News report on IOES Researcher, Assoc Prof Dr Siti Aisyah Alias entitle "A scientist goes to the ends of the earth, for Earth’s sake"

Not many of us can list both the north and south poles as places we have visited before, but Assoc Prof Dr Siti Aisyah Alias can.

The marine polar reseacher and lecturer is one of few women in the field and she is loving every minute of her work.

As deputy director of the National Antarctic Research Centre (NARC) in the Malaysian Antarctic Research Programme (MARP) at Universiti Malaya (UM), which is also her alma mater, her work focuses on the biodiversity, biochemistry and physiology of marine and polar microbes and fungi. After graduating from UM with a BSc in Ecology in 1991, she went on to obtain her PhD in marine mycology from Britain’s Portsmouth University in 1996.

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Newspaper articles from News Straits Time News with entitled as "Connecting the dots to understand the environment".

HAVE you ever wondered why incidents of extreme weather are on the rise? Why there is toxic seafood from the ocean? Why is it certain diseases keep recurring in certain areas? Why it is becoming more dangerous to be exposed to the sun than ever before?

The answers lie in the air, ocean and land where air-sea interactions and air-land interactions are the most important mechanisms influencing climate change, extreme weather and episodic occurrences of harmful microbes and pathogens in the aquatic environment. 

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Under the Sea - an Interview with BFM Malaysia

In conjunction with World Oceans Day, we look at what’s been dubbed as a goldmine for medical research: our oceans. Various specialists explain some of the unique compounds we’ve found from our oceans and what we need to do to protect this resource. 

By Prof. Phang Siew Moi, Institute of Ocean and Earth Sciences, University Malaya 

By Dr. Yusrizam Sharifuddin, Institute of Biological Sciences at the Science Faculty of University Malaya

Keeping Dugong Alive - an Interview with BFM Malaysia

Dr Ponnampalam was a recently announced recipient of 2014 Pew Fellowship in Marine Conservation, specifically to conduct new research in Malaysia’s dugong population. Focusing on the islands located off the east coast of Johor in Peninsular Malaysia, Dr Ponnampalam’s research will identify areas that are critical for one of the country’s last remaining population of dugongs in order to make recommendations for their habitat 
 

Understanding the Importance of Cetaceans - an Interview with BFM Malaysia

Marine biologist Dr. Louisa Ponnampalam, a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Institute of Ocean and Earth Sciences, University of Malaya, discusses cetaceans - whales, dolphins and porpoises.

Among other things, she speaks of the work she is doing through the Langkawi Dolphin Research Project, while helping us understand the importance of studying these creatures, and how their wellbeing, or lack thereof, is an indicator of environment health.