President & Rector Sir Keith O'Nions welcomed over 120 Imperial alumni to a reception in Kuala Lumpur on 27 March.

At one of the largest events hosted by Sir Keith overseas, he thanked alumni for acting as tremendous ambassadors for the College.

Guest of honour Mr Ray Kyles, Deputy High Commissioner at the British High Commission in Kuala Lumpur, described education as the best example of the excellent links between Malaysia and the UK and paid tribute to the strength of the Imperial College Alumni Association of Malaysia (ICAAM).

Guests spanned the generations with graduating years ranging from the 1960s to 2012. Grace Chan (MEng Chemical Engineering, 2012) reminisced about her highlights at Imperial, praising the Department of Chemical Engineering for injecting a sense of fun into studies and even the exam hall. “My department was so cool,” she said. “Every year lecturers let loose in the Chem Eng Show, with men dressing as women and even dancing ‘Gangnam style’. In one of the final exams students were allowed to come dressed up – I went as Pippi Longstocking, with gravity defying hair.”

Around 3,500 Imperial alumni are Malaysian, with just over 2,000 resident in the country today. Engineering is the most popular profession of Malaysian alumni. Speaking of the opportunities open to her as an Imperial alumnus, Grace said, “Events like tonight are a great chance to meet new people from a wide range of industries and to feel part of a strong network.”

Dr Shyamala Doraisamy (PhD Computing, 2004), Secretary to ICAAM (pictured left), explained how the equal emphasis Imperial gives to undergraduate and postgraduate education helped her to feel part of the community when joining as a PhD student. “The extensive exposure to research and the interest that people had in my work made a real impact,” she said.

Over the course of her PhD Shyamala studied techniques to retrieve musical information, such as genre or tempo, and developed a prototype search engine for humming or singing queries. Today, as Associate Professor at Universiti Putra Malaysia she analyses heart sounds, aiming to provide earlier diagnoses of health conditions. Reflecting on how her studies at Imperial enhanced her career, she said: “I was lucky to be at Imperial – it’s an experience I will never forget.”

View photos of the event on Flickr