Tropical Data
Science School
20-27 July 2023

Registration Fee : USD 670

Open to all!
**ACCOMODATION AND MEALS ARE PROVIDED**

Universiti
Sains Malaysia(USM)

It is ranked #143 in QS World University Rankings 2023.
On top of that, USM is becoming a top sustainabilityled university after being placed at No.4 in the recent
Times Higher Education (THE-GIR) 2022 global
sustainability rankings.

USM is an exemplary and enviable model ofgarden university. It is harmoniously
organized garden campus that provides aplatform for intellectual discourse into theexploration of human nature rich withtropical flora and fauna and forest habitats.

—Don't miss the chance to take a leisurely stroll through the exquisite pathwalk in the evening as the golden ray pours through the leaves! And brace
yourself for you will be likely to stumble upon one of USM's most renowned
locals, the biawak, at the lake.

Located in Georgetown,
Penang's capital whichholds the UNESCO
world heritage status!

Students will be able to comprehend data
science workflow, the many roles within data
science, and the application of data science toactual situations through this curriculum.
Students will learn how to interpret anddiagnose data which also includes how to handle
data issues.
Students will also learn about the significanceof storytelling in data science and how toconvey the findings in a manner that isunderstandable to all.
Students will also be exposed about Malaysia's
diverse cultures through food, clothing, among
many others. After that, they will engage inteam-building activities, excursions and visit
historical places throughout Penang.

Your AHA moments!

Buddies
Buddies are the student volunteers that help tobridge the gap between the international and localstudents.
The Buddies will ensure and assist international
students in acclimatising to their new environmentand surrounding
Buddies also aid students for international
programme as well as providing information regarding
USM, Penang and Malaysia.
They encourage interaction and exchanges of opinion
between international students and local students inorder to help build and expand social networks thattranscend borders, countries and continents.
You are going to LOVE our Buddies!

ScheduleInstructors
What on Earth is Data Science?

DR. NOOR FARIZAH IBRAHIM

Dr Noor Farizah Ibrahim works as a Senior Lecturer at the School ofComputer Sciences, USM after receiving her PhD from the University ofBristol, United Kingdom. She is also a certified tester of the International
Software Testing Qualifications Board (ISTQB) and a Huawei Certified ICT
Associate and Academy Instructor in Artificial Intelligence (AI). Her researchinterests include Data/Text Analytics, Natural Language Processing, Machine
Learning, and Social Media Research. She is currently teaching the Principle ofData Science and Analytics and Customer Behaviour and Social Media
Analytics courses at USM.

Tell a Story with Data

DR. NASUHA LEE ABDULLAHDr Nasuha Lee Abdullah holds a Doctorate in Engineering Business
Management and is currently a senior lecturer at the School of Computer
Sciences, USM. Prior to joining USM in 2009, Dr Nasuha had been in theElectrical and Electronics (E&E) Manufacturing Industry for over 15 years
specialising in Quality Management. Her experience includes heading quality
departments at multinational companies. As a former QA Manager, she knows
the power of data, and her interest is in effective communication using data todrive decision-making.

Is the Zebra White with Black Stripes, or Vice Versa?
Understanding Consumer Behaviour of the 21st Century
Dr Syaheerah's research interests span the areas of human-computer interaction(HCI), particularly affective computing and behaviour analysis. Understanding thetheory and design of a scalable and autonomous architecture of socio-emotionalmodels in conversational agents is a recurring theme in her research. She teaches
consumer behaviour and works on shopper insights since she is passionate about
behavioural informatics. Through online studies, this entails detecting andquantifying the subconscious influences on consumer behaviour. She has authoredmultiple high-impact publications in the field and is a consulting trainer forbusiness players in behavioural analysis using machine learning. She also enjoys
playing badminton with her kids and going on hikes. When she has the time, shealso loves to read.

Dr. Syaheerah LEBAI LUTFIHow Do You Make Sense of Data? Visualize It!
Dr Nur Intan Raihana Ruhaiyem earned her PhD in Computational
Bioinformatics and Image Processing in 2013 from the University of Queenslandin Australia. She has been a trainer since 2018 and currently works as a SeniorLecturer at the USM School of Computer Sciences. She has been working as atrainer since 2018. Her specialisations are image processing, computer vision andvisualisation. She believes that data visualisation has everything to assist humanvisual perception.

DR. NUR INTAN RAIHANA RUHAIYEM

Machine Learning: Ingredients to "Cook Up"
Machines That Can Learn From Data
Dr Jasy Liew Suet Yan is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Computer
Science, USM, specialising in Sentiment Analysis, Natural Language
Processing and Machine Learning. She earned her PhD from Syracuse
University's School of Information Studies in the United States in 2016. Text
mining, computational linguistics, emotional computing, and humancomputer interaction are some of her extensive research interests. She builds
emotion and sentiment recognition models in her research using machinelearning. She is also a regular instructor for the machine learning(Postgraduate) course at the School of Computer Sciences. She likes to travel
to learn about the quirks of many languages and civilisations.

