Emeritus Professor Dato’ Abang Abdullah Abang Ali As a former President of the Institution of Engineers, Malaysia (IEM) and the Federation of Engineering Institutions of Islamic Countries (FEIIC), Abang Abdullah is keen on the development of the engineering and technology profession in Malaysia as well as at the international level. Engineers by nature tend to be happy to be backroom boys, doing the planning, design, construction, production and manufacture of products, processes, machines, and structures, leaving critical decision making in the hands of other professionals. Yet their analytical skills are as good, if not better than those at the national planning and management levels. A national study which he led produced a report in 1996 entitled the Formation of Engineers in Malaysia, proposing an enhancement of engineering education and professional development of engineers to prepare Malaysian engineers for the future workplace. This led to the active participation of Malaysian engineers in accreditation work and recognition for mobility of Malaysian engineers at the international level. Concerned with the earlier reluctance of the Board of Engineers, Malaysia (BEM) to register engineering technologists and technicians, Abang Abdullah led another study and produced a report entitled The Engineering Technology Path – Blueprint for a highly skilled engineering workforce in 2003, which paved the way for the setting up of the Malaysian Board of Technologists (MBOT), and subsequent amendment of the Registration of Engineers, Act to enable registration of engineering technologists and technicians with BEM. The Malaysian Society for Engineering & Technology (MySET) was established to serve as a learned society for engineering technologists and technicians, apart from engineers. Malaysian engineering professionals are now active in promoting engineering accreditation and recognition of engineering professionals at the international level, with Malaysia participating in Washington, Sydney, Dublin, Medinah and Makkah Accords as well as in related mobility agreements. For his contribution, he was appointed as an adviser to the Saudi Council of Engineers (SCE) and King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia, and an Honorary Member (Academician) of the Engineering Academy of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Realising the importance of housing as a basic human need and the difficulty to access affordable housing in the country, especially among the younger generation, Abang Abdullah, led the development of affordable quality housing designs and construction technologies, while heading the Housing Research Centre in Universiti Putra Malaysia. Housing quality comes in the form of good designs suitable for our tropical climate and local culture, providing designs for human comfort. His team introduced the concept of the Industrialised Building System (IBS) which was taken up by the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB). However, despite the good intentions of introducing a planning and design approach which could result in faster, cheaper and better-quality construction, the local IBS industry need to successfully meet the prerequisite for successful implementation of IBS, that is achieving the economy of scale through mass development. His research team has also been involved in building emergency housing in Gaza after the previous war and Kelantan after the recent big flood.