To International Students
Studying Seismology and Volcanology in Nagoya University
Messages from Alumni
Endra Gunawan (Researcher at Bandung Institute of Technology, Bandung, Indonesia)
Looking back in October 2007, I still could see myself worrying how would I pursue higher education in Japan, a country that I didn't even understand the language and definitely have different culture with Indonesia. I believed I would pass it, I just didn’t know how. So I decided to continue my study together with my wife, who received monbukagakusho scholarship, 7 months pregnant at that time, and our little 3 years old daughter. We believed when there is a will, there is a way.
The journey in Japan was a combination of joy, adventure, multicultural journey, hard time, another hard time, and hard time again. I had to take master course classes, mostly in Japanese, in which I hardly understand. Luckily most of the professor gave material in English, and English book material were also available from the library. The keyword was always to keep motivation in my study. For example, even though Nagoya experience snow, probably only one day in a year, that did not stop me from coming to my study room. I also kept the Japanese message: Ganbareba Dekiru.
I went back to Indonesia in the end of October 2014, and I directly started to work from November 2014 in the Graduate Research on Earthquake and Active Tectonic (GREAT) of Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) as postdoctoral researcher. I continued my research on tectonics and crustal deformation related to earthquake cycle and I also started to participated in supervising bachelor and master students. Although I had only such a limited knowledge and experience, I try my best to do the best for my students. For example, we started again the Global Positioning System (GPS) observation at mountains near Bandung city by involving our sudents.
I also try to maintain the connection with Japanese scientist. For example, we invited Prof. Fumiaki Kimata (now at Tono Research Institute of Earthquake Science) to give lecture in the International Symposium on Earth Hazard and Disaster Mitigation (ISEDM) in 2014. In 2015, Prof. Takeshi Sagiya (Nagoya University) gave a lecture for the event of commemoration on the 65 year Geodesy Education in Indonesia at ITB. Also, in June 2016, Dr. Yusaku Ohta (Tohoku University) gave lecture in ITB and Indonesian Agency for Meteorological, Climatological and Geophysics (BMKG) on realtime GPS for Earthquake and Tsunami Early Warning System. It was really nice and I hope I can be part in bonding the international collaboration between ITB, Nagoya University, and Japanese scientists.
In 2016, I participated in and became a member of the Center of National Earthquake Study (PUSGEN) of Indonesia. The member of this group are experienced Indonesian scientists in the field of Earth sciences. I am happy to be part of this group so that I can learn and contribute my knowledge. Remember, that maintained high motivation is important to give the best of us in our work.
2008 Master Course Supervisor: Fumiaki Kimata + Takeshi Sagiya
2010 Doctor Course Supervisor: Takeshi Sagiya
