Towards 20 Years of ITS Material Engineering Age, Alumni in Taiwan Hold Thematic Discussion

Nearly 20 years in Materials and Metallurgical Engineering, Faculty of Industrial Technology, Sepuluh November Institute of Technology (ITS) was established. Since the building was still integrated with Mechanical Engineering in 1999, it finally migrated to a separate building on Jl. Industrial Engineering in 2006, has produced many material activists in Indonesia. Even many alumni have held quite strategic positions in various national and multinational companies. Not a few also choose to have a career as an academic both on national and international campuses.

This time warm news arrived from Taiwan, the ITS Materials and Metallurgy Engineering Alumni Association (IKAMAT) held a discussion agenda titled Cangkruk Together with Materials Society (MATRICE). This discussion is a continuation of the Thematic Cangkruk which some time ago was held by IKAMAT ITS in Surabaya. Also attending the agenda were two ITS Material Engineering lecturers who were studying Ph.D., Sutarsis, S.T., M.Sc. (NCU) and Alvian Toto Wibisono, S.T., M.T. (NTUT). In addition, this agenda was also attended by Rahmandhika Firdauzha Hary Hernandha, S.T., M.Sc. (NCTU) as the youngest lighter of discussion, also Dr. Fitri Nur Indah (postdoctoral fellow on the NCKU campus). Moderated by Meilati Pasca Muna, S.T. (NTUST), and was attended by alumni from various forces, namely 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, and 2014.

The discussion lasted for almost two hours, took place at Jiu Si Pavilion, National Chiao Tung University (NCTU) campus, Hsinchu. Accompanied by the sound of the fountain from the NCTU statue, the discussion was very tight and quality. There were several recommendations that were successfully spawned by the discussion participants, including:

• The ITS Material Engineering Department should utilize the positive selling power and facilities owned by the ITS campus, as well as collaborate with students and potential alumni to establish start-ups in the field of Materials, which are science and technology-oriented, and have local wisdom by getting the community involved.
• There is some research that must be the main focus to be continued and developed by the ITS Material Engineering Department, namely the Metal Refining field (because ITS Material Engineering is the only department in Indonesia that has a smelter for learning and business purposes), the Defense and Security sector as has been developed by the Material Physics Laboratory in collaboration with PT. Pindad, as well as the Biomaterials field which is currently a joint project between the Metallurgical laboratory and the Material Innovation laboratory.
• In addition to these studies, alumni who are continuing their studies in Taiwan propose other fields of research that are quite potential to be carried out by the ITS Material Engineering Department, namely Carbon Production Technology as a base material for advanced materials products such as battery anodes, supercapacitors, alloys in metallurgy, manufacturing ceramic material, etc. Refers to the large number of carbon sources from plants, woody waste, coconut shell waste, etc. Of course the Carbon product must be of high quality with various variants, high purity amorphous Carbon, graphitic Carbon, microporous Carbon, mesoporous Carbon, Hard Carbon, Graphene, Carbon Nanotubes, In addition, Seawater Processing Technology and Mineral Extraction to produce important elements what is needed by future advance materials industries such as Mg, Na, K, Ca, etc. So that in the future there will be additional terms besides salt farmers, there will also be Mineral or Carbon farmers. Of course, by inviting people to get involved not only as objects, but as research partners.
• Referring to the fields of research conducted by ITS Material Engineering alumni in Taiwan in the form of Energy Storage supercapacitors and batteries, nerve conduit (biomaterials), solar cells, photo detectors, as well as ceramic biomaterials, it can be recommended that in the future younger siblings Undergraduate students in ITS Material Engineering, as well as S2 and S3 students, can also be directed to target the field of biomaterials (as a medium-term research) and the energy storage field (as a long-term research) to support the battery industry that is just starting to be built in Indonesia through various battery consortia as well as a government plan program related to the battery factory in Morowali that has recently been circulating. Especially if you look at the fact that the Nobel prize in chemistry for 2019 fell into the hands of researchers in the field of energy storage, especially Li-ion batteries.

It is hoped that things formulated by ITS Material Engineering alumni in Taiwan can be input to positive recommendations, henceforth to be a concern for the progress of the ITS Materials Engineering Department in the future, as well as triggers for ITS Material Engineering alumni in other regions.