Indonesian Students Association holds 2018 paper competition and inspirational talks event

Published: November 9, 2018

In its efforts to support the development of Indonesia through research and technology, the Institute's Indonesian Students Association held the Tokyo Tech Indonesian Commitment Award (TICA), an annual scientific paper competition for undergraduate students in Indonesia, on October 27. This year's event, held in collaboration with the Institute and the Embassy of the Republic Indonesia in Tokyo, celebrated the ninth year of TICA.

The main theme of TICA 2018 was "Integrity to Empower the Nation," encouraging particularly students studying science and technology at universities in Indonesia to participate. More than 200 scientific papers were submitted under the four sub-themes of information and communication technology, energy and environment, infrastructure and transportation, and life science. Three undergraduate winners from Indonesia were invited to Japan to present their research.

Visiting Assoc. Prof. Yoshida's lab

Before the main event, the three finalists had a chance to visit laboratories at Tokyo Tech — Associate Professor Katsumi Yoshida's lab, which carries out studies on ceramic-based composites and energy materials, the lab of Associate Professor Nobuhiro Matsushita, who specializes in solution-processable electronics and magnetic materials, and Professor Koichi Shinoda's lab, where research focuses on pattern recognition and man-machine interaction.

Visiting Assoc. Prof. Matsushita's lab

Visiting Prof. Shinoda's lab

The TICA event opened with speeches from the committee representative, the embassy representative, and Tokyo Tech's Professor Hirofumi Hinode from the School of Environment and Society. These were followed by three finalist presentations, which were evaluated by judges representing Tokyo Tech academia — Associate Professor Muhammad Aziz, Assistant Professor Winarto Kurniawan, and postdoctoral researcher Miftakhul Huda.

Prof. Hinode giving opening speech

Judges' panel

Presentation by finalist Nadhira Nurfathiya

Presentation by finalist Elviliana

Presentation by finalist Ayu Lia Pratama

Poster exhibition

The results of presentations were as follows:

Energy and Environment category
Winner	Ayu Lia Pratama	Fissile Utilization Study of HTGR 50 MWt using UO₂, (Th-U)O₂, and (Pu-U)O₂
Life Science category
2nd place	Nadhira Nurfathiya	Synthesis of Carbon Dots from Organic Waste as Ferric (Fe³⁺) Ion Sensor
Energy and Environment category
3rd place	Elviliana	Studies on Electricity Production using Biomass Waste via Microbial Fuel Cell Technology

Winner Ayu Lia Pratama (left) receiving certificate

After the finalists' presentations, the focus turned to inspirational talks moderated by Retno Miranti, a doctoral candidate in Materials Science and Engineering at Tokyo Tech. This year's keynote speakers included Professor Ir Panut Mulyono, the president of Universitas Gadjah Mada Indonesia, who talked about integrity to empower the nation through academia.

Speech by Mulyono, president of Universitas Gadjah Mada
Indonesia

TICA's Committee offers souvenirs to honorable keynote speakers

The event concluded with a group photo of the audience, committee, and invited speakers, who all raised their fists as a sign to support the development of science and technology in Indonesia. Tokyo Tech's Indonesian Student Association hopes that events like this will continue at the Institute, and that TICA can actively continue to support young Indonesian scientists who seek to publish their research.

All smiles at the end of TICA 2018

Contact

Tokyo Tech-Indonesia Commitment Awards Committee

Communication Manager: Fauzin Naimah

Email tica@ppitokodai.com / naimah.f.aa@m.titech.ac.jp