
5. Datin Paduka Professor Dr. Suraya Abdul Rashid.

Saya suka yang nombor 5 tu hehehe sebab unlike no 4, it does not depend on your hubby to be awarded a Datuk ;) Oh, the one we have in UPM is sooo sweet. She once commented to me at a dinner table that she liked my eye lashes. How? Cairnya aku!!! And au natural ye, no falsies thank you.

Being an academician is unique because unlike in other government sectors, eligibility for promotion does not depend on availability of the post. This means that theoretically it is really entirely up to you to plan as to how and when you can climb the ladder.

Take one of the, if not the youngest professor in UPM. Mendapat pangkat Professor sekitar umur 37an beberapa tahun yang lalu. Saya rasa Prof Adzir tak marah kot saya tampal iklan ini di sini. After all it is his inaugural lecture ~ a public lecture that marks the epitome of ones career in academia. You are all invited by the way hehehe

Its all about publication, publication, publication people which requires proper planning, management and execution. And certainly less time blogging *Nangis*

French Fetish

J'ai un fétiche pour tout français très récemment...apologies for any broken french :)

It started with the Coco Avant Chanel movie...Dah lama tak dengar orang cakap French, seriously I was surprised it sounded like music to my ears! Thoroughly enjoyed it! Serious! Mode poyo.

And maybe because Ms. Jabberholic sejak dua menjak ni suka bagi recipe french cuisine, Oh la la!

And also because I will be going to Paris in July, for the 6th International Conference on Diffusion in Solids and Liquids – DSL-2010. The last time I was in paris was more than 10 years ago? I heart Paris. There is an ambiance to this place like no where else. It is truly a dreamy city...

Anyway, the title of my paper is Optimization of CNT Growth on Carbon Fibre Using Floating Catalyst Chemical Vapour Deposition, by S.M.Z. Sharifah Mazrah, S.N. Ismail, A.R. Suraya, R. Yunus, N. Abdullah. Erkkkk...Papernya tak siap lagi!!! Uwaaaa...This is what I am talking about people! Mana lagi best, tulis paper ke tulis blog? DUH! Ticket dah dapat, alhamdulillah, just in the nick of time before a return trip to Paris in July would cost close to 10k. Gila ke hapa. Memang la pakai duit grant, but still!

I will be staying at Hotel Concorde La Fayette.

Concorde La Fayette is located between the Champs-Elysées and La Défense business district making it one of the city's most famous landmarks. This 4-star luxury hotel offers elegant accommodation, restaurant and bar and free Wi-Fi internet access. And the registration will be in the hotel room, kelasss la organizers, I loike!

Kalau dapat Eiffel Tower facing room, that would be so romantic...sigh. (No, Mr. Hubs will not be coming along! I wish!)


Tapi kalau dapat city facing room pun tak apa, the organized grid-like building arrangment in any (organized) city never ceases to amaze me.

I think I can just make out Sacre-Coeur Basilica in the horizon. Yo yo oo je, entah2 bukan! Rasanya kali ni tak payah pergi lah, just because I have already been, and because it is a church, so...But if you haven't been, I would recommend going just to see the architecture and the sweeping view of Paris from the highest point in the city; Montmarte.

To be honest, this trip is more about the shopping than the sightseeing. Oh and of course la the conference *cough* Ini lah masanya to promote your research and network with other researchers around the world. That is how I met Prof S (tak leh letak nama tersohor, malu aku kalau terkeluar kat google) from  Imperial College London and how I secured my Brain Gain R&D grant. But that story is for another day...

Of course, no trip to Paris would be complete without a visit to 31 Rue Cambon. Masa zaman2 muda remaja tak pernah terfikir pun nak sebok2 gi sini. Ye lah, student, apekehal nak masuk Chanel?! So sedikit excited di situ, just because of the history behind the place. Oh alangkah bahagianya if a flap were to come home with moi...Tapi tak tentu juga, sebab sometimes they don't have stock and what not. Bukan sekali dua I have been disappointed in the past when a Chanel boutique did not have what I was looking for. The wrong leather, the wrong hardware, the insufficient budget hehehe...And I would never purchase something which is not a classic and which I hadn't already researched about! So...we shall wait and see hehehe.

