The Rector of Universitas Syiah Kuala (USK), Prof. Dr. Ir. Marwan IPU, held a Public Lecture which brought in speakers from the Director of the Directorate General of Higher Education Research and Technology of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology (Director General of DIKTIRISTEK) of the Republic of Indonesia, namely Prof. Dr.rer.nat Abdul Haris, M.Sc., with the theme “Student Challenges in Facing the Era of Globalization”. This public lecture took place at AAC Dayan Dawood.
He revealed that there are currently a number of challenges, such as rapid and uncontrolled changes (volatility). The future is difficult to predict, and not everything can be influenced (uncertainly). There are interrelationships between many factors, actors and systems (complexity). However, there are also many ways to understand the situation (ambiguity).
At the same time, the Director General of DIKTIRISTEK admitted to monitoring USK’s development until it became a PTN-BH. According to him, USK has achieved many developments and progress. Prof. Haris advised the USK people to continue this good performance to build Aceh’s resources and create Advanced Indonesia 2024.
Tsunami Wave Flume
Shaking Table
On the same occasion, the Director General of DIKTIRISTEK also had the opportunity to visit USK’s Center for Excellence in Science and Technology (PUI), namely the PUI Atsiri Research Center-Pusat Unggulan Iptek Perguruan Tinggi (ARC-PUIPT) Nilam Aceh and PUI Tsunami Disaster Mitigation or Tsunami and Disaster Mitigation Research Center (TDMRC) USK. As a Center for Excellence in Science and Technology in disaster, TDMCR USK currently has disaster research equipment such as the Tsunami Wave Flume and Shaking Table. During his visit to TDMRC, Prof. Abdul Haris had the opportunity to see firsthand how the process of rising tsunami waves to land was simulated by the research team at TDMRC USK with the tsunami Wave Flume equipment in TDMRC;
On the same occasion, he demonstrated the sophistication of simulating building damage caused by earthquakes through modelling simulations with shaking table equipment. In addition, he also reviewed geological and geophysical survey equipment, including geohazard survey equipment; when reviewing geo-hazard equipment, he asked about the number of seismographs currently installed in Aceh for earthquake monitoring owned by TDMRC USK. Answering the question, Aulia Khalqillah, S.Si., M.Si, a young researcher in the field of seismicity, explained that, currently, tdmrc has 12 earthquake monitoring equipment installed throughout Aceh and can be monitored in real-time through the earthquake observation lab on the 3rd floor of the TDMRC USK Building.
USK Rector Prof. Marwan and other related campus staff participated in the visit. They were received by the Coordinator of the TDMRC Division, Dr Yunita Idris, Dr Haekal Haridhi, Prof. Ella Meilianda, and other staff.
