One Hour with Dr. Whitney Weber – Stanford University

Last Friday, Dr. Whitney Weber attended my undergraduate student’s thesis seminar on modeling Zika virus cases in Brazil and Colombia. This Wednesday morning, she returned—this time accompanied by three lab staff from the Faculty of Public Health. I showed them two locations: first, the Hydrometeorology Laboratory at the Department of Geophysics, FMIPA; and second, my classroom.

Students at the Hydrometeorology Laboratory demonstrated various sensors as part of their final exam (supervised by Mr. Andika). These included soil moisture sensors, microclimate sensors, even parking sensors—all IoT-based. Data from remote locations could be accessed in real-time via LCD displays, websites, and Telegram. The data were stored and analyzed back at the office or in the lab. Each device was designed with a budget of only 300.000 rupiah.

In addition, one student presented data on dengue cases from Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, and Singapore. Another student presented upwelling data along the southern coast of Java. All of these data were freely available from online sources. The lab visit concluded with her interviews with the students.

After that, we moved to the classroom. This undergraduate class is part of a publication initiative—if students can provide proof that they’ve submitted a manuscript to a journal, they receive an A. When Dr. Weber heard that students were using PerplexityAI, she immediately chimed in, “I use that too.” I also shared another note with my guest. In one of my other classes, students are required to produce an English-language book draft to be submitted to Amazon.

All of these efforts are part of our preparation for the reaccreditation of my study program with LAMSAMA and ASIIN in 2026, as well as to increase Hasanuddin University’s Intellectual Property Rights filings.