“In 2018, there are three categories, Materials Scientist Lifetime Achievement (MSLA), Excellent Materials Scientist (EMS) and Young Materials Scientist (YMS),” said Kahirurrijal, a professor from ITB.

Out of three scientists who received the award, two comes from ITB. They are Prof. Subagjo, a professor from Faculty of Industrial Technology (FTI), and Dr. Ferry Iskandar, an expert in Physics of Electronic Material from Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences (FMIPA).

Photo : Right to left: Prof. Mikrajuddin Abdullah (Previous President of MRS-id), Prof. Subagjo (ITB), Dr. Ferry Iskandar (ITB), Dr.-Ing. Hutomo Suryo Wasisto (TU Braunschweig), and Prof. Khairurrijal (Current President of MRS-id).

“Professor Subagjo received the MSLA award for his dedication in the development of catalyst materials for refinement of petroleum in petrochemical industry,” Khairurrijal said. The EMS award Dr. Ferry Iskandar received is an appreciation towards his dedication in the development of various advanced materials for various applications.

The other award was received by Dr.-Ing. Hutomo Suryo Wasisto, a young lecturer of TU Braunschweig, Germany. “He receives YMS Award for his research on nano-opto-electro-mechanical system for sensor application,” Khairurrijal said.

The awarding was held at the same time with international conference on materials sciences, The 3rd MRS-id Meeting that was held in Denpasar, Bali, on July 31st – August 2nd 2018. The international conference led by Dr.rer.nat. Rino R. Mukti carried the theme “Materials for Sustainability of Energy and Environment”. Previously, this biennial meeting was held in Bandung in 2016 and Bali in 2014.

Present during the 2018 meeting 133 material scientists from 11 countries, including G20 countries such as Germany, UK, Spain, and Japan. The meeting also invited 7 plenary speakers, 13 keynote speakers, 95 oral presenters, 45 poster presenters, and 3 speakers form industry.

“MRS-id is a nonprofit organization who facilitates the networking for advanced materials scientists. MRS-id focuses on dissemination of materials science and technology in Indonesia, ASEAN, Asia, and global,” Khairurrijal said to reporter of itb.ac.id.

Several hot topics in the world of materials science were discussed in the meeting. Prof. Andreas Waag from TU Braunschweig, Germany, as the plenary speaker explained about Gallium Nitride (GaN) optoelectronic where GaN is the main technology for light sources. It is predicted that in the near future, microscale GaN LEDs will emerge and replace existing LED display technology.

Other plenary speaker, Prof. Kunio Ishikawa from Kyushu University, Japan, explained about carbonate apatite which in the future will be the material for artificial bone augmentation. Prof. Mikrajuddin Abdullah, a plenary speaker from ITB, explained about the behavior of granular material. “Knowledge on this granular material will prevent potential tunnel collapse,” Kahirurrijal concluded.

News submission from LPPM (Rino Mukti & Khairurrijal)