The Drive to Be a Great Engineer

Naufal Rozan is a name that frequently echoes through the halls of the Civil Engineering Department at Universitas Muhammadiyah Surakarta (UMS). Known for his academic achievements and strong leadership, Naufal once led CUBE (Civil Engineering Unity for Building Innovation and Creativity), a student community that supports UMS civil engineering students in academic competitions.

Long before rising to prominence in civil engineering, Naufal once dreamed of becoming an architect. As a child, he spent countless hours sketching houses and buildings, filling blank pages with architectural drawings. But when the time came to choose a university major, he had to confront financial realities.

“I thought architecture would be too expensive. It's not just about tuition, it also requires costly drawing tools. I am just being realistic,” Naufal said when we met him at the Building Materials Laboratory last week.

Naufal grew up in Genengharjo, Tirtomoyo, a village in Wonogiri. His father works as a construction laborer and small-scale contractor, while his mother runs a home-based tailoring business.

Despite financial constraints, higher education remained a dream shared by Naufal and his family. But he knew he had to be pragmatic. He chose to attend SMK Negeri 2 Wonogiri, majoring in Building Modeling and Information Design. His goal was simple: find a job quickly to help support his family, and maybe, just maybe, continue his studies later.

Naufal Rozan. Imam Safi'i/UMS PR

While in vocational high school, Naufal took part in an internship program in BSD City, South Tangerang, where he spent six months working on the construction of a regional hospital. The experience gave him his first taste of professional life, but it didn’t come without challenges.

“I kept getting sick at first, headaches, dizziness, homesickness. But when I got my first paycheck, I told myself to hang in there and save as much as I could,” he recalled.

After graduating in 2020, Naufal took a gap year to work and save money. He landed freelance jobs as a drafter and surveyor for road preservation projects in West Papua, under PT Eskapindo Matra.

“I wasn’t sent to Papua, my job was to prepare the technical drawings in the office. The fieldwork was usually handled by more experienced surveyors,” he explained.

Not long after, Naufal transitioned to a similar project in West Java, this time working with PT Archende. In this role, he was more involved in fieldwork, particularly in topographic surveys and technical documentation.

“It was still a long segment road rehabilitation project, like the one before. The survey site was in Leuwiliang District, Bogor Regency, around the area of the Institut Pertanian Bogor,” Naufal explained.

During the course of the project, he and his team often traveled back and forth between Bogor and Bandung for data processing. The technical output was later submitted to the West Java Department of Highways (Bina Marga Jawa Barat).

“I learned a lot in the field, things like how to use Civil 3D, Land Desktop, and how to properly conduct field documentation. Those weren’t things I picked up in school,” he added enthusiastically.

Through these hands-on experiences, Naufal began to recognize a growing dream within himself. It deepened further as he spent time with his uncle, a civil engineering graduate, who often shared stories of handling large-scale infrastructure projects.

A new perspective began to dwell in Naufal’s mind. “Hmm, maybe the career prospects in civil engineering are actually quite promising,” he recalled.

He saved a portion of his income from his gap year to help fund his college education. The rest was covered by his older sister, who had been committed from the start to supporting her younger brother’s education until completion.

In 2021, Naufal officially enrolled in the Civil Engineering program at Universitas Muhammadiyah Surakarta (UMS). Initially, he joined without a scholarship, but later earned the Ikatan Mahasiswa Prestasi (IMP) scholarship from Wonogiri Regency after proposing an innovation to repurpose plastic waste as a substitute for asphalt in village roads.

From his first semester, Naufal became actively involved in CUBE UMS. He started as a software training staff member and eventually rose to become the organization’s president in 2024.

However, there was a time during his leadership at CUBE when he had to step back. While preparing for a national civil engineering innovation competition at Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM), his mother was involved in a motorcycle accident.

“My mother had a stroke. I had to be away from campus for three months, traveling back and forth between Kartasura and Yogyakarta because she was hospitalized there. But the CUBE team kept everything running. They were incredible, and they really understood what my family was going through,” he said with gratitude.

Academics have always been Naufal’s anchor. His achievements include winning 2nd Runner-Up in the 2022 National Concrete Competition, becoming a finalist in the 2023 Earthquake Resistant Design Competition, reaching the top seven in UGM’s 2023 Civil Innovation Challenge, and leading the AMNR CUBE UMS team in the NTU International Bridge Design Challenge 2025.

Nanyang Technological University International Bridge Design Challenge 2025 judge Dr. Teoh Bak Koon assesses Naufal's innovation (right), Singapore, 13 April 2025.

The prestigious bridge design competition, held at the renowned Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore, attracted 172 teams from around the world. After a rigorous digital design selection round, only 70 teams were invited to the final stage on NTU’s campus.

“Our bridge design was inspired by the shape of a durian. The case study was located in a durian plantation area,” Naufal explained.

He partnered with Alya Maharani, his fellow classmate. Under the guidance of Rama Rizana, S.T., M.Sc., the team designed a bridge model measuring 30.5 centimeters in length and weighing just 16 grams.

In the final round, the duo secured a spot in the top six and earned the award for the second-best presentation overall. “The judging criteria included structural strength, cost efficiency, and carbon footprint. Alhamdulillah, we were able to compete at that level,” he said with gratitude.

Naufal and Alya presented their innovation at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, April 13, 2025.

These days, Naufal juggles his final thesis while working as a freelance structural drafter at a property company, Atlantis Land Colomadu. 

As for what comes next after graduation, he’s confident about stepping into the professional world, equipped with a wealth of hands-on experience. Among his many practical stints, he once assisted in the supervision of a Type D regional hospital construction project in Purwantoro during his internship at PT Hasta Karya Laksana.

The second of three siblings, Naufal now sets his sights on professional certification and aims to enroll in a professional engineering program to earn the formal title of engineer. He’s even getting a head start by diving into Building Information Modeling (BIM), a technical skill increasingly in demand across the construction industry. 

“BIM has become a new standard. I want to be ready for it from now,” he said.

For Naufal, some of the most essential skills in civil engineering aren’t taught in lectures. Instead, they’re forged through fieldwork, learning to think on his feet, communicate in high-pressure teams, and stay calm when decisions can’t wait.

“Maybe that’s why I’m still eager to chase every opportunity that comes. I just don’t want to look back with regret,” he concluded

Writer: Genis Dwi Gustati

Translator: Farizal Luqman Majid

Editor: Al Habiib Josy Asheva

Designer: Salsabila Kamila Wardah