DR. JASY LIEW SUET YAN

Say No to Banks and Middlemen, Say Yes toBlockchain!
Ever wondered what blockchain was or how cryptocurrency works? Or how
blockchain can play a role in our daily lives? This course will take you fromblockchain’s inception to the birth of cryptocurrency and the emergence ofNFTs. Find out how blockchain allows Starbucks customers to trace where
their beans come from. Learn how to set up your own blockchain wallet andclaim your own “blockchain identity”. Experience how digital signatures canbe used to verify if messages are authentic. Interact with Web3 applications
and NFT marketplaces. Upon completing this course, you will have a greater
understanding of blockchain and all the things that it is capable of.

Dr. Teh Je Sen

Data Optimization with Excel SolverDR. WONG LI PEIDr Wong Li Pei is an Associate Professor at the School of Computer Sciences, USM. He obtained hisBachelor of Computer Science and Master of Science (Computer Science) from USM and PhD fromNanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. His research fields includes nature-inspired
metaheuristics, soft computing and hyper-heuristics and his current research focus is scheduling intransportation and manufacturing. He teaches undergraduate and postgraduate courses such as
Artificial Intelligence, Computational Intelligence, Evolutionary Computing, and Business Intelligence& Decision Analytics. He reviews journal paper submissions for Applied Soft Computing, Swarm andEvolutionary Computation, Natural Computing, IEEE Access, Information Sciences and SwarmIntelligence.

Keywords Discovery Using Simple Text Mining in R
Dr Gan Keng Hoon, a Senior Lecturer in the School of Computer Sciences, USM, obtained her PhD
from Universiti Malaya (UM) in 2013. Her domains of specialization include information retrieval,structured retrieval, structured document representation and query optimization. Her primaryresearch interests concentrate on generating semantically rich contents/ documents/ texts resulting
from massive tagging and annotations by various levels of users, with applications focusing onautomated content building and platform development for structured text processing.

DR. GAN KENG HOONIndustry Trainer - Blockchain in PracticeTS. Dr Mohd Anuar Mat Isa is the founder of IExploTech (www.iexplotech.com). He has doublePhDs in technology, namely PhD in Computer Science from Universiti Putra Malaysia and PhD inElectrical Engineering from Universiti Teknologi Mara. He is a freelance researcher and also anembedded system developer. He is actively involved in Cryptographic Society NGO, the MalaysianSociety for Cryptology Research (MSCR), and aggressively contributes to the Institusi Pendidikan
Tinggi Malaysia (IPTM) Blockchain Project. His research is focused on asymmetric cryptography,
lightweight cryptography for embedded devices, embedded firmware security, formal methods,
blockchain, trust & mathematical modelling, and international relations. He was a technology
TS. DR. MOHD ANUAR MAT ISA
inventor with over ten patents during working at Mimos Berhad.

Image Analytics Using Deep Learning
Dr Mohd Halim Mohd Noor is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Computer
Sciences, USM. His research interests include machine learning, deeplearning, computer vision and pervasive computing. In addition, logistics
regression, neural networks and convolutional neural networks.
DR. MOHD HALIM MOHD NOOR

Statistics for Data Science

TS. DR. CHEW XINYING

TS. Dr Chew XinYing is a Senior Lecturer in the School of ComputerSciences, USM and holds a PhD in Statistical Quality Control from Universiti
Sains Malaysia. She is a certified trainer with Human Resources Development
Fund (HRDF) as well as the trainer for MDEC-Intel AI Academy Programme
and SAP Next-Gen Programme. She is the adjunct Research Fellow ofSwinburne University of Technology, Sarawak Campus. The Malaysia Boardof Technologists also recognises her as a Professional Technologist (MBOT).
She worked for a renowned US multinational company's Advance Analytics
Research team before beginning her academic career. Advanced analytics andstatistical quality/process control are the focus of her study.

Note: Some of our selected trainers are HRDF - Human Resources Development Fund certified (HRDP Corp), and are corporate trainers. Trainer slots are chosen
based on the duration of the Tropical School, background of participants, hence not all trainers will be involved. Changes may apply.

Batik Chanting - Penang Beach - Campus Tour- Georgetown UNESCO World
Heritage Tour & many more!
*Changes may apply depending on the time, weather, suitability

Dr. Syaheerah Lebai Lutfi
syaheerah@usm.mysyaheerah.com
Madam Nik Nur Izzati (Izzy)
nikizzati@usm.myProject Director
Coordinator