{"id":343,"date":"2007-10-15T12:08:59","date_gmt":"2007-10-15T17:08:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ezing.me\/transfer\/?p=343"},"modified":"2014-09-23T09:25:28","modified_gmt":"2014-09-23T14:25:28","slug":"from-malaysia-to-mississippi-student-enjoys-robotics-making-new-friends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web20.olemiss.edu\/news\/wordpress\/from-malaysia-to-mississippi-student-enjoys-robotics-making-new-friends\/","title":{"rendered":"From Malaysia to Mississippi: Student Enjoys Robotics, Making New Friends"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nOXFORD, Miss. – As a child growing up in Kuala Lumpur,
\nMalaysia, Aik Min Choong received a LEGO Technic helicopter
\nfor his birthday and enjoyed endless fascination with the
\ntoy.
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\"from?malaysia?to?mississippi.jpg\"<\/p>\n
\nAik Min Choong shows off some of his robotic gadgets to students from Davidson Elementary school. UM photo.\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n“Birthdays are bigger than Christmas in Malaysia,” Choong
\nsaid. “That helicopter was really a big thing. I believe
\nthat’s where my interest in robotics began.”
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nSeveral years and many miles later, the young boy’s
\npreoccupation with his special toy led him to a
\nlife-changing passion that has transcended time and
\ndistance. Choong is an exceptional graduate student at the
\nUniversity of Mississippi, where he is working on his third
\nacademic degree.
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n“I’ve been interested in robotics for as long as I can
\nremember,” said the slim, dark-haired 27-year-old. “Growing
\nup, I desired to pursue a career in the field, but in
\nMalaysia there was no huge demand for professional robot
\ndesigners and manufacturers.”
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nAfter weighing his options, Choong decided he wanted to
\nbecome an electrical engineer. Upon learning of UM’s
\nrigorous academic program in engineering, he applied for
\nadmission and was accepted into the bachelor’s degree
\nprogram
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nEnrolling on the Oxford campus in fall 1999, Choong was
\nenthusiastic about studying in another country. However, he
\nsaid that he found it extremely difficult being so far away
\nfrom his parents and older sister.
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n“There’s an 11-hour difference between the time zone here
\nand in Malaysia, and the flight time is even longer,” said
\nChoong. “In the eight years I’ve lived here, I’ve only
\nreturned home three times and my family has only come to
\nvisit me three times.”
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nBesides getting to know his fellow Malaysian students at
\nUM, Choong also was befriended by others in the university
\ncommunity. “Professor (Charles) Smith was my mentor,” said
\nChoong, with his usual smile. “Seeing my interest in
\nrobotics, he urged me and seven others in our electrical
\nengineering design class to compete in the IEEE
\nSoutheastern Conference hardware competition.”
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nThough the Ole Miss team didn’t win, participating in the
\nconference cemented Choong to his first love and true
\npassion.
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nSmith guided Choong through his bachelor’s degree and was
\nsupervising his first master’s when he died suddenly in
\n2005. Atef Elsherbeni, professor of electrical engineering,
\nstepped in and helped Choong revise his thesis and complete
\nthe program.
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n“I later learned about Dr. (Pam) Lawhead’s robotics program
\nand began working closely with her in it,” said Choong, who
\ncompleted his second master’s thesis in electrical
\nengineering last December. “She became my new mentor and
\nhelped me revise my thesis topic from an electrical
\nengineering project to a robotics project.”
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n“Aik Min has done a phenomenal job of bridging the two
\nworlds of electrical engineering and robotics,” said
\nLawhead, professor of computer and information science.
\n“Not only can he design and build robots, but if an
\nexisting one breaks down, Aik Min can investigate the
\ncircuitry, develop innovative solutions that involve the
\nactual electrical structure of the device and create
\ndevices and controls needed to repair it.”
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nAfter Choong switched to computer science, Lawhead invited
\nhim to participate in a National Science Foundation grant,
\nwhich involved using LEGO Mindstorms in the undergraduate
\ncomputer science curriculum. He has participated as a
\ngraduate assistant in that program, helping run workshops,
\ngiving lectures and adapting assignments from the previous
\nversion to the latest model. For example, he spent some 18
\nmonths doing research in infrared communication and
\ninfrared transceiver for LEGO’s new NXT microcomputer
\nbrick, so it can communicate with the old RCX brick and
\nLEGO IR tower (computer).
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n“Aik Min is our goodwill ambassador for the computer
\nscience department,” Lawhead said. “He’s been very helpful
\nin our recruiting efforts.”
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nChoong said that Lawhead and two local couples – Bill and
\nCrystal MacKenzie and Wayne and Janet Prather – have served
\nas his extended family with pivotal roles in his adjustment
\nto living in the U.S.
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n“I lived in Bill and Crystal MacKenzie’s house for
\ninternational students for more than two years,” Choong
\nsaid. “In exchange for living quarters, I helped them with
\ntheir annual vacation Bible camp for youth from College
\nHill Presbyterian Church. When I broke my femur and had to
\nhave surgery to repair it, the MacKenzies helped me through
\nmy recovery.”
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nBill MacKenzie, UM’s energy coordinator and associate
\nutility engineer, described Choong as “an incredibly
\npleasant and helpful guy, who is also amazingly creative
\nand highly competitive.”
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nAside from his studies, Choong enjoys playing badminton,
\ntennis and pingpong, as well as bicycling with friends. He
\nalso creates intricate origami figures, crafts and holiday
\ndecorations.
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nUpon completion of his master’s degree, Choong said he
\nhopes to remain in the U.S. and possibly find work in
\nNASA’s robotics space exploration program. He concedes that
\nhis future depends on his legal status at the time of
\ngraduation.
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n“If things don’t work out here, I can always return to my
\ncountry and find work there,” Choong said. “I hear that
\ncareer opportunities in robotics in Malaysia have grown
\nsince I’ve been gone. I know that my parents and my older
\nsister wouldn’t mind me returning home.”
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nIf that should happen, Choong’s many new friends will
\nsurely miss him.
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n“I know that there are quite a few people and families that
\nare sad to know that Aik Min’s time at Ole Miss is drawing
\nto a close,” MacKenzie said. “Though we’re proud of him for
\nall his degrees, we sure hate to have him leave.”
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\nFor more information on the Department of Computer and
\nInformation Science, visit
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n
\nhttp:\/\/www.cs.olemiss.edu\/.<\/a>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

OXFORD, Miss. – As a child growing up in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Aik Min Choong received a LEGO Technic helicopter for his birthday and enjoyed endless fascination with the toy. Aik Min Choong shows off some of his robotic gadgets to students from Davidson Elementary school. UM photo.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[765,767],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nFrom Malaysia to Mississippi: Student Enjoys Robotics, Making New Friends - Ole Miss News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/news.olemiss.edu\/from-malaysia-to-mississippi-student-enjoys-robotics-making-new-friends\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"From Malaysia to Mississippi: Student Enjoys Robotics, Making New Friends - Ole Miss News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"OXFORD, Miss. – As a child growing up in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Aik Min Choong received a LEGO Technic helicopter for his birthday and enjoyed endless fascination with the toy. 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