The Brilliant Works of Young Indonesian Researchers and Doctoral Candidates in Engineering and Energy in the United States
Washington, DC (03/22/22) – The engineering and Energy field of study is the foundation for Indonesia’s Fourth Industrial Revolution. This statement was stated by the Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM) Sade Bimantara in his appearance at the 27th Bincang Karya (Bianka) or Creation talks Webinar last Tuesday (03/22).
DCM Sade Bimantara also stated that because of the supply chain disruption, we could not rely solely on the traditional sector to create exports as well as investments. “We need new technologies and of course, the technology of the fourth industrial revolution can bring a number of changes and make us more competitive,” said DCM Sade Bimantara.
This event conducted by the Indonesian Embassy in Washington DC through the Educational and Cultural Attaché (Atdikbud) specifically invited Natarianto Indrawan, Research Scientist at the Hybrid Power Systems, The National Energy Technology Laboratory/LRST, Department of Energy, the USA who talked about what research areas that he is currently working on there.
“One of our current research products is the GE H2 Turbine Project. This research was funded by the Department of Energy from a pilot-scale to a commercial scale. And the hottest topic is the technology for sorbents to extract rare elements. Indonesia has a lot of coal in which there are a lot of rare elements that can be extracted and have a very high value,” added Natarianto.
The webinar was led by Tatacipta Dirgantara, the Dean of the Faculty of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB) also joined by Dennisa Purba who is a doctoral student majoring in Civil Engineering (Transportation Engineering) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Her research focus was on Resilience and Sustainable Transportation. In more detail, her research topic was the Evacuation Preparedness Policy for Alternative Fuel Vehicles. It was inspired by the existence of environmentally friendly cars in America. Ironically, she said, these high-tech and luxurious cars were very vulnerable in an emergency.
“I am interested in learning how these cars affect evacuation planning, especially the operation of the evacuation. How the evacuators find shelters with their limited driving range, which route to take, whether there is refueling support or not, and how they control it,” she added.
Meanwhile, Yoshua Gombo, a Ph.D. student in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Washington presented his research in the field of robotics and controls whose focus was on the transportation of objects using multiple robots. He claimed that his research was inspired by biological systems in ants.
“An ant colony is an example of a very efficient biological system in lifting something much larger,” said Joshua. There are several things that we want to explore, such as how we can mimic this ant-like system using robots and what are the benefits for us,” he explained.
Besides those guests, also participated in this event were the representatives of leading universities in the US including Ana P. Baros, Department Head of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana – Champaign, and Santosh Devasia, the Director of Boeing Advanced Research Center (BARC) Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Washington, Seattle. Both of them talked about the possible opportunities to have collaborations in research between universities or institutions in Indonesia and in the US.
Also came to this activity was the Director of Research of the Indonesia Endowment Funds for Education (LPDP) of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Indonesia, Wisnu Sardjono Soenarso. Upon his presence, he highlighted that LPDP has always been committed to providing scholarships and research funding for outstanding talents in Indonesia for human resource development and to building a better Indonesian ecosystem.
As Atdikbud as well as the initiator of this activity, Popy Rufaidah underlined that this webinar was intended for those who are in the field of Engineering and Energy, both students and professionals, to continue their studies in the US or to collaborate with the leading universities in the US.
For information, the recording of the live broadcast of the 27th Bincang Karya (BIANKA) Webinar in Engineering and Energy can be accessed on the official Atdikbud USA Facebook page with the link https://bit.ly/fb-watch-bianka27