It is worth to give a try
This is the alpha version of the soon to launch “Letter from ITB” prepared by a collaborative work of ITB PR Directorate and WCU team. The idea behind this letter is for ITB leader to maintain communication and update on ITB achievement related to innovation, research, and other relevant activities to the international academic community. Still, there are many rooms for improvements, in which we are keen to receive inputs from your side. The distribution is hence limited to close sphere within ITB management. The next trial version will be released in one month from now. These trials shall facilitate the growth of learning curve among the development team prior to the distribution to ITB counterparts and network. The official version will be launched around early December 2020 along with the formal speech of ITB rector. We again hope to receive comments from your side and look forward to making a significant improvement.
FNU Poerbandono
The award was presented to Prof. Wenten for inventing the IGW Emergency Pump. This pump is equipped with a filter to provide clean water during an emergency, and the operation of this pump does not require the use of electric power.
The award was presented at the high point of the BPIP awards ceremony, which was broadcast live on National TVRI and on the BPIP YouTube channel on Saturday, August 29, 2020. BPIP awarded 75 icons of appreciation for accomplished achievements in Pancasila 2020. According to the press release received by ITB’s Communication and Public Relations Bureau, this award is given to individuals with achievements and innovations deemed to be beneficial to society, the nation and the state, as well as the world. The appreciation award is divided into five categories: sports, arts, culture, science, innovation, social entrepreneurship, and interfaith activities.
The five criteria in the selection of the Pancasila Achievement icons include being an Indonesian citizen; having a good track record, accomplished, and inspiring; being recognized by the domestic and international community for his or her achievements; having a positive impact on society through his or her actions and works; and becoming a source of inspiration for his or her surroundings.
Prof. I Gede Wenten is a professor at FTI ITB who is involved in the Chemical Engineering Process Design and Development Research Group. Currently, he is the Vice Rector for Innovation and Research at ITB for the 2020-2025 period.
In the competition, ITB won 5 gold medals, 3 silver medals, and 3 bronze medals, in 4 scientific categories: Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, and Biology. As a result, ITB was placed 1st for the 2020 KN-MIPA medal.
The medal winners are namely Hudzaifah Alif Al Fatih Nasution, Muhamad Farhan Husain, Muhamad Morteza Mudrick, Ricky Linarto, I Putu Prakasa Wiprayoga, Alfred Patisenah, Muhamad Alif Aqsha, Akeyla Pradia Naufal, Bakuh Danang Setyo Budi, Ridwan Rizki Surgawan, and Stefanus.
One of the ITB students who won the KN-MIPA 2020 gold medal in Mathematics, Muhamad Alif Aqsha, said that the scoring criteria for the Mathematics competition was that each question was given a score of 0 to 10. A score of 10 was possible if all of the questions were answered correctly. Alif was one of the students who achieved the second highest score, enabling him to take the gold medal home.
He admitted that even though he competed in the midst of a pandemic and the competition was conducted virtually, it did not reduce his enthusiasm to compete because for him, the thing that is no less important than this pandemic is how he can remain productive, even from home.
Due to this impressive achievement, Director of the Directorate of Student Affairs (Ditmawa) ITB. Dr. G. Prasetyo Adhitama S.Sn., M.Sn. expressed his gratitude for the achievements of ITB students this year. He also expressed his gratitude to all participants, especially students and supervisors who worked hard to prepare for their participation in KN-MIPA 2020.
According to Dr. G. Prasetyo, this achievement is proof that students fully understand the importance of the learning process which includes curricular, co-curricular, and extra-curricular activities. "This certainly makes all of us immensely proud. Hopefully this achievement can inspire and motivate other ITB students to achieve more. Moreover, this kind of competition is an important part of competency development, "said Prasetyo.
In an effort to solve this problem, a 2013 ITB Physics Engineering alumna, Anisa Azizah, together with her team and under the guidance of Prof. Bambang Sunendar, Ph.D., succeeded in creating porous paving blocks that can absorb water. The paving blocks developed can be penetrated by water as much as 1000 mm/ day and retain high strength through the help of chemicals. These paving blocks have a strength which ranges from K-200 to K-350, or equivalent to class B or A paving blocks.