Je n'ai pas été aussi excité depuis un moment. J'espère que ce sera une bonne conférence et un bon voyage. Insyaallah...

*Sorry if I made you use Google-translate hehehe.

*Pics googled

Finishing School

Sekarang ni tengah semester break. Students tak ada, aman damai rasanya. Bukan saya tak sayang students saya naaa...but I really enjoy the peace and quite this time of the year. Tapi bukan boleh relax and cuti2 pun. Time2 ni mulalah sebok dengan pelbagai jenis meeting lagi bengkel. Yang terkini adalah...

Eh eh, tembamnya pipiku! Cis!

Finishing school merupakan initiatif UPM untuk groom pelajar-pelajar tahun akhir sebagai persediaan untuk menghadapi alam pekerjaan. Starting school pun ada untuk pelajar-plajar tahun pertama didedahkan kepada survival skills in universiti, supaya mereka tak lah culture shock dengan sistem pembelajaran yang lebih bersifat berdikari berbanding matrikulasi umpamanya.

Setelah beberapa tahun (5?) beroperasi, Finishing school kami kini telah berubah format dan telah di-revamp. Untuk fasa kedua ini saya bersama beberapa orang rakan sekumpulan menyumbang kepada module baru bertajuk Powerful writing for success. Kena la bagi tajuk poyo sikit kan?. 4 module lain adalah:

Communicating effectively

Event Managment

Leadership skills

Corporate Grooming and Dining Etiquette

Bengkel TOT (training of trainers) ini diadakan bagi membolehkan semua pensyarah yang terlibat layak mejadi fascillitator untuk kesemua module yang ditawarkan. Dengan cara ini, kami bukan sahaja menjalani latihan malah juga menjalankan latihan untuk fascillitator yang lain. 5 hari untuk 5 module baru tersebut. Dan berita gembira buat kami daripada Pengarah Pusat KoKu, aktiviti minggu ini adalah berbayar. Dr. Shatar rocks!

Mari kita promote sikit...Students, if you read this, you know which module to choose right? ;P

Otai-otai module Powerful Writing for Success ;P

Jika anda (academicians) berpeluang melibatkan diri dengan aktiviti pembangunan sahsiah pelajar, do take the opportunity to do so. Not only for the extra $kerching$ read handbag fund, but because these contributions count towards your annual KPI and promotion. Kalau nak naik pangkat it is all about the scores people. Score below than 90%? Jangan mimpi la dekat UPM!

Eh eh selfishnya bunyi...Sebenarnya inilah peluang kita untuk menyumbang kepada perkembangan anak bangsa dengan penuh dedikasi *sweatdrop*

So begitulah aktiviti saya this week. Next week bibik balik Indon for good on wednesday. Maka jika bibik baru belum sampai aku kena bawak budak kecik gi ofis la gamaknya on Thursday...:(

Enjoy your weekend people. Harap2 sambil-sambil menyiapkan bunga pahar, membaca tesis, review papers dan pergi kenduri2 kahwin, dapat lah saya catch up buat pending tags or draft entries during the weekend ni. Because kalau bibik baru belum datang next week maka haruslah daku bergelumang dengan house chores dan bersawanglah belogku ini nanti ;'(

Viva Voce

Masters Viva the other day. I was one of the internal examiners. The student (far right) passed with minor corrections. Semalam dia datang bagi gambar ni. Dah berpuluh-puluh tesis aku baca, this is the first time I gave minor corections. It is so refreshing to read a well written thesis. Sangat bengang menjadi examiner kepada tesis yang macam tak pernah dibaca dek supervisor! Kudos to his supervisor. Bukan senang nak supervise postgrad students. Kalau dapat winning combination of good supervision and hardworking student then only would it be possible.

