Story of my Bachelor thesis…

Pradisty2 Comments

Hello again…!

Maybe some of you waiting to read my new post.

I am terribly sorry for that. 

In 2013, I was busy doing (and re-doing) my research as my final task to complete my Bachelor degree in Chemistry and also doing a lot of part-time jobs to get extra money to fulfill my tuition fee and all related expenses. And I have to tell you, it was really tiring.

Remember my last post (Research. Research? Research!) about my (first) research topic? Well, things didn’t run well at that time. Actually, I had finished the research. I had been studying, conducting research, writing all the gathered results and also presenting it to some of the lecturers. But unfortunately, it would never be published as my final paper nor a scientific research. I can’t tell you in detail what was happened to my first research, but in general I was disappointed to what my previous research adviser had done to me, both personally and professionally. By that reason, I decided to call off my first research (which was finished and ready to be submitted), and start a new one.

One of the biggest challenge I have to face was to change my research theme from Biochemistry to Inorganic chemistry. It was unexpected, because when I was in my first year, I have dreamed that I will do a cancer research for my final task. So I was taking almost all the class related to Biochemistry, and never took a class in Inorganic Chemistry, except compulsory classes.

However, I was fortunate to have such a supportive advisers and research group members for my second research. Our research group is called “Solid Inorganic Framework Research Group”, or could be abbreviated as SIF-RG. They help me a lot to understand more about zeolite, bentonite and other things related to Inorganic Chemistry. Here is the best pictures of SIF-RG members at that time, when we went together at a scientific conference in ITB Bandung.

Day 1: All members of SIF-RG, minus Maulida
SIF-RG in poster presentation area
Kak Kamal and I in front of our research poster
Day 2: SIF-RG at the hotel, plus Mba Astri
Two masters students from Singapore gave comments on my poster. I was terrified at that time :)
Discussions galore…
Courtesy of Aidah Fitriah

Eventually, on August 2013, I was graduated from Chemistry Department – Universitas Indonesia and finally held a Bachelor of Science degree (or in Indonesian term, Sarjana Sains). Here is some pictures of on the graduation day.

Chemistry UI 2009, Graduation Year 2013
Chemistry UI 2009, Graduation Year 2013
Me with Ms. Siswati Setiasih, my Biochemistry lecturer

In the last semester of my Bachelor study, many things don’t run well, and many hard decisions and improvisations were made.

But I believe that no such thing as coincidence in this world, because God controls the whole story, the very best one for us. When a difficult time comes, all we have to do is giving our best effort and never surrender. Do you agree with me?

Research. research? Research!

Pradisty6 Comments

It’s been a while since my last post published here…

The time passed fast, and I’m just realizing that now I’m on my third year!

I’m very excited to tell you that I’ve already working on my final paper recently, which will be presented on early December. My research topic is about inhibitor to reduce the effects of viral oncogenes from Human Papillomavirus, and in this research I’m trying to obtain a new anticancer compound using bioinformatics tools. So yes, my research is a “dry-lab experiments”, or widely known as in silico experiments. I’ll tell you more about it in a few days (or weeks) from now…. :)

 

Snapshots from Pramuka Island

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Last month I went to Pramuka Island for a vacation. Of course I don’t pay for this vacation by myself, it’s a free-of-charge 2 nights and 3 days trip for all the core team of TOSSAKA 7th. It’s uncommon for me, because mostly I spend my college holiday by staying at home, cooking, playing games, watching movies, or posting on blog, sorta activities that’s not required to spend too much money. I’m very penurious, you know.

Okay, back to the topic. Vacation on Pramuka Island. You might be asking me “Where is it?” Pramuka Island is a small island inside Seribu Islands, or also known as Thousands Islands, near Jakarta (yes, in Indonesia there is an islands that named equal to a famous sauce that you put on top of your salad as a dressing :D). The only transportation we can use to visit it is using public boat from Muara Angke, North Jakarta. The time to reach Pramuka Island from Muara Angke is about two and a half hour. So, if you have a seasick problem (including me), please take your anti-seasick pill before. Here is the map if you are curious about it, but I won’t show you where is Pramuka Island *evil grin*:

The facilities in Pramuka Island is quite good, because there you could find a government-level hospital, schools, local government office, mosque, well-facilitated homesteads, and nature conservation for turtles and mangrove trees.

Our main activity there is snorkeling. It’s like diving but only on the surface of the sea, because if I’m not mistaken, someone only can do diving if they are already certified.

  • Day 1: Arrived to Pramuka Island at 9 PM with a nausea feeling. But the sea water is very clear, and there are so many beautiful fish even in the quayside area (never seen it in Ancol or Anyer beach :P). We did snorkeling equipment fitting and habituation at the quayside of the island before start snorkeling on Day 2. There are so many sea urchins inside the quayside of the sea, it’s a horrifying black, long-spined sea creäture that I hate the most. FYI, the amount of sea urchins in an area describe how polluted the water there. If you found many sea urchins, it means the water is a bit polluted (only a bit, because if the water is extremely polluted like in Ancol, you will found nothing but detritus).
  • Day 2: Finally did a snorkeling but not in Pramuka Island. We went to Air Island and Semak Daun Island using boat. The underwater scenery near Air Island is splendid! I’m glad to be able seeing it with my bare eyes, not just on the TV. But if we meet so many sea urchins on Day 1, at this day we met so many tiny jellyfish instead. They could be cuter if they don’t sting. Sigh. After we had lunch on the boat, we swam to Semak Daun Island. The sand there was beautifully clear-white, the island was remote and very small  that you could go around the island in 30 minutes by walking. It’s such an unforgettable pleasing view that I ever see in my life. We ended the second night by doing a BBQ at Pramuka Island.
  • Day 3: Actually doing nothing, I just go around the island with my boyfriend in the morning, it takes about 1-2 hours to do it. Unfortunately, the resident there doesn’t taking care of their household waste. There is so many plastic waste in the island that makes the scenery less beautiful. But they are very kind to the strangers. We went back to Muara Angke at 1 PM after did Dzuhur prayer on the island’s mosque (it’s surprisingly very clean). The seawaves again, made all the people inside the boat having a serious seasick, even after taking a anti-seasick pill :).

So here is the slideshow of our activities in Pramuka Island. It’s not belong to me (I have no camera, I’ m just a poor blogger *sob*), so please, please, pleeease, don’t use it without my permission.

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PS: Thanks a lot for the TOSSAKA 7th for this impressive yet free vacation! :)