Prof. Sri Widiyantoro, Ph.D: First Indonesian Seismologists Wins Sarwono Award 2014
BANDUNG, itb.ac.id - Learning earth and its phenomenon is a science that is very worth to be developed. This is encouraged because of the large variety of natural phenomena which can not yet be predicted accurately by scientists, such as earthquakes. Currently, the science related to earthquakes tremendously controlled by each country, including Indonesia. As a country that is geologically located in the center of a pile of plates, Indonesia can be said to have a complex tectonic structure of the direction of the collision zone between the plates. This prompted the need for the development of the science of seismology for earthquakes or appropriate to be applied in Indonesia.
As the first professor of seismology, Prof. Dr. Sri Widiyantoro, Ph.D. (Professor of Engineering Geophysics ITB) earned the "Sarwono Award XIII" of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI). Sarwono Award itself is a prestigious award given to a scientist who has scientific merit, and dedication in the field for further development, either in the national or international level. Prof. Dr. Sri currently serves as Dean of the Faculty of Mining and Petroleum (FTTM) ITB received the Sarwono Award on Monday (25/08/14) in the peak of the LIPI Anniversary 47th.
To take a big part in Seismology
Prof. Sri has learned the field of seismology since undergraduate education at ITB in 1981 with a major in Geophysics and Meteorology. Through this education, Prof. Sri obtain direct introduction about the importance of research for Indonesia's earthquake is one of the most active tectonic zones in the world and technology for exploration of natural resources which are found mainly in their ground. This has led Prof. Sri to continue their education to achieve the title of professor.
After doing research in the field of seismology, Prof. Sri contributed his research worldwide. In his research on the modeling of the Earth's mantle seismic tomography in the third dimension, was awarded him as a seismologist recognized by the world. Imaging results are awaited are successfully resolved by Prof. Sri in a short time. This success brought the name of Prof. Sri to presentate his work at various international institutions. Professor Maruyama of Tokyo Institute of Technology Prof. ever argue about Sri that, "Indonesia should be proud to have a world leading young scientist in tomography."
Research on tomographic imaging technique was originally applied in the field of medicine, of course, to see the anatomy of the human body. This concept has been applied ranging from Computerized tomographic (CT) scanning to the latest technology, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). Apparently, a similar concept can also be applied to scan the contents of our earth using seismic wave data generated when an earthquake occurs. These researchs made Prof. Sri get a chance to publish his work in leading international journals, such as Nature, Science, and the Journal of Geophysical Research. Based on data from Scopus as of August 7, 2014, the publication of Prof. Sri in the field has reached a number of 2,385. This research also carries the name of Prof. Sri to achieve a variety of international and national awards.
Prof. Sri was also an active seismologists that addresses national issues. The model studied tomography useful in helping disaster mitigation efforts, especially the earthquake and tsunami that ever experienced by Indonesia. Hence, Prof. Sri along with his team have implemented a tomographic imaging technique that uses knowledge of the Indonesian earthquake. Moreover, in the field of renewable energy exploration, the study also applied to obtain structural imaging in Indonesian geothermal field. Currently, through the Research Center for Disaster Mitigation in ITB have been working together to create an earthquake hazard map which is used as the SNI.