Seeing the potential benefits of these products, Anisa and her team successfully commercialized the initially exclusive laboratory product through a startup called Tech Prom Lab with the product called PoreBlok. This product is available in 10 locations in Bandung, Sumedang, and Tangerang. In addition, it can be used for housing, dwellings, and school yards. In the process of manufacturing its products, Tech Prom Lab also collaborates with local paving block manufacturers through transfer of technology to several factories in Tasikmalaya and Tangerang.
The machine created from this collaboration has been successfully developed and was exhibited at the 9th Hyper Interdisciplinary Conference 2020 in Tokyo, Japan, which thereafter was sent to Tasikmalaya, Indonesia, on September 11, 2020. "This aggregate filtering machine is expected to improve the quality and quantity of PoreBlock production because so far the filtering has been done manually, so it takes a long time to get the required sizes," added Anisa.
The Tech Prom Lab has had many achievements since its inception. Among them are being the Grand Winner of GSI 2018, Grand Winner of Tech Planter Indonesia 2019, Grand Winner of Tech Planter World Communication 2020, and Grand Winner of Tech Planter Southeast Asia. It has also participated in the UNDP X 500 Startups Impact Aim Project.
Despite their many achievements, Anisa and her team are certainly not free of problems and challenges in developing the Tech Prom Lab. In addition to common problems such as team development, operation management, funding, and the team’s different backgrounds, Anisa said that lack of experience was also an obstacle in developing this product. “The founders of the Tech Prom Lab are fresh graduates from ITB, both with undergraduate and postgraduate degrees and do not have experience or connections in the construction industry, so it is harder for us to enter this ecosystem,” said Anisa.
Even with the many challenges and obstacles, Anisa and her comrades have succeeded in developing innovative products that are useful and not harmful to the environment. When met by Reporter ITB , Anisa testified the importance of collaboration from the idea stage to the implementation. “We believe that our goal to help solve the flooding problem cannot be done alone. We need assistance and collaboration from various parties so that our good efforts can be impactful,“ She stated.
The Indonesia Marketeers Festival is a grand festival in the field of marketing organized by the Markplus Institute and held in six main cities in Indonesia, with a unique and innovative concept. For West Java, the Indonesia Marketeers Festival was held on Saturday (19/09/2020) virtually.
In his speech, Hermawan Kartajaya, as founder and chairman of Markplus Inc., said that this election had gone through a selection process from the top management team of Markplus, public figures, and the media.
The award ceremony was also attended by the Governor of West Java, Ridwan Kamil, who said that the activity was aimed at appreciating extraordinary people in terms of marketing as well as being an inspiration for others. "One of our goals is to appreciate extraordinary people in order to inspire, because this marketing skill is very much needed," he said.
Prof. Dr. Ir. Utomo Sarjono Putro, M.Eng. added that this award could motivate SBM-ITB to continue to improve the main tasks of the university three main activities (Tri Dharma Perguruan Tinggi) by enhancing internal and external marketing.
In supporting internal and external marketing, SBM-ITB has implemented many programs that aim to improve the quality of SBM-ITB, both from the inside and from the outside, so that it provides quality services to students and has an impact on the surrounding environment. Some of these programs include implementing the Quality Assurance function, optimizing the functions of Public Relations, and actively participating in maximizing the digital platform.
The implementation of the Quality Assurance function aims to provide maximum service. The Quality Assurance process involves students who give feedback about the services provided by SBM to improve the teaching and learning processes.
"Besides doing quality assurance of learning, we also provide career services, improve the quality of lecturers, and improve learning facilities, among others," added Utomo.
In addition, SBM-ITB seeks to optimize the role of public relations and establish relationships with various stakeholders such as alumni, industries, and the media. Not only that, SBM-ITB, in optimizing its external marketing, also implements effective marketing communications by utilizing digital platforms such as social media and by actively sharing inspiring content such as podcasts on YouTube and SBM-ITB's Spotify.
Finally, Utomo Sarjono Putro hopes that this award will lead to an increase in the role of higher education in providing a positive impact on the government, companies and society. "Hopefully the award of West Java 2020 Industry Marketing Champion for the educations service sector will increase the importance of higher education institutions with superior services so that they can have an impact on the government, companies and society," he said.
