Dr. Eng. Asep Suhendi, S.Si., M.Si.
Functioning based on the area of expertise is one of a person’s satisfactions. However, functioning in a field that is enjoyed by many people, even people coming from other countries, and admitted by people from other countries is, indeed, a big pride. It is because that person is able to introduce Indonesia’s good reputation. It is too bad, because there are only few who go back to their country and share the knowledge, because many of them prefer to stay overseas. This is not what happened to a lecturer of Telkom University (Tel-U), Dr. Eng. Asep Suhendi, S.Si., M.Si.
After finishing his doctoral program and completing his research in Japan, the graduate of Hiroshima University decided to go back to Indonesia for teaching. In fact, he is already listed as a researcher with most Q1 publications.
“The term Q1 actually became popular recently in Indonesia. In other countries, it is called impact factor for science publication. There, I have a target to publish with impact factor of 3. Meanwhile, the impact factor of Q1 is 2. So, the number of papers that I have published during my Doctoral study is about 8 papers, and they are already included in Q1. After that, during my duty at Tel–U, I have already published five papers,” said Asep.
“The term Q1 actually be- came popular recently in In- donesia. In other countries, it is called impact factor for sci- ence publication. There, I have a target to publish with impact factor of 3. Meanwhile, the im- pact factor of Q1 is 2 “
The term Q1 or impact factor is the influence of one journal to other journals that is submitted or cited or referenced by other researchers and also the influence of this journal to the related science. The higher the impact factor of a journal, the bigger the contribution of the paper to science.
The researches conducted by Asep during his stay in Japan were done with his advisor pofessor, and most of his researches are realted to industry. The researches con- ducted by Asep in Japan are divided into two parts: research during his Doctoral study on chemical engineering and research of his Post-Doctoral in magnetic material (FE16N2). Asep was previously competent in instrument area.
“My expertise is in instrument area, and then I used it for photosynthesis material. So, I applied some methods to synthesize some materials in controllable manner. Then, I wrote some papers from those methods. The researches I made are mostly related to nano particle. I usually utilized silica mixed with polystyrene to make particles with many kinds of shape and structure, i.e. solid, hollow, or coated. The size of particle usually ranged from tens to hundreds nanometre,” he said. Meanwhile, his post-doctoral research was a Japanese project directed to an effort to energy saving. According to Asep, aside from finding renewable energy, Japan strives to save energy and one of them is by conducting a magnet material research. The use of magnet material is widely found in automotive and industrial machines. The use of a strong yet cheap magnet will result in effective and efficient machine performance. This research was conducted with the collaboration with the industry and it was supervised by the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry of Japan.
“In this research, our lab was assigned to separate particles, since particles are usually agglomerated or attached one to another. It is because the synthesis process needed high temperature by using Bead-mill’s dispersion method, which is the grinding process of particles, helped by micrometric solid ball to pound and separate the particles. These dispersed particles were easier to manage. Further, the particles were arranged in a very strong magnetic field; the magnet was given a strong adhesive to make their intensity very strong. It was possible because the size of the particle was only 60 -70 nanometre and it has a single magnet momentum, so, it could be directed in a homogeny way,” explained this Physic Engineering lecturer.
His interest in the field of instrument started from his hobby in fixing his computer, both the hardware and software since he was in high school where he ma- jored in Computer Electronics. After he graduated from Tech-
nical Vocational High School (STM) Pembangunan Bandung in 1999, Asep started to work. In 2001, he was finally accepted in Physics Engineering, Faculty of Math and Science, Bandung In- stitute of Technology (ITB).
This was where Asep was introduced to low current instrument measurement system, such as electric current which is under nano ampere size. In 2008, Asep graduated from his Master’s program of ITB and he worked for two years in an exploration company. Having had a scholarship, Asep finally continued his doctoral program in Japan until 2013. In 2014, he was accepted at Tel-U. However, he was active in this campus after he finished his research contract in Japan in 2015.
Researcher Must be Careful in Making a Publication
Living for a long time in Sakura Country makes Asep understand the research culture there. This is what has changed Asep, from a curious boy into a meticulous and detailed person. His mindset changed after he met a very meticulous Professor. In fact, Asep was guided to be able to write well for his research publications. Accord- ing to Asep, the meticulousness and reader-oriented writing is the skeleton key for good publication.
“I started from technical vocational high school, bachelor and master’s degree as a curious practical person. When I started my doctoral program, I had to be able to write for publication. It was indeed hard. But in Japan, I was guided on how to express my ideas and research findings in the form of writing. No matter how good your research is, if it is not written, nobody will know about it. The most important things are meticulousness and details. Even to produce one paragraph, there will be repeated examinations and discussions to produce the best version. Secondly, when we draw, it should be reader-oriented, or it is understandable by the readers. My professor said that it should be understandable even for my wife and my kindergarten kid. It means that the picture should be detailed and easy to understand, so people can easily read and follow its flow,” explained this man, who was born on May 6th, 1980.
According to Asep, an understandable and meticulous piece of writing will influence the reviewer examination. If reviewer finds mistakes when he is assessing it, he will perceive that the paper is not well written.
For overseas research, researcher is not allowed to have another focus when conducting a research. While in Indonesia, there are many researchers whose focus is divided between doing research and teaching or thinking of other targets that should be accomplished.
“The experience of conducting research overseas can solve problems in writing, since in other countries, researcher has no other focus than conducting research, research and research. That is why I appreciate lecturers here who are still able to write with limited condition. In Japan, every sentence in a paper should be brief, uconcise, and clear. The use of this kind of sentences usually makes a difference in Q1 and Q2. So, we should read many high-quality papers that are understandable,” he further explained.
Asep described the differences of the research environment between Japan and Indonesia that influence the quality and direction of the research. The differences start from grants, cooperation, facility and research roadmap. In Japan, University researchers are only required to conduct two researches in a year even though the achievements always exceed the target.
In addition to that, researchers should not worry about funding, because it usually has been fixed from the very beginning. Aside from university funding, research grant is usually added from industrial community that usually comes to ask solutions for their company’s problems. Besides that, the need of facility is already solved by providing complete infrastructure. Finally, research roadmap in Japan is already formed even for the next ten years (gabare project).
“It is rather different here. Even though there is a funding system for research, but the realization is sometimes different from the initial plan. For facility, it is not complete here; there is no characterization equipment that is very important for nano research. However, we establish cooperation with other institutions that have these tools. For example, for Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) tool, we usually go to ITB. Or, if the needed tool is not available in Indonesia, I usually contact my connection in Japan. But, it impacts to the duration of the research; the research will take longer time. For that reason, if Indonesia wants to improve its research, it is important to build cooperation with stakeholders, for example, higher education institutions, governments, and industries. For the time being, for the universities in Indonesia such as Tel-U, it is hard to start cooperation with industries, but it is not impossible for Tel-U to encourage the lecturers and students to be accepted in global community. One of the ways is by inclusion in international-scale researchs,” he concluded.
