For His Contribution to Environment, ITB Confer an Award to Prof. Joni Hermana
By Adi Permana
Editor Adi Permana
*Prof. Joni Hermana receiving the Ganesa Widya Jasa Adiutama award
BANDUNG, itb.ac.id – Commemorating 99th Year Engineering Higher Education in Indonesia (PTTI) held on Wednesday (3/7/2019) at Aula Barat of its Ganesha Campus, Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB) give awards to individuals/organizations which display service or achievement to science in Indonesia. There are seven awards given, namely Ganesa Prajamanggala Bakti Utama, Ganesa Widya Jasa Adiutama, Ganesa Wirya Jasa Adiutama, Ganesa Widya Jasa Utama, Ganesa Wirya Jasa Utama, and ITB Press.
A professor who engages in environmental issues, Joni contributes in technical guidelines for settlement sanitation standardization in Indonesia developed from 2003 until 2019 and first applied in Surabaya. Today, other cities throughout Indonesia implement the standardization. Joni’s dedication in development of education and technology has brought him to receiving Ganesa Widya Jasa Adiutama.
Regarding environment, Joni is concerned with microplastics pollution. As the name implies, microplastics are plastic fragments so small it cannot be seen by eyes. “Microplastics is tiny, we will not realize that all this time plastic bottles on market play major role in this pollution. Besides the garbage polluting the sea, microplastic particles bring negative impact to the body due to its settling in the body and disturbing production of hormones,” he said.
He added that this problem should be taken seriously by the people and government of Indonesia because plastic waste such as bottle cap disturbs health and damage sea ecosystem, happening to seas in Indonesia.
“Actually, to prevent further pollution caused by microplastics, we can start by instilling awareness about dangers of microplastics. Reduce consumption of plastic packaged water and bring our own tumblers. We have to start from the least, starting from the small thing,” he said
Besides Prof. Joni, the award is given to Prof. Robert Hall, Dr. Bambang Susantono , Ir. H. Teten Hadi Rustendi, M.T., Prof. Dr. -Ing Ulrich Neuhof, and Mochammad Faisal Wingky.
Vice Rector of General Administration, Alumni, and Communication of ITB, Dr. Miming Miharja said that several processes were carried for these awards, beginning with proposal, evaluation, and decision process. He hopes this awarding will push the advancement of ITB and Indonesia.
Reporter: Qinthara Silmi Faizal (Management 2020)
