PENANG, 21 December 2022 – A lecturer from the Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) School of Aerospace Engineering, Dr. Norilmi Amilia Ismail, 41, has been selected as the sole Malaysian to participate as a mentor in the Space4Women programme, a project under the purview of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA).

UNOOSA was established with the aim of offering educational and career opportunities regarding outer space and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) to women all over world.

The project hopes to ensure equal involvement and participation in the field of space exploration, science and technology, as part of successfully meeting the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 - Quality Education and SDG 5 - Gender Equality.

According to Dr. Norilmi Amilia, she was among the 100 participants selected from all over the world, who will be sharing experiences and guiding young women (mentees) who are interested in STEM, for them to move ahead in the space field. The mentees will be selected by the UNOOSA secretariat.

Dr. Norilmi Amilia, who has been with USM since 2012, hails from Kuala Selangor.

"Alhamdulillah, I am excited in being able to expand my network in the field relating to space after working hard to put the name of the country in the international arena for the past 10 years.

"Becoming a mentor is indeed an acknowledgement to me, as to become one, requires a deep knowledge and experience in the area, simultaneously yielding results to all my efforts," she said.

The selection process done by UNOOSA was based on applications opened to all who are related to space studies.

Dr. Norilmi Amilia was involved previously in mentoring 11 USM Engineering students in creating a record as the first team from Malaysia to take part in a rocket-launching competition organised by Spaceport America Cup 2022 on 21-25 June 2022. It was the biggest conference and competition among universities to launch high-powered rockets into the atmosphere.

Translation: Mazlan Hanafi Basharudin