The next day nya student mastersku yang ketiga pulak viva. (Tapi dia tak bawak camera so tak de la gambarnya :p). Alhamdulillah, she also passed with minor corrections. She struggled for 4 years tuuuuu (2 years full time, 2 years whilst working)...Leganya daku...

Her external examiner was a Professor from UTM. This professor adalah pensyarah termuda yang mendapat pangkat professor di negara ini iaitu pada umur 35 tahun. How? At 42 he was promoted to Professor Grade B. Gaji beribu-ribu lemon. Sangat kagum..Orang UTM may know who I am referring to.

Sempat la sembang-sembang dengan dia after the viva. He shared some really valuable tips about how to succeed in this career. Bukan senang wooo nak dapat tips from orang yang dah berjaya macam ni. Kesimpulannya ialah it all boils down to the number of publications you have. Success won't happen overnight, it is a cummulative effect, so one needs to focus and strategize. It is the same in any profession la kan. Yelah, senang lah cakap, tapi macam mana gayanya nak strategize in this profession? Itu lah salah satu perkara yang mula2 daku ingatkan nak blog about tapi belum kesampaian huhuhu...

As for me, walaupun KPI tahun 2010 dah tercapai, I need to strategize for KPI tahun 2011 pulak. Yang paling susah untuk achieve is publication in high impact factor journal. So need to strategize accordingly from now blablabla. Jangan jadi macam last year, although KPI was met, but prestasi kureng power sebab tahun 2008, I was distracted big time. Instead of sebok ngan my nanotech research, sebok dengan research handbag, BOLEH??? Padan muka. Now I have learnt my lesson. Ye ke? But what am I doing now then?

Semalam dapat email from my Ketua Jabatan. "Your application for Associate Professor dah OK. Please proceed to do the paperwork". Ini baru kelulusan untuk APPLY. Belum dapat lagi. Fakulti akan saring dulu, kalau dah layak baru boleh apply. Dalam kerjaya ini promotion semua kena apply. Tak apply tak de sapa nak bagi. Yang bestnya kalau dah layak bolehlah apply tak kira la kau umur 30, 40 atau 50 In theory la!

Tiba-tiba jantungku berdebar...Bukankah masa itu emas, blogging tak dapat emas, well for some dapat lah kot. And yet I still find my fingers typing itsajugglingact.blogspot.com...

Ha...pandai-pandai lah ko juggle ye!

Sedikit selfish ~ Can you relate?

Unlike lecturers of yester years sorry kalau stereotype, I believe more is expected from lecturers zaman sekarang. My parents were both lecturers, my mum in UKM, my dad in UM. However, I honestly can not imagine bringing up 4,5,6,7 children in this day and age, whilst simultaneously striving for career success. Something has got to give. One needs to make a choice; one cannot achive both. Especially if one is a Yummy Mummy wannabe. Daddy boleh lah kot sebab bukannya daddy yang mengandung, menyusu, nurture anak, struggle with weight gain etc. Tapi ini career Mummy, bukan Daddy. Mummy penat kerja which also requires juggling action. Mummy also needs to unwind. Mummy needs her ME time.

A lot about being a lecturer is if you can handle stress associated with multitasking. That is the nature of the job. The level of multitasking however, really depends on your goals and ambitions. You can take it easy or work as hard as you want, it is entirely up to you. Di bawah adalah pangkat dalam kerjaya seorang pensyarah:


Tutor --> Lecturer --> Senior Lecturer --> Associate Professor --> Professor epitome of success in this profession.


