#udayanauniversity

By Elliot Horen, Information Science and Marketing

There are some on this trip who rise with the sun, enjoy a wholesome breakfast of fresh fruit, wheat toast, and clean ocean air, and meditate to center themselves as they mentally prepare for the day. 

I have no rational explanation for these people, who must float in a higher plane of magical realism, but I do have some jealously. 

My alarm chirped at 8:48 AM, leaving me twelve minutes to center myself and no time to eat. 

The alarm marked the start of the morning triage. Locating a clean shirt: difficult but essential. Finding clean shorts: a poor use of limited resources. Getting my contacts into the right eyes: code red. 

I blinked and I was on the bus headed for Udayana University. 

We arrived to a leafy campus twenty minutes from our hotel and were ushered into a large auditorium. After learning about the university and listening to several presentations about Bali and the unique climatic challenges here, we asked questions of a panel of presenters. I've started to become familiar with the slight chuckle of an academic asked about the Donald Trump. It's a quiet laugh inevitably followed by a polite statement like, "We don't see eye to eye." When it comes to politics, Indonesian professors are apparently fond of understatement. 

One boxed lunch and a thirty minute bus ride later, we were back in a classroom at our hotel for a session that focused on historical building practices. We learned about the way earlier civilizations constructed homes and other structures in harmony with the environment, no LEED standards required.

By Caroline Ghio, Chemical Engineering

With a full day ahead of us, I decided to start the day with breakfast in our hotel, Hotel Mercure Sanur Beach. The view was so gorgeous that I had to go down to the ocean after breakfast to walk along the beach and take a few pictures.

Our day officially began at 9:00 in our hotel lobby where we gathered and soon after boarded a bus to Udayana University. It was about a 45-minute drive, the highlight of which was the spotting of a group of mangroves along the banks of a river! We read a lot about mangroves in preparation for our first war game, and in fact recommended extensive planting of them as a strategy to protect flood prone Jakarta, so we were pretty excited upon seeing them.

When we got to the university, we scaled three flights of stairs and entered a large room with windows along two walls, and a stage in the front. A series of introductions began with an introduction/welcome speech by the Dean of Udayana University, who stressed an interest in future research collaborations. Next, Udit gave a brief speech thanking the university for welcoming us and reinforcing interest in scientific collaboration. Kara and Lindsey then gave a brief overview of what the dialogue students have been doing in their classes and Lizzy spoke about the SIRF projects. Professor Ganguly also gave a brief introduction and then had some dialogue students introduce themselves. Finally, Professor Majumber also introduced himself and shared his background and that of his university.

The presentations began with a slideshow about Bali, which was shared with us by the Dean. He included information on Bali’s climate and population, and also described the university; university information included details about the campus, programs, professors, and research and collaborations. Next, Professor Mahendra gave a presentation on environmental issues in Bali. Finally, Udit gave a presentation on the work being done in the SDS Lab at Northeastern University.

At the conclusion of the three presentations, there was a question and answer session in which Northeastern students, Udayana University students, and Udayana University professors asked questions of the Dean, Professor Mahdenra, and Udit. This session concluded the short seminar and our time at Udayana University.

On our way out, we were given a boxed lunch, which we ate on the way back to the hotel. We then had a short break before returning for class. In class, Professor Majumder gave a presentation on “Culture and Climate Change,” providing analysis of many aspects of culture, including its influence on architecture, transportation, and other areas. Following his presentation and a short break, Udit led us in a tutorial in Gephi, a modeling platform.

The rest of the day was free to get dinner and work on our war games presentations. I ate with friends at a great restaurant called Malaika Secret Moksha and wrapped up the day with a meeting and work session with my war games team.