Prof. Ir. Dr. Mohd Azlan Hussain graduated in BSc (Chemical Eng) from Sheffield University in 1980 and was design engineer in Esso Production Malaysia for five years before joining the academic field in 1985 at University of Malaya. His research in modeling and process control began after the MSc course in Univ. of Tulsa, USA in 1987. In 1991, he was sponsored by UNESCO to present his research work in aspects of instrumentation design in Bandung, Indonesia. Further, to that in 1991 he was sponsored by the Japanese Society for promotion of Science (JSPS) under a prestigious award for a scientific exchange program at Kyoto University, Tokyo Institute of Technology and Tokushima Universities (all top ranked universities in Japan). In 1992, he was sponsored by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to pursue various  short courses at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Instrument of Society of America training center for 2 months. His research work on the use of artificial intelligence and nonlinear techniques for modeling and controls developed further after his PhD at Imperial College in 1996, under the Malaysian Government sponsorship. On returning to Malaysia, he started the process control research group including the setting up of various process control laboratories for teaching and research activities in the department. Collaboration research work with Prof. I.M. Mujtaba of