The UGM Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences (FMIPA UGM) lecturer, Dr. Edi Suharyadi, was inaugurated as a professor of magnetic material physics on Tuesday (May 7) at the UGM Senate Hall, adding to the list of 42 active professors at FMIPA UGM.
In his inaugural address on the development of research in magnetic nanomaterials and their applications, Professor Suharyadi highlighted that magnetic materials are essential components of computers and crucial in the military, aerospace, healthcare, and environmental industries.
The growing use of magnetic materials is primarily driven by their enhanced magnetic properties, which allow them to be designed into smaller, lighter, and more efficient devices.
“When the size of magnetic materials is reduced to the nanometer scale or nanomaterials, their physical, electrical, and magnetic properties also change,” Professor Suharyadi explained.
According to him, one application of magnetic nanomaterials is the development of hard disk drive technology, which began in 1955 when International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) developed the first magnetic storage device, the random access method of accounting and control (RAMAC).
A new breakthrough in cancer treatment, magnetic hyperthermia therapy, is also used in healthcare. This therapy offers an alternative to cancer treatment by utilizing localized heat generated by magnetic nanoparticles when exposed to an alternating magnetic field (AMF).
“The mechanism involves injecting magnetic nanoparticles into the cancer tissue, which becomes the target. The nanoparticles heat the infected area, allowing for damage to cancer cells without significantly impacting the surrounding healthy tissue,” the professor elaborated.
Before concluding his speech, Professor Suharyadi thanked many colleagues and collaborators and expressed his appreciation for the ES-Club research group, which in 2024 comprised 42 active members, including research assistants, undergraduate and doctoral students, and alumni.
“The research group name, ES Club, is derived from the term electron spin, abbreviated as ES, a fundamental phenomenon in magnetism. However, for us, ES can also stand for Edi Suharyadi,” Professor Suharyadi joked.
Despite achieving the rank of professor, he vowed to remain productive as a lecturer in the Department of Physics, FMIPA UGM. For him, becoming a professor is a result or bonus of a lecturer’s productivity in teaching and education, research and publication, and community service rather than just a primary goal to obtain a functional position.
The UGM Board of Professors Chair, Professor Mochammad Maksum, delivered a welcoming speech after bestowing the professor’s scarf on Professor Edi Suharyadi. In his remarks, he noted that Professor Suharyadi is one of the 42 active professors out of the 58 who have ever served at FMIPA UGM.
Author: Triya Andriyani
Editor: Gusti Grehenson
Photographer: Firsto