The Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering (DTMI), UGM Faculty of Engineering (FT UGM), once again held the Freshmore Asian Cross-Curricular Trips (FACT) in collaboration with the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD).
FACT manifests UGM and SUTD’s commitment to providing clean and renewable energy as part of their community service efforts.
The activity, which took place from Jan. 6 to 10, focused on modeling uncertainty and designing a PV system for the riverside community.
This year’s FACT was attended by 43 UGM students from the DTMI, Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology (DTETI), Department of Chemical Engineering (DTK), and 33 students from SUTD.
Dr. Achmad Pratama Rifai from DTMI UGM stated that FACT participants worked together in groups at the DTMI Technical Drawing Laboratory, RW 05 Kalurahan Terban, and the Kalurahan Cokrodiningratan Wastewater Treatment Installation.
In line with the theme, participants were tasked with designing a model for installing solar panels that could be utilized by the communities in Terban and Cokrodiningratan for daily activities requiring electricity, such as community gatherings, water pumping for clean water, and wastewater treatment.
On the first day, participants received a briefing and background materials about the locations for the solar panel installations. This was important to provide an initial understanding of the sites to be visited.
“Several solar panels are already installed at different points. Participants will model the potential spots for solar panel installations,” explained Dr. Rifai.
He added that with the foundational knowledge gained, participants were taken on a field trip on the second day to visit the sites in Terban and Cokrodiningratan.
Supriyanto, the Head of RW 05 Kalurahan Terban, welcomed the field trip at the Nidaul Jannah Mosque Hall in Terban. The residents of Terban warmly welcomed the participants.
“We are happy to welcome guests from SUTD again. We hope the activities will run smoothly,” said Supriyanto.
On the first day, after being divided into groups, participants proceeded to their respective sites to gather detailed data necessary for their tasks, assisted by liaison officers (LO) from the Industrial Engineering Student Association (HMTI) UGM and local community officials.
After the field trip, participants had the opportunity to reflect on their visit and engage in discussions to prepare the models for presentation.
The designed models’ presentations were then conducted, with each group given 7 minutes to present and 10 minutes for questions from the judges.
The judging panel consisted of Dr. Wong Wei Pin (SUTD), Dr. Achmad Pratama Rifai (DTMI UGM), and Dr. Robertus Dhimas Dhewangga Putra (DTMI UGM).
The judges assessed several aspects of the participants’ presentations, including the formulation of the problem statement, data presentation, determination of hypotheses and analysis boundaries, solution methods, presentation of solutions and their impacts, and the group’s presentation performance.
Based on their evaluation, the judges selected one best team and two best individual participants, one from UGM and one from SUTD.
After completing the evaluations, the judges named Team 9 the best team and Srikanth Srider (SUTD) and Chika Zenita Sabrina (DTK UGM) the best participants.
The participants then had the opportunity to attend lectures from UGM and SUTD faculty members. They participated in lectures delivered by Dr. Wong Wei Pin (SUTD), Syahirul Alim Ritonga (UGM), Dr. Jose Rafael Martinez Garcia (SUTD), and Dr. Yun Prihantina Mulyani (UGM).
In his closing remarks, Dr. Jose Rafael Martinez Garcia reminded the participants about the importance of considering human aspects in the community, even in quantitative modeling.
“Considering the human aspect in a community is also important,” explained Dr. Garcia.
Dr. Wong Wei Pin expressed a similar sentiment, wishing that both SUTD and UGM participants could learn valuable lessons from the FACT program.
“The participants’ creativity was awe-inspiring. I hope everyone gained valuable insights and continues to innovate in designing human-centered solutions,” he added.
Dr. Adhika Widyaparaga, Secretary of DTMI UGM, explained that this year’s FACT topic is related to the SDGs, such as affordable clean energy.
“Modelling uncertainty in FACT plays a significant role in realizing this by designing the right energy generation system to avoid potential errors,” he said.
Dr. Widyaparaga hopes that this community service activity, a collaboration between the two universities, will inspire students to continue innovating to produce clean, renewable, and affordable energy.
Author: Agung Nugroho
Post-editor: Afifudin Baliya