Prof. Dr. Roslan Zainal Abidin is presently the Board Member For Elite International College(EIC). He obtained his Diploma and Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering form MARA Institute of Technology, Malaysia in 1979 and 1981 respectively. He then graduated his Master’s and Doctoral degree after obtaining the Japanese Government Scholarship at Miyazaki University and Kagoshima University in 1989 and 1992 respectively.
A stint with the Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID) Malaysia as a graduate engineer was the starting point of a distinguished career in landslide prevention that is today the hallmark of Professor Dr. Roslan Zainal Abidin’s academic and professional credibility. Today, Prof. Dr. Roslan is a renowned academic, technical leader and researcher with a PhD in Agricultural Engineering and numerous awards and accolades to his credit; hence his remarkable track record in soil erosion and landslide prediction is only par for the course. Even in the early 1980s, he succeeded in making formidable impact through his involvement in the design, planning and supervision efforts of the then Kuala Lumpur flood mitigation project.
In recognition of his exemplary work during those early years, he received a scholarship from the Japanese Government in 1986 to pursue his master’s degree in Agricultural Engineering at Miyazaki University, Japan; which continued with a PhD in the same field in 1992. Upon his return in 1992, Prof. Dr. Roslan Zainal Abidin, assumed a role that would take him through the broader terrain of Agricultural Engineering towards the specialized field of landslide prediction.
In 1994, in recognition of his expertise in soil erosion, he was meritoriously acknowledged as a landslide expert by DID and became an authority figure on matters related to soil erosion to the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment (MOSTE), The reputation he was fast earning soon opened up another exciting possibility; the world of academia. In a considerably short span of seven years, Prof. Dr. Roslan, who began his academic career at Universiti Teknologi Mara as a part-time lecturer, went on to become a Professor when he was 42 years old.
In his ensuing capacity as the Director of Universiti Teknologi Mara’s (UiTM) National Soil Erosion Research Centre (NASEC) which he assumed in 2003, Prof. Dr. Roslan headed numerous eminent projects through which he continued to inject his trademark qualities of excellence and innovation towards transforming NASEC into an internationally recognized research centre on disaster prevention. In 2008, NASEC was officially renamed International Research Centre on Disaster Prevention (IRCDIP). For its immense contributions to the nation’s disaster prevention efforts, IRCDIP, under the leadership of Prof. Dr. Roslan who remained at the helm for the next seven years, earned multiple awards and accolades both on the local and international fronts. Through the chronicle of Prof. Dr. Roslan’s contributions as listed above, his outstanding individual achievements and leadership in science, engineering and technology can be clearly recognized.
Prof. Dr. Roslan was the former Vice Chancellor for Infrastructure University of Kuala Lumpur and Nilai University. Currently he is the Visiting Professor for The University of Miyazaki Japan and Universiti of Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia and the Adjunct Professor for University of Science, Malaysia.
Prof. Dr. Roslan Bin Zainal Abidin