ITB-Schlumberger Inaugurates First "AI Academy" Program in Indonesia as Implementation of Merdeka Belajar

By Adi Permana

Editor Adi Permana

BANDUNG, itb.ac.id--Institut Teknologi Bandung together with Schlumberger inaugurate an educational program in the artificial intelligence field named “AI Academy” last Friday (12/8/2022). The AI ??Academy program is a global Schlumberger initiative program which was held for the first time in Indonesia. This program will be a pilot for similar activities in other universities and countries. This activity was inaugurated by the Rector of Institut Teknologi Bandung, represented by the Dean of the Faculty of Mining and Petroleum Engineering (FMPE) ITB Prof. Ir. Ridho Kresna Wattimena, M.T., Ph.D.

AI Academy is a Schlumberger program aimed at students as well as professionals from the energy sector to enrich their skills in the field of artificial intelligence. This program is fully supported by Schlumberger, a global company engaged in providing technology and services to the world's energy industry.

In this AI Academy program, students will be introduced to AI, the basics of programming, hands-on experience for machine learning, and its application in petroleum engineering and geosciences.

Through this collaboration, ITB undergraduate students taking part in the "AI Academy" will be able to convert their grades into the equivalent of 3 credits. Meanwhile, for postgraduate students, the converted grades are equivalent to 2 credits. Thus, the AI ??Academy program supports the Merdeka Learning Campus Merdeka (MBKM) program from the government.

Schlumberger Asia Basin President Amy Chua in her welcoming speech said that with the aim of preparing a generation of energy experts for the future who are good at utilizing AI technology, her party partnered with ITB and Universitas Pertamina to launch the first AI Academy program in Indonesia. According to her, this is the first crucial step as well as Schlumberger's strategy to offer AI Academy globally.

“Two groups consisting of 30 participants (students, alumni and professionals from SKK Migas) will join the AI ??academy for six weeks. Classes will be delivered by Schlumberger professors and technical experts from Indonesia and from our headquarters, together with data science experts from Dataiku," he said.

AI Academy participants will learn about AI and its impact on reservoir engineering, production engineering, seismic, and geological interpretation. Participants will work in teams, apply the skills they have learned to create AI projects and present them to professors and technical experts from Universitas Pertamina and Schlumberger.

Meanwhile, the Dean of FMPE stated that the existence of the AI ??Academy program is very important for ITB students since we are currently facing big data and problems that require solutions through artificial intelligence technology.

"Thank you Schumblerger for hosting the AI ??Academy that is needed in today's era." After delivering his speech, the event continued with the striking of a gong as a sign of the opening of the AI ??Academy program.

The event also contained remarks from Schlumberger-ITB AI project managers Dr. Ridwan Sutriadi and Aulia Desiani Carolina. It was then followed by Representative of the Indonesia Petroleum Association Leo Tjahjadi, VP ICT Pertamina Hulu Energi Akbar Yudha Putera, VP Planning SKK Migas Abdullah Fahru Rofiq, and Head of the Center for Carbon Dioxide and Flared Gas Utilization Prof. Dr. Djoko Santoso.

Reporter: Adi Permana
Translator: Hanna Daniela Ayu (Aerospace Engineering, 2021)