Tan Sze Ying

“Hi, I’m Tan Sze Ying but everyone calls me Nicole, and I’m a Bachelor of Applied Geology student at Curtin Malaysia.

Many people have asked me why I took up Applied Geology. Well, during a physics class in high school, one of the topics was waves and my teacher told us to look online for videos of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapse due to resonance. From there, I became very fascinated with natural disasters and started to look up how natural disasters occur. I wanted to learn more and more about them.

When it was time to look for a university, I obviously looked for universities that offered courses in earth sciences, and Curtin Malaysia stood out among those in Malaysia. I immediately enrolled in the Applied Geology course.

Throughout my three-year course, I have gained a greater understanding of how the earth works, and I really enjoy the course. In 2022, we even went to Kundasang in Sabah for mapping fieldwork, which was a very memorable experience. Now, I’m doing my honours year and working on my honours project which involves the study of beach sand.

Other than academics, I am also involved in sports at the campus. I joined the volleyball and dodgeball clubs and even represented Curtin Malaysia at the Masiswa Games in 2019 during my foundation year, winning gold with my team.

To sum it all up, it has been wonderful studying here at Curtin Malaysia. I’ve had many pleasant experiences, been given many opportunities to learn and grow, and will have many lifelong memories when I leave and go out into the working world.” – Tan Sze Ying, Applied Geology student

1 October 2023