ITS best undergraduate graduate, Benedictus Kenny Tjahjono, together with ITS Chancellor Prof. Dr. Ir Mochamad Ashari MEng, at the presentation of undergraduate diplomas at the 129th ITS Graduation

ITS Campus, ITS News — Educating for 3.5 years at the Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS) did not prevent Benedictus Kenny Tjahjono from winning the title of best undergraduate (S1) graduate at the 129th Graduation Ceremony. With an almost perfect grade point average (GPA) of 3.94, the Department of Statistics students who graduated on the second day, Sunday (21/4), showed their perseverance in the academic field.

The young man, who was born in Surabaya, revealed that at the beginning of his studies he encountered many difficulties. Especially when he has to deal with courses that involve computer programming. “I don’t have any basic knowledge of computers at all,” he explained.

During the second semester, Kenny took an additional course, namely Exploratory Data Analysis, which was actually intended for fourth-semester students. This course requires him to understand the basics of programming. “Obviously, I find it very difficult to study these subjects,” he said.

Furthermore, this class of 2020 students said that his difficulty in understanding this subject made him have to study more intensively. So, when changing classes, Kenny often spends time learning about programming languages. Kenny also realized that in the world of programming, persistence is needed in data exploration.

Benedictus Kenny Tjahjono, after undergoing his final assignment trial at the ITS Statistics Department

Due to his perseverance, this alumnus of Santa Agnes Catholic High School, Surabaya, began to master programming languages. This led to him being trusted to be an assistant lecturer in three programming courses while he was a student. “This difficulty ultimately led me to love computing,” explained Kenny proudly.

However, like other students, the former Deputy Chair of the Statistics Computer Course (SCC) also felt trapped by his journey during college. Trying to brush off this problem, he took the opportunity to do an internship at Bangkit Academy. Through this experience, Kenny gained a deep understanding of programming languages as well as ideas for his final assignment topic.

By raising the title Image Domain Translation Using the Unpaired Image-To-Image Translation Cyclegan Method, Kenny said that this topic was new in the ITS Statistics Department. “I think the topic is quite unique because it applies image manipulation,” he said.

Benedictus Kenny Tjahjono (bottom left) with the events division of the 3C KMK ITS 2022 activity

He explained that image manipulation is the process of transforming a photo using machine learning. Kenny implements this method to manipulate natural images or photos, especially beaches and forests. As a discussion for his final assignment, the young man who likes playing badminton transformed an image of a beach based on the sky into an image of a forest based on the season.

Kenny admitted that the journey to pursue higher education at ITS was not easy, but he was grateful to have gone through these difficulties with a beautiful ending. One by one, he gained valuable experiences as a reward for his perseverance in going through a long process. “Where there is a will to solve problems, there will definitely be a way,” he said at the end. (ITS Public Relations)

Reporter: Andra Eka Wijayanti