5 December 2022 (Monday) – Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) Researcher ChM Dr Mohamad Nasir Mat Arip has received the Malaysian Institute of Chemistry (IKM) Outstanding Young Chemist Award 2022 (Industry) for his contribution in the field of advanced wood preservation technology.

He received the award from IKM President Datuk ChM Dr Soon Ting Kueh at the 2022 Chemistry Night ceremony held in Petaling Jaya on 2 December.

Mohamad Nasir was the Wood Preservative Analytical Laboratory (MAAK) Head before being appointed as the FRIM Research Policy and Planning Branch Head, a position he holds today.

He has 17 years of experience in the field of wood preservation (chemical analysis, sensor development and synthesis of nano-based formulation).

He has received the Gold Award Innova Brussels (2010); Pittsburgh Conference on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy (PITTCON) Travel Grant Award by the American Chemical Society (ACS) (2014); ITEX Gold Award (2017); PECIPTA Gold Award (2019); as well as the 2019 FRIM Employee of the Year Award for Management and Professional Group.

His expertise is recognised globally and he was involved in the Revision of ISO/IEC 17025, which was published by Standards Malaysia in 2018. Currently, he is the Secretary of International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) for Malaysia.

Apart from that, FRIM laboratories received four IKM Laboratory Excellence Awards 2022, namely:

1. Soil Chemistry Laboratory;
2. MAAK
3. Wood Composite Testing Laboratory;
4. Natural Products Quality Control Laboratory (NPQC).

Also present, Forest Plantation Programme Head Dr Rosdi Koter, Soil Management Branch Head ChM Rozita Ahmad, NPQC Head ChM Dr Norhayati Abdullah and Research Officer ChM Dr V. Jeyanny Vijayanathan.