Reference: 280/IT1.B03.2/HM.01/2020
BANDUNG, itb.ac.id-- The results of the 2020 Institut Teknologi Bandung International Class Selection (ITB International Undergraduate Program), Batch 4, were announced on Friday, September 4, 2020, at 05.00 AM WIB. The announcement can be seen on the main page of https://usm.itb.ac.id/international-program. In 2020, the ITB International Undergraduate Program accepted 369 students who passed the selection from a total of 777 registered participants. The successful applicants were accepted in six academic programs at ITB, namely Pharmaceutical Science and Technology, Environmental Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, and Management.
Based on data from the ITB Directorate of Education, out of the 369 ITB International Undergraduate Program applicants who were accepted at ITB, three of them were foreign applicants (Malaysia, India, Japan), and 44 of them were Indonesian citizens who came from schools abroad. Among the applicants who passed the ITB International Undergraduate Program, 56.1% were male and 43.9% were female.
Re-registration for participants of ITB International Undergraduate Program Batch 4 who had passed the selection was open on September 5, 2020 and ended on September 9, 2020. Information regarding the re-registration process for the 2020 ITB International Undergraduate Program Batch 4 prospective students can be found on the web page https://usm.itb.ac.id/international-program .
This event was held online from 14-25 September, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The instructors at SSGC2020 are local and international academics. In total there were seventeen lecturers, five of whom are from the ITB Astronomy Research Group, who are astronomers doing research on various aspects related to dark matter, which was the theme for this SSGC2020. Out of the 158 domestic and international applicants, 107 were selected as participants. Among these participants, 45 came from Indonesia (17 from ITB and 28 from other higher education institutions), and 62 came from abroad (Algeria, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Burma, China, Colombia, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Jordan, Malaysia, Morocco, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Turkey). In the SSGC2020 activities, apart from lectures and workshops that the attendees participated in, there were also two lectures that were open to the public.
SSGC2020 began with remarks from the Chairman of the Committee, Dr. Anton T. Jaelani. In his speech, Dr. Anton T. Jaelani expressed his appreciation for the committee's performance; the participation of participants , invitees, instructors; and reminded us to maintain good health practices due to the packed schedule of the SSGC2020 event.
The SSGC2020 activity was opened directly by the Dean of FMIPA ITB, Wahyu Srigutomo, Ph. D. He said that the aim of the SSGC2020 is not only the transfer of knowledge in related fields, but also to inspire the younger generation to study astronomy and physics, and be involved in front-line research related to the field of cosmology.
* Dean of FMIPA, Wahyu Srigutomo, Ph.D
He also expressed his appreciation for the hard work of the committee from the Astronomy Research Group, which made SSGC2020 possible. Wahyu Srigutomo, Ph. D. also expressed his gratitude to the instructors and attendees for their participation. He hoped that in addition to increasing their knowledge, the participants will also have the opportunity to collaborate in future research.
Public Lecture from Experts
SSGC2020 was filled with a series of public lectures. The first public lecture was given by Prof. Joel R. Primack, Ph. D. (UC Santa Cruz, USA) titled "Our Current Understanding of the Physical Universe". As the closing activity for the series of SSGC2020, Prof. Dr. Eiichiro Komatsu (Max Planck Institute für Astrophysik, Germany) delivered a second public lecture titled "The New Quests for Physics of the Early Universe".
Both lectures are open to the public and can be accessed through the official YouTube channel of the ITB Astronomy Study Program. For those who are not able to join directly (live streaming), the video recordings of these two public lectures will be available on the official YouTube channel of the ITB Astronomy Study Program.
SSGC2020 is intended for final-year undergraduate students, master’s- students, and entry-level doctoral students. Thus, it was hoped that they would be able to actively participate in the SSGC2020 activities. For ten days from September 14-25, 2020 (excluding the weekend), participants received lectures related to dark matter from astrophysicists. Activities were in the form of lectures in class (33 total hours in 22 meetings), with 4 workshop meetings providing attendees with data processing experience to further strengthen their understanding of course materials (8 total hours), 1 sharing session about NASA (1.5 hours), 2 public lectures (3 total hours), and 2 participant presentations on the last day of SSGC2020 (3 total hours). The total time for all activities in the SSGC was 48.5 hours.
For effectiveness, the workshops were conducted in small groups, and were limited to only 42 participants. Participants who were selected to take part in a workshop were given the opportunity to register as temporary ITB students (during the workshop) by registering through usm.itb.ac.id and uploading the entry requirements by the Directorate of Non-regular Education. They were given academic transcripts equivalent these elective courses: Extragalactic for an undergraduate study program and Capita Selecta Galaxy Cosmology for a Masters in Astronomy.
