Fueling a Sustainable Future Together!
12 August 2024
"In the heart of every young person lies the potential for greatness." This inspiring quote comes to life through Lee Shuet Yee and Ronan Sim Ee Sing, senior Chemical Engineering students, whose passion and innovation shine bright. They are enthusiastic to share with you their insights through the exciting world of digital technology and its transformative impact on sustainable development goals.
We live in an era of efficiency. Shuet Yee shared her experience with Aspen Plus. Before we dive in, have you ever imagined designing a chemical plant like you’re playing a high-stakes video game? That’s exactly what Aspen Plus lets students do. This powerful simulation software helps them design, test, and optimise chemical processes. Gone are the days of tediousness and hands-on experiments. As Shuet Yee recounted her experience creating a chemical plant, her eyes glazed with excitement. Her enthusiasm is a vivid reflection of the passion that drives our students.
Remember that super-detailed simulation software? Well, Shuet Yee and Ronan shared their amazing experience with Dr Jully Tan, where they explored a virtual chemical plant designed to enhance the learning process for chemical engineering students using Virtual Reality (VR) technology.
They had the privilege to wander around, learn how everything works, and find solutions to problems digitally. They both emphasised how technologies like Aspen Plus and VR offered a preview of the future, demonstrating their potential to address significant challenges and deliver impactful solutions in the near future.
Their time at Monash got them thinking big, seeing endless possibilities ahead. Ronan envisions a future with personalised AI-based learning platforms tailored to individual student needs, as well as digital platforms raising awareness about environmental issues like carbon emissions. Complimenting this vision, Shuet Yee highlights a peer’s innovative project: a platform allowing researchers to track areas of plastic wastage. This will in hindsight, enable researchers to assess the problem at hand and create a solution moving forward.
Both of them affirmed that their courses at Monash University Malaysia have truly provided them with a headstart in the real world while noting how the university is leading the way with initiatives like VR Chemical Plants and more. They continued stating, “We can see that Monash is one step ahead by evolving most of their courses digitally, including our labs.”
However, with every incredible evolution comes a handful of challenges as well. We wanted to focus on the positives and the challenges our youth would need to keep in mind as the future progresses. Both students stress that as much as digital technology is beneficial, people still need to keep in mind that ethics plays a huge role in digital formation.
Hence why data collection and AI implementations must fall into the hands of youths who plan to make the world a better place. Ronan summarised this sentiment, “Digital technology has the potential and impact on solving real-world problems.” Making changes in the world is not just another publicity stunt; however, the youth in Monash are focused on catering to a better and more sustainable future. The future is now, and it’s digital! Happy International Youth Day!