2 November 2015 (Monday) – Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) award-winning researcher, Dr Nor Azah Mohammad Ali, was selected to receive the Top Research Scientists Malaysia (TRSM) award from the Academy of Sciences Malaysia (ASM) this year.

Nor Azah receiving the certificate from Madius at the ceremony.

She, along with 13 others, received the TRSM certificate from the Science, Technology and Innovation Minister, YB Datuk Seri Panglima Madius Tangau, at the certificate presentation ceremony of 2015 TRSM held at Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC) in conjunction with the 8th ASM Assembly yesterday.

Nor Azah is an outstanding researcher, who was conferred the FRIM Scientist of Year in 2009; IUFRO Scientific Achievement Award in 2010; and she also received the FRIM Best Research Award in 2015.

Nor Azah showing the award certificate.

She has 28 years of research experience in natural product chemistry, specialising in essential oil research related to forestry, agriculture and herbal industries.

As the FRIM Herbal Product Development Programme Head, she leads a multi-disciplinary research team actively involved in essential oil research, herbal research and cosmeceutical product development in FRIM.

Nor Azah with husband, Mokhlis and son, Mohamad Mohaimin.

The research areas covered by her team include essential oil extraction technology, olfactory evaluation, chemical profiling, bioactivity and product formulation.

Nor Azah is directly involved in agarwood research which focuses on developing extraction techniques, fingerprinting, chemometrics and quality control. As a result of her extensive work on essential oils, she has established an essential oil library collection of over 160 species.

Nor Azah posing for a group picture with Saw (middle) and other FRIM representatives.

Nor Azah received her tertiary education from the University of Waterloo (Canada), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and Universiti Putra Malaysia. She joined FRIM as an Assistant Research Officer in 1987; was promoted to Research Officer in 1996 and Senior Research Officer in 2003.

She is the second FRIM scientist to receive the TRSM award, the first being the FRIM Director General, Dato’ Dr Abd Latif Mohmod who received the award in 2013.

Also present at the ceremony were Nor Azah’s husband, Mokhlis Maizan and son, Mohamad Mohaimin; FRIM Forest Biodiversity Division Director and ASM Fellow, Dr Saw Leng Guan; and other FRIM researchers.