8DiscoverNEWSMoU cements links between UBD and the New York Botanical GardenA Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD) and the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) was signed by Dato Paduka Dr. Haji Zulkarnain Haji Hanafi, the Vice Chancellor of UBD and Mr. Gregory Long, Chief Executive Officer and The William C. Steere Sr. President of NYBG. The auspicious event took place in New York City on 14 November 2011.The MoU will facilitate collaborations on specific programmes in biodiversity, sustainability and the environment. Among the potential areas for collaboration are staff and student mobility, joint research, co-supervision of both undergraduate and graduate students, internships and training activities in the areas of biodiversity and the environment. The NYBG, established in 1891, is the largest botanical garden in the USA, and one of New York’s most prominent academic and cultural institutions, working towards the preservation of the world’s botanical heritage. It is an advocate for the plant kingdom with living plant collections arranged in gardens and landscapes across its National Historic Landmark site.The NYBG is positioned at the forefront of worldwide botanical research through its developmental integral works in the field, laboratory, library and herbarium. It is one of the world’s most preeminent free-standing plant research organisations, with exceptional state-of-the-art plant research facilities and a pioneering centre for molecular research. The NYBG also offers a Graduate Studies programme that provides extensive training combined through a classroom setting and traditional fieldwork, equipped with cutting-edge molecular technology. In addition to comprehensive education programmes in horticulture and plant science, the Graduate Studies programme partners with leading universities such as Yale University, Cornell University, New York University, Fordham University, The City University of New York and Columbia University. The LuEster T. Mertz Library of the NYBG, founded in 1899, is the largest and most comprehensive botanical library in the Western hemisphere and is a treasury of knowledge on all aspects of plants and related topics. The Mertz Library is working with ten of the world’s major natural history and botanical libraries to digitise all of their jointly held published literature on biodiversity and make it available on the Internet. The William and Lynda Steere Herbarium is a National Systematic Research Resource Centre, amongst the four largest in the world, holding more than 7 million specimens of all groups of plants and fungi. Inking the MoU with this renowned botanical research centre will strengthen UBD’s research capacity in biodiversity, sustainability and the environment.The signing of the agreement between UBD and the NYBG marks the culmination of several years of existing collaborations between the two institutions. In the past, several UBD scientists have had joint research projects with NYBG professors. According to Dr. Anita Aziz, the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Education and Internationalisation who witnessed the signing ceremony, “further collaborative work has also been planned, such as the in-coming of two renowned scholars from the NYBG to Brunei in June 2012 to work with local scientists on projects in UBD’s Kuala Belalong Field Study Station.” She added, “UBD researchers will also be based in NYBG to conduct joint research on tropical plants, which is one of the research strengths of UBD. Several students will also be spending their Discovery Year under the GenNEXT programme as interns in NYBG.” Vice Chancellor, Dato Paduka Dr. Hj Zulkarnain Hj Hanafi, presenting a copy of the UBD book “Life Underneath the Canopy”, to Mr. Gregory Long, Chief Executive Officer and The William C. Steere Sr. President of the NYBG.FOS Open DayThe UBD FOS open day was held on 12 September 2011 in conjunction with the Chemistry Open day, which was a conscious choice given that this year is the International Year of Chemistry. Various events were held at the Student Centre, which constituted of exhibitions and quizzes given by the different programmes at FOS (Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Mathematics, Computer Science and Geoscience). There was a Chemistry Magic Show, a demonstration of a Physics Water Rocket, Biology Pop Quizzes, Display of Minerals & Rocks by Geoscience, Maths Interactive Computer Activities, Kuala Belalong Exhibits and display of a Rubik’s Cube Robot Solver. The UBD FOS open day was attended by about 1,000 upper secondary school students throughout the country. By Malai Haniti Sheikh Abdul Hamid
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