Director General of Higher Education, Research and Technology (Diktiristek), Prof. Dr. rer.nat. Abdul Haris, M.Sc., attended the inauguration of the InterDisciplinary Engineering (IDE) Building, Faculty of Engineering (FT) Universitas Indonesia (UI), on Monday (24/6). The inauguration was marked by the signing of an inscription and ribbon cutting by UI Rector, Prof. Ari Kuncoro, S.E., M.A., Ph.D. and FTUI Dean, Prof. Dr. Ir. Heri Hermansyah, S.T., M.Eng. IPU.
Prof. Haris in his speech said, “The inauguration of the IDE Building is a new milestone in the development of interdisciplinary engineering education and research in Indonesia. We are very happy to see UI, through the Faculty of Engineering, continue to make achievements and encourage technological progress, and always foster innovation and collaboration across disciplines. We hope that this facility will be able to support learning and become a space for experimentation for Indonesia’s best future engineers, and support FTUI to become a superior and globally competitive engineering education institution.”
The IDE building has five advanced labs, namely Urban Nexus and Smart Cities Laboratory (UNSCL), Sustainable Energy System Laboratory (SESL), Energy Transition Laboratory (ETL), Biological System Engineering Laboratory (BSEL), and Biofuel Advanced Laboratory (BAL). The ETL and SESL laboratories received support from Diktiristek through the Inter-University Center of Excellence Grant (PUAPT) worth 63 billion rupiah. PUAPT is a funding program for five Legal Entity State Universities (PTN-BH) that are included in the top 500 world-class universities, one of which is UI.
Prof. Heri said that the five advanced labs in the IDE Building will be utilized to produce two main outputs, namely interdisciplinary research results and public services. “This building will be home to three interdisciplinary engineering institutes launched in 2022, namely the Institute for Energy Studies (IES), Institute for Biosystems and Bioengineering (IBB), and Institute for Urban Planning and Smart City (IUS). These three institutes will manage five advanced labs that will fill Floors 4-8 of the IDE Building,” he said.
The five advanced labs placed on several floors of the IDE Building have their own functions. UNSCL on Floor 4 has four sub-labs, namely Media Laboratory that supports visualization of urban design, Virtual Reality Laboratory that enables virtual urban simulation, Urban and Regional Laboratory that provides tools for data collection and analysis, and Integrated Studio as a virtual learning space for applied practice and discussion. UNSCL laboratories support multidisciplinary research in smart city development.
The SESL on the 5th Floor has two sections, namely the energy modeling sub-lab and the Data Center and High Performance Computer (HPC) sub-lab. This laboratory focuses on the modeling and design of sustainable energy systems and their relation to economic, environmental, social and policy aspects that support the achievement of the net zero emissions target by 2060.
For ETL, which is located on Level 6, this laboratory has six sub-labs. Synthesis and Characterization Laboratory accommodates the manufacture and characterization of energy conversion and storage materials. Carbon Capture & Utilization Laboratory examines the capture and utilization of CO2 as a raw material in chemical and material synthesis in an effort to achieve a circular economy. Four other sub-labs, namely Photovoltaics Laboratory, Green hydrogen and Fuel Cell Laboratory, Battery Laboratory, and Electrophotochemistry Laboratory are research centers related to the utilization of solar energy and electricity for green energy synthesis.
BSEL on the 7th Floor is divided into two parts, namely the simulation workspace and the HPC sub-lab which focuses on modeling the interaction of biological systems equipped with the latest biomedical hardware and software. Meanwhile, BAL-including Pertamina Biofuels Laboratory-is located on Level 8 and designed with Biosafety Level (BSL) 1 and 2, accommodating research with various biological objects, such as fungi and bacteria. This laboratory received funding support from PT Pertamina of around 13 billion rupiah for laboratory equipment and interiors. The support strengthens research in the field of Biosystem and BioEngineering through the production of biofuels and green chemistry at FT UI.
