I have started teaching part-time at XMUM but now in the Maths Department and we are now about to go in Week Three. Week One had Malaysia Day and the birthday of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and the university has the policy of replacing lectures that fall on public holidays. I haven't done mine yet since I have large classes and it is difficult to find a common time for all. My Linear Algebra class has around 70+ students from largely Computer Science School, while my other two Quantitative Methods and Data Analysis classes are 90+ and 100+ students, largely from Finance and International Business programs. To help me prepare these classes, I bought two books that burned a hole in my pocket with a cost of around RM1300.
I had to buy them so that I can get details out from the common lecture notes of the courses. The books are expensive because they have coloured pages printed on glossy paper and each book has around 600 and 800 pages respectively.
So, even before I can earn money from this part-time teaching, I was already spending quite a lot (including the air-conditioning unit mentioned in this post for my comfort working at home). I hope this will pay off in the long run. So here are my two classes for the finance and international business students.
The facilities there are good, with projectors on both sides of the room. For my Linear Algebra class, the lecture room is smaller and flat-leveled and it had only one projector (I guess, less business-like).
As a part-time staff, I do not have a room to work in. So instead, I work in the library or in some public spaces, together with students. For privacy, I tend to prepare most work at home, usually in the early morning hours. Here is a pic of the lobby of the administrative building and a pic of me in the library.
I took up the job to help me with my growing expenses. I have to make sure that my own family is well cared for. Usually, it is the unexpected expenses that dry up my savings. Another commitment I have made is a conference in Krabi and this will add further to my expenses.
I was surprised to get the invitation from Areeya (on behalf of the committee of SQST 2024). Knew her when I was trying to organize an EQuaLS event (that coincided with the Covid outbreak). That was years ago and she did not know that I have retired. I told her about my retirement but I'm about to take up a part-time job at XMUM. However, part-timers in usual circumstances are not allowed to go on leave. So, I had to consult the Head of Department and after getting the green light (verbally), I confirmed with the organizers about me giving an invited talk. Thus, the picture. When I posted the pic in my FB page, I was not trying to brag. I am very much aware of the other listed invited speakers are well-known and better researchers in QS&T. In fact, it took me a while to decide what to talk on. I toyed with the idea of giving a talk on ZX-calculus and QEC, but these are topics that I'm still picking up details on. Finally, I settled on a topic perhaps less close to the topics in the conference, a problem I have left to my ex-PhD student before I retire and how it should be developed further.
The main reason I accepted the invitation to the conference is to be able to represent Malaysia in the field. There is also another Malaysian invited speaker on the list, namely Dr. Yap Yung Szen who is an experimentalist. So I guess, I represent the theorists here. There is some sense of importance of being there (and it is not about me); if ever an ASEAN collaboration is to be realized in the future, ground work has to be done earlier and that we (Malaysians) tend to support each other's events. Next year, I was told that we are hosting an event and thus we need their support as well. I don't have a grant to support my travel and accommodation and thus the committed expenses from my own budget. The organizer has waived my registration and they will support local travel. I hope to bring my own family there and they can get to visit Thailand for the first time but I will be with the conference to honour the organizers.
Currently the topic of quantum computing is in the air waves in Malaysia up to the point of our own PMX mentioning it in a public discussion (see video around minute 10:40) Being surprised, I asked my junior colleagues what is going on. The person(s) explained to me of events that have happened in the background. There seems to be three different independent initiatives that have started. I think this is fine as long as all initiatives have national matters at heart. In fact, the more opportunities opened up by these, the better because we want to ensure better probabilities of successes. I'm a bit old for all the push and it is time for the younger ones to shine. Nevertheless, if I can serve a good deed along the way, I'll be happy and hope it counts for the hereafter. My attitude has always been, I will entertain those who are seeking help or advice. But if there is none, that is fine as well, but more importantly, I do not want to get involved with hidden personal agendas. For me, the realistic picture is that we are latecomers to the field and we have yet to make a proper mark in the international arena.
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