Water Resources Engineering (WRE) FTUB is very serious in preparing for its collaboration with IHE-Delft Netherlands. After the Workshop on October 29, this time the WRE invited Prof. Dano Roelvink to give a guest lecture in the Tirta Utama Room of the WRE Department on November 7, 2019.

This invitation is not without reason, Prof. Dano is one of the most important scientists in the field of coastal engineering in the world. He is a recipient of the International Coastal Engineering Award from the Coasts, Oceans, Ports and Rivers Institute (COPRI) of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) in 2017 and in 2019 he was again awarded as a Coastal Award Winner from the Coastal Sediments.

Furthermore, Prof. Dano was the initial developer of Delft3D and initiated and led the development of XBeach. Delft3D and XBeach are “world leading 3D modeling suites” which are used to investigate hydrodynamics, sediment transport and morphology, and water quality from fluvial, estuary, and coastal environments.

In front of the participants consisting of students of undergraduate, graduate program, and lecturer, Prof. Dano gave a lecture on the latest development of coastal morphological modeling. Not only giving lectures, Roelvink, as well as Ali Dastgheib PhD and Alvaro Milho Semedo PhD, met with faculty leaders.

“As the first department to receive Supporting the vision of faculty internationalization, we took the initiative to invite professors from IHE Delft to explore opportunities for institutional cooperation,” said Chairman of the Water Resources Engineering Department, Dr. Ir. Ussy Andawayanti, MS.

This collaboration, she continued, will be very beneficial for FTUB because IHE Delft affiliates with UNESCO and have a very strong influence in the field of water engineering internationally. With more than 190 countries in the world that have studied at IHE Delft, FTUB views cooperation with IHE Delft as strategic to be able to enter the international water community.

Roelvink himself is a professor at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) who currently heads the research group Coastal Systems & Engineering and Port Development at IHE Delft, the world’s largest international water graduate postgraduate facility based in Delft, the Netherlands.

In addition to looking at the early founding of the Water Resources Engineering department, some of the founding majors were alumni of IHE Delft (the Delft alumni title was Dipl.HE, such as Prof. Suhardjono, Dipl.HE). The initial curriculum of Water Resources Engineering also took inspiration from the IHE Delft curriculum model to be applied in Water Resources Engineering.

“It is hoped that Water Resources Engineering can start collaboration with simple activities such as guest lectures or short workshops. Next, it can be improved by developing a Double Degree Program or sandwich for S3 and a join research or even participating in research projects funded by the European Union,” Dr. Ussy said. (seb/mic)