Yogyakarta, September 3, 2026 — A student from the Faculty of Pharmacy, Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM), has once again achieved a notable accomplishment through her involvement in an interdisciplinary team under the Student Creativity Program in the Constructive Idea Video category (PKM-VGK). The team successfully secured funding in the 2026 Student Creativity Program (PKM) organized by the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, and Technology through the Belmawa Information System (Simbelmawa).
Rayhana Azzahra Kusmana, a student of the UGM Faculty of Pharmacy, is one of the members of the interdisciplinary team behind the idea titled “Integration of Solar Panels and Atmospheric Water Generators to Address Water, Food, and Energy Crises” through an innovation called AURORA (Autonomous Utility for Renewable Resources). The team is led by Orva Linnisa Husaina from the Undergraduate Program in Engineering Physics and also includes Arfa Fadilah Ramadhan from Chemical Engineering, Nayaka Sandya Kesuma from the Applied Bachelor Program in Instrumentation and Control Engineering Technology, and Faqih Zulfikar Alkaha from Electrical Engineering.
The team’s success in receiving PKM funding marks a remarkable achievement, considering that the 2026 PKM selection attracted 21,237 proposals submitted to the Directorate of Learning and Student Affairs (Belmawa). The team is supervised by Budi Sumanto, S.Si., M.Eng.
AURORA was developed as a smart utility ecosystem integrating renewable energy technology, water provision, and agricultural systems into a single sustainable solution. The concept utilizes bifacial solar panels as a renewable energy source and a condensation-based Atmospheric Water Generator (AWG) to produce water from atmospheric moisture. The system also incorporates the principles of green passive building alongside AI-IoT technology to support real-time energy management and irrigation systems.
Within the agricultural concept proposed by the team, various parameters—including capacity, nutrient levels, pH, water temperature, and plant conditions—are designed to be monitored and controlled automatically. The integration of these technologies aims to promote greater self-sufficiency in water, food, and energy, particularly in addressing challenges related to limited land availability and the growing need for more efficient agricultural systems.
As the UGM Pharmacy student in the team, Rayhana contributed to the development and communication of the idea through the Constructive Idea Video format. She explained that presenting a multidisciplinary innovation in an engaging and accessible way posed a unique challenge, especially in ensuring that both the public and the judges could easily understand the concept.
“Communicating an innovative idea certainly comes with its own challenges in making it both engaging and easy to understand. Therefore, in our video, we combined strong cinematography and storytelling techniques, supported by 3D animation and a tracking augmented reality (AR) game user interface (UI). Through this combination, viewers are able to visually understand how AURORA works,” said Rayhana.
Through her involvement in the project, Rayhana gained valuable experience working collaboratively with students from diverse academic disciplines. The collaboration demonstrates that addressing complex challenges—including food, water, and energy resilience—requires contributions from multiple fields of expertise and the ability to integrate interdisciplinary perspectives into a unified solution.
For the Faculty of Pharmacy UGM, this achievement also reflects the contribution of its students in developing innovative ideas that extend beyond the field of pharmacy through meaningful interdisciplinary collaboration. Rayhana’s participation in the AURORA team highlights the importance of cross-disciplinary thinking and collaborative innovation in addressing sustainable development challenges.
The AURORA concept also contributes to the achievement of several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 2 (Zero Hunger), SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation), SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy), SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure), SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), SDG 13 (Climate Action), and SDG 15 (Life on Land) through the integration of technologies designed to support food, water, and energy resilience, innovation, and sustainable development.
Through this accomplishment, the Faculty of Pharmacy UGM continues to encourage its students to develop bold ideas and actively engage in interdisciplinary collaboration. AURORA is expected not to remain solely as a competition proposal, but to become an initial step toward the development of innovative solutions that can benefit society and contribute to stronger food, water, and energy resilience in the future.
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