Medan–USU: USU Students won an award at the 30th National Student Scientific Week (PIMNAS) which took place at the University of Muslim Indonesia (UMI) Makassar on 23-26 August 2017. The USU Team won one silver medal in the category of scientific paper presentation of PKM-KC (Student Creativity Program-Karsa Cipta). In addition to the silver medal, USU was also crowned as a Favorite Champion in the category of poster competition, as stated by the Vice Rector I Prof. Dr. Ir. Rosmayati, MS in a welcoming ceremony of USU Students participating in PIMNAS Makassar in a Video Conference Room of the Main Administration Building on 8/29/2017.

The Vice Rector I gave a warm welcome to the achievements made by the team, "I definitely congratulate you on the achievements made by the Team,” said Prof. Rosmayati.

With such achievement, she hopes the students can improve and maintain the quality of the students and the institution, “Let’s not only think about fulfilling the Three Pillars of Higher Education, but let’s improve the quality of our students and university,” added Prof. Rosmayati.

At the same occasion, Dr. Tulus Ikhsan Nasution, SSi, M. Sc, one of the advisors of the USU Team, said that this achievement derived from a long process undertaken by the team members in preparing the presentation to be performed before the adjudicators of PIMNAS of the Ministry of Research, Technology, and Higher Education.

“The team’s outstanding performance is not a sudden process, the team members have been recruited (selected) since they were in the third semester. This means that we have been conducting research for one and a half years. Therefore, this research is not an instant work. Everything must be well-prepared and planned, to be able to answer the questions from the adjudicators,” said Dr. Tulus when delivering his testimonial of mentoring the team.

For this 30th PIMNAS event in Makassar, USU has deployed 4 Teams funded by the Ministry of Research, Technology, and Higher Education. Of the 4 teams, one team has proven their ability in presenting their research project entitled “Soil Moisture Sensor using SIPINTER NON-TAK method on the cultivation of Guava in Pots”.

The team was chaired by Darmansyah Dalimunthe with the members are Kahirul Ilham, Ilham Sutra Pradana and Armansyah Putra.

Darmansyah, as the team leader, stated that the scoring of PIMNAS is based on the Product Novelty and its benefits. “Based on my observation, the adjudicators assessed the products according to their novelty and benefits. The products do not need to be very sophisticated, the important point is what benefits the product has to the community or what benefits it brings to the Indonesian nation,” said Dharmansyah.

This occasion was also attended by the Head of the Students and Alumni Bureau (BKK) Hotma Karo-karo SE and the Head of the Students Activity Development and Coaching Unit (UP2KM) Prof. Dr. Dwi Suryanto, M.Sc. 

(Andi/BKK/rds).