The Youngest Participant from Sekolah Pelita Harapan Won at a Science International Symposium

Jason Ken Adhinarta, a Grade 11 student from SPH Lippo Village who joined the Applied Science Academy program, presents his science poster at the 12th International Symposium on Modern Optics and Its Applications (ISMOA) and won the Best Poster Presentation Award. Congratulations to Jason!

ISMOA is an annual international conference for experts and researchers in the field of modern optics, hosted by the Indonesian Optical Society (InOS). Held at July 1-4, 2019, the 12th ISMOA is organized in collaboration with the Department of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering & Computer Science, Krida Wacana Christian University (UKRIDA) located in the West of Jakarta. It serves as a platform for the international community of distinguished Professors, lecturers, Ph.D. students, and university students to discuss and network through their presentation of their most recent work.

Jason, being the only high school student (gr. 10 at the time) presented his research work in the development of an energy storage material, in this case, light energy, based on Strontium Aluminate crystals. He discovered that by exposing the crystal to cold or warm, he can control the charging of the crystal and the storing of light within the crystal just like a battery storing electrical charges. He hopes his discovery can help in the development of compact and rechargeable lighting devices that he envisions can help provide lighting to remote areas without access to electricity. In the quest to understand the advanced physics behind this discovery, Jason also demonstrated the elaborate optical testing chamber that he built himself involving microcontrollers, sensors, virtual control panel, and customdata analysis program that allow him to collect and analyze hundreds of hours of data as he carried out his other school duties.

His mentor, Dr. Eden Steven, explains that such advance physics investigation is incredibly difficult to carry out and can easily fit as a topic for thesis in university settings. Besides the theoretical understanding, the kinds of instrumentation accuracy and repeatability are very important yet difficult to achieve. But Jason has managed to achieve all these very well. He also explains that Jason’s accomplishment, being the winner of the best scientific poster award in such a high-level conference is very special and few gets to accomplish this in their academic career. Many senior scientists are intrigued by Jason’s work and he receives great support from the community, as we can see from what Dr. Eden said in his testimony:

“I am incredibly blessed to experience the poster presentation by our SPH Applied Science Academy student, Jason Ken Adhinarta who received great support and positive encouragement from the community of Modern Optics experts at 12th International Symposium on Modern Optics and its Application 2019! It is also very refreshing to see how the experts in the field care about the next young generations of scientists.”

Jason, being the youngest participant, also shares his once in a lifetime experience at this international conference:

“I was confident in my scientific thinking and understanding, especially with my Applied Science Academy project being a success. Well, that was before I participated in ISMOA. In this symposium, I listen to lectures back-to-back, being exposed to mathematical equations explaining optical phenomena which I won’t comprehend any time soon, and I feel that I have much more to learn. This valuable experience amplifies the long path ahead for me as a life-long learner.”

It is remarkable and inspiring to see the hunger for science by our next generation of scientists. It is our role as educators to provide space, opportunities, guidance, and support system to let these students develop their talent and passion.

We are excited to see how SPH’s Applied Science Academy can produce many potential young scientists who will bring redemptive restoration in the future.

Learn more about our Applied Science Academy ( ASA) here: http://bit.ly/SPH-ASA