Professor Dr. Abd Rashid Abd Aziz marked 20 years of service at Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP) in 2016. His contributions to the development of UTP has culminated in the “Outstanding Academic of the Year” award which he received during the Quality Day 2016 event. Starting as a lecturer with afresh PhD in Mechanical Engineering (ME) from University of Miami in Florida, USA, he became the first Programme Head of Mechanical Engineering in 1999, the first Director of Green Technology Mission Oriented Research in 2006, and the first Deputy Vice Chancellor of Research in 2011. His passion since the beginning of joining UTP has always been in research.

    He led UTP’s first large multi-institutional project in UTP in 2003 and subsequently formed the first research centre in UTP which he later named Centre for Automotive Research & Electric Mobility (CAREM). He has been the Head of CAREM from 2005 until 2016 and has been leading several national and international projects in internal combustion engines, alternatives fuels as well as on novel power generation involving funding to a tune of US$5M over the last twelve years.