At this point in my life my career is extremely important to me. And what exactly is career success you may wonder? In my books career success is achieving professorship at the age of at least 40, kalau ada rezeki and umur panjang... Tak pe la kot mengaku in public? Tak dapat tak apa, asalkan usaha. This is generally 10 years in advance compared to lecturers of yester years. Entahlah kenapa nak dikejar2kan sangat. Sedangkan I am relatively young compared to my colleagues. I am 32 this year. However, anak baru dua orang.

"Bila nak tambah lagi?"
"Tak kan dua orang je kot?"
"Umur semakin meningkat".
"Adam dah besar *hint*"

Ikutkan nafsu hati, boleh tak kalau aku nak tunggu dapat naik pangkat jadi Professor Madya dulu? It won't be long anyway. Jangan la kacau momentumku...

Walaubagaimanapun, saya sedar bahawa tanggungjawab sebenar isteri dan ibu adalah di rumah bersama anak2, mendidik anak2. I always have conflicts with myself, guilty sebab mengejar cita2 dan guilty sebab penat and therefore malas dan juga garang. In my mind Ibu2 mithali walaupun berkerjaya although I also wonder how successful they would be in their careers akan meluangkan masa memasak untuk anak dan suami, bermain bersama anak serta mengajar anak mengaji, menulis dan membaca serta membaca buku cerita kepada anak2. Ye ke? I am sooo not that person T_T.

When I get home I will spend some time catching up with the children about their day, cuddles, huggs and kisses then its time to Exercise/FB/Work not necessarily in that order :P. My children and I will have parallel activities, whereby I will do my work, my girl does her homework/activity books and my boy plays with his trains. They will all be close beside me la obviously. OK la kot?

"Yang susah Aida tak payah buat dulu sayang. Nanti Teacher ajar".
"Adam, pergi main toys or watch your movies sayang".


Sekarang tambah satu lagi selfish activity: Blog. How?

Mummy, are you a teacher?

My 4 year old daughter asked me this recently.

Me: No darling, I'm not.
Aida: Tapi mummy kan ada students. Ye, Betul! Mummy memang teacher!
Me: Mmmm...I'm a lecturer. Students mummy semua dah besar2. Students teacher semua kecik2.

Mungkin agak bengap la jugak jawapan tersebut. Of course, there is nothing wrong with being a teacher, but I honestly feel that being a lecturer is totally different. Even though both have four legs and a tail, cats and dogs are just not the same.

Job scope of a lecturer:
1. Lecturing (on average 1.5 courses in a 14-weeks semester. This translates to roughly 4.5 hours of contact with students a week.)
2. Research (Apply for grants, conduct research, supervise postgraduate students, publish papers in journals)
3. Consultancy (Providing expert advice to industry for example)

So agak la berbeza di situ kan?

Tu belum lagi masuk bab Outcome-Based Education, what with all the Program Outcomes, Course Outcomes, Learning Outcomes, Bloom taxonomy, Cognitive/Affective/Psychomotor domains...

Tapi ada tak pensyarah yang tak buat research, yang mengajar je? Ada kot, especially pensyarah yang bukan berada di university penyelidikan ataupun Research University(RU). Di Malaysia ini, hanya 4 universiti sahaja bertaraf RU iaitu Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) terchenta where yours truly works, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) dan Universiti Malaya (UM).

But to be totally honest, even though teaching is the core business in universities, for the past few years most universities are really beginning to emphasize on research. Career advancements are most definitely based on research performance. Publications in impact factor journals tak cukup, jangan mimpi la nak naik pangkat!

I personally like to think of myself as a researcher. That is my passion. I love research and I love the field that I am specializing in ~ Nanotechnology. Mensyarah itu sampingan aja. Bukan bermakna tak meletak sepenuh jiwa dan raga untuk mengajar (kalau tak, tak dapat la anugerah Pengajar Cemerlang 2008 *wink*) Tak pe la, apa apa pun, asalkan buat kerja dengan betul dan ikhlas. Tapi yang pasti, even though I love research, I always come back from class with a smile on my face...