KOTA KINABALU: The Malaysian Timber Certification Council (MTCC) and Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) have launched the ‘Freezailah Forest Sustainability Award.’
According to a statement issued, the award was created in honour of MTCC founding chairman, Dato Freezailah Che Yeom who recently retired after leading the organisation for 17 years.
The aim of the academic award was to promote academic excellence by acknowledging students who have shown outstanding performance in forestry-related courses in UMS.
Yesterday, Chaw Vi Vian from the Faculty of Science and Natural Resources at UMS was named the inaugural recipient of the award.
Chaw was recognised for her thesis on ‘The use of Aquatic Insect Communities as Bioindicator at Ulu Kimanis, Crocker Range Park, Sabah’ which she did under the Conservation Biology Programme.
Aside from a cash prize of RM2,000 she also received a certificate of excellence.
When interviewed after receiving the award yesterday, Chaw said that she felt proud of her winning and thanked her supervisors at UMS for their guidance and assistance.
She also hoped to continue her study and complete her Masters in the same field.