International public lecture on Build Sustainability at FPTK UPI

On Thursday, October 5th, 2023, the Faculty of Technology and Vocational Education (FPTK) UPI hosted a public lecture on sustainability, themed “Collaborative Actions for Sustainable Future”. This event was sponsored by the United States Embassy Jakarta, jointly organized by the Directorate of International Affairs (DIA) UPI, Faculty of Technology and Vocational Education (FPTK) UPI, and Architecture Study Program UPI. This public lecture was held in hybrid mode, where 140 participants attended onsite in Auditorium FPTK UPI, 4th floor Gedung FPTK; while another 40 participants joined virtually through the Zoom Meeting platform. The participants varied in terms of background education (from FPTK, FPIPS, FPMIPA), but shared the same interest in sustainability.

The public lecture commenced with an introductory speech from Director of the Directorate of International Affairs (DIA), Prof. Ahmad Bukhori Muslim. He mentioned the importance of sustainability, highlighting that sustainable development is not the choice, it is the imperative. Architects, engineers, and environmentalists take a big role in this journey towards achieving sustainability for present and future generations. We have to be resilient in preparing our future, amidst the challenge of climate change. 

Cultural Attaché of the United States Embassy in Indonesia, Ms. Emily Norris, also presented her introductory speech using Bahasa Indonesia. She hoped that this public lecture event sponsored by The US Embassy in Indonesia would be a memorable moment in college for students and beneficial for their study. She also looking forward to future collaborations with UPI, knowing that many of UPI lecturers graduated from US universities. Moreover, current students were encouraged to pursue further education in the US, starting by gaining information from websites and social media of the US Embassy and US Education. 

This public lecture was officially opened by Vice Dean of Academic Affairs FPTK, Prof. Dedi Rohendi. He warmly welcomed the guests from The US Embassy, thanked DIA for this jointly organized event, and encouraged participants to take advantage of this public lecture with the invited speaker from the United States.

Moderator of this public lecture, Ilhamdaniah Saleh, S.T., M.T., M.Sc., Ph.D., commenced the lecture session by introducing the main speaker of this public lecture, Ms. Lucia Athens. She is the former first Chief Sustainability Officer in Austin, Texas, US (2010-2012) and has been leading efforts to create a sustainable future for over 30 years. She helped create a rating for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Buildings Water/Site credits & LEED for Cities/ Communities.

The moderator began the session by introducing the topic to the audience, underlining that collaborative actions, concerted efforts among stakeholders, and leadership in climate change in built environment sectors (cities and communities) are important, that is going to be addressed in this public lecture: “Collaborative Actions for Sustainable Future”.

Ms. Lucia Athens was very passionate about sharing her knowledge/experience through inspirational writing, public speaking, and connecting with other leaders. She walked the audience through the slides about sustainability concepts, climate change as another layer of challenge in achieving sustainability, barriers in applying sustainability, strategies to engage many stakeholders to participate in the sustainability actions, involving people in sustainability implementation, highlighting the importance of collaborative actions, the need for leadership in reaching sustainability goals, sustainability measures, technology to achieve sustainability goals, and best practices of sustainability measures in green buildings, green neighborhood, and green community in United States cities, Austin Texas in particular. Her slides were rich in content, visually captivating, and narrated interactively with passion and encouragement.

The lecture followed by the question and answer session. The QA session was interactive, with entertaining questions from the audience, both onsite and virtually. Jennifer Hengstenberg (ECON Officer) Climate Officer of the US Embassy in Indonesia also participated in the question and answer session. She answers questions pertinent to US efforts to implement sustainable technology in the US and encourages international counterparts across the globe to participate in implementing sustainable measures, including in Indonesia.

The public lecture was concluded by exchanging tokens of appreciation between The US Embassy and UPI. This joint activity was an initial action between two parties. In the long run, both parties were looking forward to having more forms of collaboration and collaborative actions between UPI and the US.