Professor Yoshinobu Sato PhD (center) with the 10 students of FTEIC ITS during a Sakura Science Program lecture class

ITS Campus, ITS News — 10 students from the Faculty of Intelligent Electrical and Informatics Technology (FTEIC) Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS) took part in the Sakura Science Program initiated by the Japanese Government. For ten days, they had an opportunity to explore Japanese knowledge and culture in Nara Institute of Science and Technology (NAIST).

The Professor from FTEIC, Prof Dr Ir Mauridhi Hery Purnomo MEng, succeeded in establishing a significant partnership with Professor Yoshinobu Sato PhD from the NAIST Information Science Division. This collaboration brings ITS to share knowledge, with the hope of being able to apply experience when returning to their homeland, as well as carrying out projects that are beneficial to society.

This year, this particular program for master and doctoral students takes an essential role in carrying the theme Practice on Medical Image-based Healthcare, especially in AI Development Towards Super-aging Society. In this program, Hery, as he is familiarly known, said that students were allowed to develop knowledge in the field of Imaging-based Computational Biomedicine (ICB).

The success of Prof Dr Ir Mauridhi Hery Purnomo MEng is behind FTEIC’s success in obtaining funding for the Sakura Science Program

This program, which receives support in the form of fully funded accommodation from the Japanese Government, is also a power to prepare innovative health solutions. Focusing on increasingly pressing challenges, this program aims to create solutions to face significant demographic changes.

Sharing experiences during a visit to the Land of the Samurai, Dion Setiawan, one of the ten lucky students selected as awardees of Sakura Science Program funding. They were challenged to design medical images and physical computing and divided into four teams to initiate the design of an Artificial Intelligence (AI) based computer system.

One of the Sakura Science Program participants during a discussion on the presentation of the results project activities

The project initiated is expected to make a significant contribution to medical practitioners in terms of prevention, diagnosis and selection of treatment measures. In this context, they specifically focus on heart disease, joint disorders, and swallowing mechanisms. “This is part of our efforts to bring innovation to the health sector,” said Dion. Students under the auspices of the Multimedia and IoT Laboratory believe that this program will significantly contribute to the ITS medical context if it is carried out continuously every year.

Therefore, Dion underlined the importance of having a solid understanding of overseas study programs offered by institutions, especially ITS. “Each university encourages fellow students to seek information about these opportunities actively and dare to try. “It’s better to try than to lose before the war,” added this ITS Electrical Engineering Department student.

Handing over a symbolic souvenir from ITS to Professor Yoshinobu Sato PhD (left), as the end of the Sakura Science Program 2023

Hery hopes that this activity can become a book chapter that will reflect the cultural experiences for students and collect the technological knowledge. The book chapter will serve as a valuable guide for similar programs in the years to come.

“By experiencing the Sakura Science Program, ITS students will become agents of change that will bring positive benefits to both countries,” concluded the Osaka City University alumni. (ITS Public Relations)

Reporter: Silvita Pramadani