(IFM) Institut Fizik Malaysia

IFM President

Prof. Dr. Tou Teck Yong

Dr. Tou Teck Yong was born in Sibu, Sarawak in 1958. He obtained his BSc (Physics) and PhD (Plasma Physics) from the Universiti Malaya in 1982 and 1987 respectively. He is a fellow of the Academy of Science Malaysia and the Institut Fizik Malaysia. He worked as a postdoc at the Institute for Advanced Studies, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia in 1987-89. Upon his return in 1989, he joined the Institute for Advanced Studies, Universiti Malaya as an academic staff. In 1999, he joined Multimedia University (“MMU”) as a senior professor in the Faculty of Engineering. He served as the Vice President for R&D in 2008-2013, and retired from the university in 2018.

His research covers ultrafast laser-matter interactions, pulsed laser deposition of thin films, solder alloys and joint reliability, silicon wafer and organic light emitting diodes. He has supervised 10 PhDs and more than 25 Masters. He sat in international committees for Asian Symposium on Intense Laser Science, AAPPS-DPP Conference on Plasma, Asia Pacific Physics Conferences. Dr. Tou has been on the Board of Trustees of Top Glove Foundation since 2008, R&D Consultant for Top Glove Corporation since 2013, and Technical Advisor for Silicon Connect. He has sat in the Board of Directors of Mikro MSC Berhad for more than 12 years, and currently a Senior Independent Director for Powerwell Holding, both are listed on the ACE Market of Bursa Securities. He was also an Adjunct Professor to a few local universities.

Message from the President

Institut Fizik Malaysia (IFM) was established in 1976 in the Department of Physics, Universiti Malaya. It have been successfully led by 7 presidents from several local universities. Under their leadership, IFM have played important roles in promoting and holding physics or physics-related events, as well as connecting and contributing to a wider physics community in the Asia-Pacific region.

IFM have hosted the 5th and 14th the Asia-Pacific Physics Conference (APPC-5 and APPC-14, in KL (1992) and Kuching (2019). It usually took great effort over 2-3 years for IFM to develop proposals, raise fund and finally run with great success. In Kuching, Sarawak on 17-22 November 2019, IFM attracted more than 500 participants from different parts of the world. In 2024, IFM co-organized the AAPPS-Div of Plasma Conference in Malacca, which attracted 520 participants from 33 countries.

The IFM Council have always aimed to connect with the industrial sectors for physics-related discussions, and to invite good speakers, for example from semiconductor industry to deliver latest innovations which may involve physics concepts. These topics include the advances in electronic packaging and photonic devices.

Each year, IFM would support 2 postgraduates to attend the Summer School on Synchrotron Radiation Research in the region, which include Melbourne, Bangkok, Taipei, Pohang and Tohoku. IFM have also fully supported some school students and undergraduate students to attend the local conference Perfik, whilst retiree-members would also be accorded free participation.

IFM now conduct bi-monthly council meetings online, and enable the hybrid-mode AGM which brings together a greater number of members who are not convenient to travel.

I am glad to be re-elected as the President for 3rd terms (2025-2027) and will greatly appreciate the support and cooperation from all the Council members.

To all fellows and members, please feel free to share your views or even contribute any news on physics - please drop a line or two to my email address (tytou.mmu@gmail.com).