KUCHING – Over 50 students took part in a ‘Build Your Own Air Guard Air Filter’ workshop organised by Swinburne at the Borneo International School to reinforce the benefits of science in society.
The main objective of the workshop was to increase awareness on air pollution and lung cancer, one of the most common cancers in the country. The workshop helped introduce the participants to the field of chemical engineering and how they can combat lung cancer disease better.
The workshop was organised with the help of five chemical engineering undergraduates under the supervision of the university’s Faculty of Engineering, Computing and Science lecturers Lai Jia Chi, Dr Chew Jiuan Jing, Dr Elaine Yeu Yee Lee, and Dr How Bing Shen.
Equipped with a limited list of materials and their own creativity, the secondary school students from Year 8 and Year 9 were given the task to design and build functioning air guard air filter systems and simple spectrophotometers.
Students working in teams to build their air guard air filters made out of shoeboxes, mini fans, and other materials.
Working in nine separate groups, the students were challenged to think critically to test the effectiveness of their system, discover limitations of their designs, and propose new ideas to resolve any problems. Additionally, the students were given insights on how to quantify anti-cancer compounds based on light intensities and the Beer-Lambert Law.
The workshop acts as a pre-event for the upcoming Swinburne Lung Cancer Awareness Day happening on 31 July 2019 from 2.00pm to 5.30pm at Swinburne’s Sarawak campus. The event is organised by the university’s School of Chemical Engineering and Science together with the Sarawak Research and Development Council (SRDC), and Society for Cancer Advocacy and Awareness (SCAN).
Swinburne students and members of the public are invited to the event which will feature health awareness talks by several speakers, a smoking cessation and sharing session, and other programmes. The talks will be delivered by speakers Dr Wong Jyi Lin, Respiratory Physicist from Borneo Medical Centre and Dr Ivan Yap, Deputy Manager of SRDC. Also held in conjunction with the awareness day are activities such as online scavenger hunt and a “No Smoking Pledge”.
For more information on the scavenger hunt, visit the website at bit.ly/LCADhunt. The “No Smoking” petition can be signed at bit.ly/nosmokingpledge.
For more information about Swinburne, visit its website www.swinburne.edu.my, Facebook page (@swinburnesarawak), Instagram (@swinburnesarawak), Twitter page (@Swinburne_Swk) or YouTube channel (Swinburne Sarawak).