Sukmandhira Harimurti

	Indonesia
	Sukmandhira Harimurti
	Electrical Engineering and Information Systems

Hello candidates!

I am Suksmandhira Harimurti from Indonesia. I was a master student at the Department of Electrical Engineering of the University of Tokyo in 2013-2015. About the research, I joined the Organic Transistor Laboratory under the supervision of Prof. Takao Someya.

During my master study, I did a research about stretchable and ultra-flexible transparent conductors based on a brittle metal oxide material. In this research, I developed a method on how to engineer a brittle metal oxide material, so that it becomes stretchable and is able to be bent at tens of micrometer bending radii. Having these new unique characteristics, ultra-flexible yet robust performance of optoelectronic devices could be realized. This work was then presented in 2015 International Conference on Solid State Devices and Materials (SSDM 2015).
The University, lab colleagues, and my supervisor are my best allies to went through and passed my master study. The University has a bunch of cutting-edge experimental equipment for a wide-range of purposes and functionalities. My lab itself has three different clean room for fabricating polymer or organic based electronic devices complete with the facilities to characterize and test the fabricated devices. Moreover, all the equipment and facilities in the University itself are shared. It means that you can use them all for your own research. Therefore, there is no wonder why the University can always produce a high-quality research result. Furthermore, my lab colleagues and supervisor are also always open for discussion whenever I need. My lab mates, in particular, are mostly Japanese, by about 80%, however they are very friendly and helpful. They kindly guided and trained me if I do not understand on how to operate an equipment as well as having a fruitful discussion on the research result. My supervisor is also very nice. He well guided me throughout my master study, always eagerly gave suggestion and recommendation on how to improve my work, and often gave motivation as well. It was definitely a very friendly and supportive work environment you could imagine.

Do not worry about Japanese course. The university does provide a lot of international graduate program. For the Department of Electrical Engineering, the international graduate program is namely International Multidisciplinary Engineering (IME). I enrolled to my master degree through this program. It is a completely English program, of which you will have your course as well as the thesis all in English. Besides, since several other departments are also included in this program, English courses from different departments are available to choose, so that you can enrich your knowledge beyond. This is also a key benefit of this program. Additionally, it promotes a social interaction with the students within the program as well as introduces the students with Japanese culture by having annual excursion to rich-historical places in Japan. Not forget to mentioning that the IME staff are all fluent in English and very helpful, so that you will never experience any difficulties on the administrative stuff. They are also very friendly, so if you encounter a problem in your daily life in Japan, you can talk and have a consultation with them. They will kindly assist you.

Aside of academic routine, The University of Tokyo also offers many social activities which can get you immersed to the Japanese societies as well as cultures. Routinely on each week, there will be an international meet-up club and Japanese meet-up club, of which all them can help you to enhance your English or Japanese speaking ability. In addition, there are even several short travels around certain places in Tokyo prefectures/nearby specially organized for University of Tokyo academician. The University cafeteria is also one best thing that you should not miss. It offers a wide variety of food, from noodles, meats, fresh vegetables, soups, curry, and beverages with a cheap price. To be noted as well that the cafeteria also put an allergen and halal information on the menu display, so that people can safely choose the food.

Apart from the school activities, Japan itself has a lot of scintillating nature beauty. It will be a big regret if you miss it. So, do not forget to enjoy Japan itself during your study in Japan. Japan has a very well-connected train routes to everywhere within the country, including to hiking places and islands across. There is no reason for not go travelling around Japan. Even though speaking English may not common in Japan, even in Tokyo, Japanese are really kind and helpful. They will try to help you when you ask so.

So, I really recommend you to choose University of Tokyo as your graduate school. The University of Tokyo is unarguably the best university in Japan as well as the top rank university in the world. Becoming as the center of nation and even the world attention, having a key to open a gate of worldwide top-notch research institutions and facilities, and feeling the spirit of thriving for being as the best in the world are three priceless experiences that you can only have by being as the part of the University of Tokyo. The IME program is perfectly what you are looking for if you would like to have an English graduate program. So, what are you waiting for? Let’s get prepared of your documents. Good luck! Enjoy the most of your time in Japan!