UNM Electrical and Electronic Engineering Student Wins First Runner-Up at SanDisk Malaysia University Symposium

On 1 April 2026, students from the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (E&E) at the University of Nottingham Malaysia (UNM) showcased their research excellence at the inaugural SanDisk Malaysia University Symposium, held at SanDisk’s manufacturing and engineering hub in Batu Kawan, Penang.  

Organised and fully sponsored by SanDisk, the symposium aimed to bridge the gap between academia and industry by challenging undergraduate engineering students to develop solutions to real-world computing bottlenecks. The event featured 15 poster exhibitions and nine formal paper presentations, with participation from Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP), Multimedia University (MMU), Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), and UNM.  

UNM was represented by four student teams presenting a diverse range of innovative projects: 

• Team 1 (Paper Presentation): Randy Ngui Yee Shwen, Tenry Tan, Bryan Teh Wen Liang, and Jayden Tan Yu Zhe presented AI Debugger for Efficient Register-Transfer Level Development and Smart Verification.  

• Team 2 (Poster Presentation): Woo Zi Xuan, Chung Chee Kin, Joey Wong Zho Yew, and Tan Hui Ying presented Next Gen Flash-based Black Box System for Autonomous Ground Vehicles (AGVs).  

• Team 3 (Paper Presentation): Ning Yang Tian presented The AC Black Box: An IoT Solution for HVAC Trust Issues.  

• Team 4 (Poster Presentation): Bong Bin Yong presented Flash Native AI: Deterministic Edge Inference using Zoned Namespaces (ZNS).  

Among the UNM participants, Bong Bin Yong achieved First Runner-Up in the poster presentation category. His research addressed a key challenge in modern Edge AI computing by using Zoned Namespaces (ZNS) to optimise storage architecture. Through simulation models, he demonstrated a method to bypass traditional Flash Translation Layer (FTL) delays, reducing AI inferencing tail latency by 18.4 times.  

“I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to share my research on such a prestigious platform alongside my talented UNM peers,” said Bin Yong. “The leadership and culture at SanDisk are remarkable. Every staff member was welcoming and supportive to all participating students.”  

Bin Yong attributed the collective success to UNM’s strong foundational support. He also expressed appreciation to his mentor, Dr Grace Lim, and Head of Department Dr Lim Chin Seong, for their academic guidance, planning, and logistical support in making UNM’s participation possible.  

Looking ahead, Bin Yong will continue building on his expertise in hardware latency optimisation by joining Dr Yap Yung Szen in June to research latency bottlenecks in Quantum Control Hardware.