"A total of 123 business groups were proposed for this program, subsequently the proposal and pitching selections were carried out, in which 27 business groups passed and were entitled to receive funding from the PMW X TOP ITB 2020 program. The groups were divided into several business categories, including environmental technology and ICT, health and beauty technology, service and social businesses, ICT, food, fashion and creative businesses," explained the Head of the Sub-Directorate of Professional Development and Entrepreneurship, Directorate of Student Affairs (Ditmawa) ITB, Sonny Rustiadi SE, MBA, PhD, CBAP at the virtual opening of the PMW X TOP ITB 2020 event on September 5, 2020.
Sonny continued by stating that when implementing this annual program, his party cooperates with ITB’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Institute (LPIK) with the intent that the workshops can be tailored to specifically develop each group’s business categories. There are two types of businesses that are funded, namely Start Up, in which students intend to launch a business, and Scale Up, in which students intend to continue developing a business they are currently running.
Meanwhile, the Director of Ditmawa ITB, Dr. G. Prasetyo Adhitama M.Sn, said that entrepreneurship is considered to be valued as a community service because it can open new jobs for the wider community. He added that this is one of the key performance indicators for higher education, not only the ones within the country, but also leading universities abroad encourage their students to have an entrepreneurial spirit in implementing their respective knowledge.
“In 2021, the government plans to establish a more systematic entrepreneurship centers in higher education institutions. One of the centers used as a model for the development of this program is ITB. This is a great opportunity for ITB students to develop their entrepreneurial spirit,” said Prasetyo.
In his speech, Prof. Wahid Omar said that this was the third time ITB and UTM held an MoU. The previous MoUs were signed in 2010, 2015, and 2020. In general, the MoU between ITB and UTM was carried out in the education sector, which included education and research, training, and faculty lecturer/student exchanges, and also shared scientific material. “Indonesia and Malaysia have been cooperating in the field of education for a very long time. I am happy that today we are updating the Memorandum of Understanding, the implementation of which has been seen from the many ITB lecturers who are conducting postgraduate studies at UTM,” said Prof. Wahid Omar.
In its implementation, collaboration between ITB and UTM can be developed through programs such as curriculum development and joint research and development, giving priority to each university to continue postgraduate studies, and lecturer/student exchange activities such as study tours, joint projects, and various kinds of seminars.
ITB Rector Prof. Reini said that ITB and UTM have the same scope of knowledge in the engineering field. Reini admits that UTM is doing better in the international field, because UTM has 4,000 foreign students.
"ITB has less capacity for international students, because ITB is a destination for local students who always get the highest scores. But we also believe we should increase the diversity of students from abroad to enrich the academic atmosphere. So, we would be very happy to set up student exchanges from UTM", explained Prof. Reini.
Dr.rer.nat. Rino Rakhmata Mukti added that in the future, cooperation could be achieved by conducting joint KKN, and also collaboration in the research field with 34 research centers at ITB.
The MoU ceremony was closed with a virtual group photo event.
SDGs are essentially a continuation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), in effect from 2000 to 2015. In general, the SDGs provide development goals, targets, and indicators in so that they have become a benchmark for every country to carry out sustainable development, namely by balancing the economic, social, and environmental aspects. The document is valid for a period of fifteen years, from 2015-2030, which means that there are still ten years left for the SDGs to be achieved. The SDGs not only emphasize the roles of developed countries, but also those of developing and less developed countries. All countries have the same obligation to carry out responsible and sustainable development in accordance with the agreed documents.
ITB as one of the higher education institutions in Indonesia, recognized the fact that Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are not only the government's obligation but the obligation of all parties, including universities. With this awareness, in January 2019 the ITB SDGs Network was formed and was inaugurated by the Minister of National Development Planning (PPN) / Bappenas.
On Wednesday, August 12, 2020, the ITB SDGs Network held the first Webinar Series via Zoom and live streaming on the STKSR-Symphosis 2020 Organizer Committee YouTube channel. The ITB SDGs Network presented five speakers: the Head of SDGs Network ITB Dr. Tirto Prakoso, M.Eng.; ITB Regional and Rural Planning Research Group Lecturer Teti Armiati Argo, MES; Ph.D., Lecturer at Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Science Research Group ITB Dr. Eng. Anjar Dimara Sakti, M.Sc.; Head of SDGs National Secretariat Amalia Adininggar Widyasanti, MSi, M.Eng, Ph.D.; and President Director of Clean Power Indonesia, Jaya Wahono. The event was moderated by the Secretary General of the International Society of Sustainability Professionals (ISSP) Indonesia Maria Dian Nurani, ST, MSi, and was opened by Dr. Tirto Prakoso, M.Eng. followed by the singing of the national anthem "Indonesia Raya".
The ITB SDGs Network
Head of the ITB SDGs Network, Dr. Tirto Prakoso, M.Eng., stated that the basic rationale for the importance of the SDGs Network in ITB is because ITB is a higher education institution that is said to have a mastery of engineering sciences, therefore, it plays a significant role in the achievement of SDGs. In addition, so far there has been no SDGs center in Indonesia that has innovative technology products that can also be implemented. Most of the products of the existing SDGs centers fall within the scope of policy and community planning.
"With the establishment of this center, ITB hopes to help accelerate the achievement of SDGs in Indonesia, especially in terms of innovation and technology implementation. Based on Times Higher Education data in 2019, ITB has the potential to become a reference center for Indonesia and the world by focusing on ITB's potential in the field of innovation and climate change," he said.
On this occasion, Tirto also said that the ITB SDGs Network itself emphasizes seven goals of SDGs, namely SDG 2, SDG 4, SDG 6, SDG 7, SDG 9, SDG 11, and SDG 17. There are many different activities carried out by the ITB SDGs Network itself. The Network acts as a facilitator for the latest ideas from alumni and ITB academicians so that these ideas can be implemented with the SDGs scheme in Indonesia. The Network also helps ITB academics fund the implementation of research results with the theme of green technology in Indonesia, provide collaboration space between stakeholders, and verify technology that has been implemented abroad to suit the conditions in Indonesia, and many more.
Prerequisites for Achieving the SDGs
Vice Rector for Finance, Planning, and Development Ir. Muhamad Abduh, MT., Ph.D., also delivered his speech. He stated that a lot of people have heard of the term SDGs, but maybe they do not fully comprehend the term , making it something to be brushed off easily. "This is maybe [what] we have to keep in mind, what SDGs mean and how far we have reached (the goals)," said Abduh.
According to Ir. Abduh, ‘SDGs’ is a significant term and requires a lot of time, so it requires collaboration between various stakeholders to achieve it. The SDGs ITB is focusing on must be related to the relevance of ITB with the SDGs itself. Abduh emphasized that in order to achieve the SDGs there are three prerequisites that must be met. The three prerequisites are technology, innovation, and a value system.
Technology is a tool that can be used to accelerate the achievement of the SDGs. ITB has an advantage in this field because ITB can play a role from the technological side to achieve the SDGs. In addition to technology, achieving SDGs also requires institutions engaged in the SDGs, who can collaborate and synchronize. In addition, there must be a value system in which the community must view sustainable life as a value that must be understood, comprehend, and applied in everyday life. One simple example is the habit of always throwing trash in a trash can, no matter how small the rubbish is. This value system should be introduced at a young age so that the values of a sustainable life are strongly embedded in each individual.
This collaboration aims to build a relationship between the two institutions and open up various opportunities for ITB academicians. The forms of cooperation include: research exchange for students, faculty members, and staff; research collaborations, conferences, workshops, and publications in the realm of digital humanities, databases, and the application of digital data in educational practice; participation in seminars and academic meetings; development of a digital museum for modern and traditional Indonesian artifacts; and exchange of information and scientific publications.
The museum, known as Rekihaku, houses 200,000 important artifacts related to Japanese history and cultural values. Located in Sakura, Chiba, Japan, the museum was founded in 1981 as an inter-university research consortium and was opened in 1983. The museum's collection focuses on the history, archaeology, and folk culture of Japan.
* Signed by the Director General of the National Museum of Japanese History.
Head of the Design Ethnography Laboratory and the Human and Industrial Product Research Group, Meirina Triharini, Ph.D., said that the main objective of this collaboration was to develop a new scope related to digital humanities through the creation of a database of cultural artifacts, including three-dimensional digital data as well as an online platform for data dissemination.
"Furthermore, the development of digital data is projected to be used for educational purposes, such as design studies. It is also hoped that the public can gain open access to data on cultural artifacts," he said.