UNY always encourages students to not only excel academically, but also to have the awareness to answer challenges to ecosystem and environmental problems.  This point has continuously implemented in various student activities and competitions. The latest achievement came   from the success of the UNY student team who won the Silver Medal at the 2021 International Invention Competition for Young Moslem Scientists (IICYMS) for the environmental science category. The UNY student team succeeded in convincing the supervisors through a work entitled "Nano Biopesticide Formulation of Neem (Azadirachta indica) Leaf Extract as an Alternative Effort to Control Leaf Borer".

The UNY student team consisting of Faiz Ilham Pratama (Chemical Education), Dwi Nurul Fajriyah (Chemistry), Fiyola Mayangsari (Chemistry), and Fadila Nafiri Arif and Eka Nurrohmah R. (English Education), competed online from 1-4 July 2021.

"The opening ceremony of IICYMS 2021 will be held on 1/7/21, followed by the presentation on 2-3 July 2021, and ended with an awarding ceremony on July 4. IICYMS 2021 has 155 teams consisting of 13 countries, namely Indonesia, India, Iraq, Malaysia, Macedonia, Morocco, Egypt, Turkey, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Qatar, Kazakhstan, and Yemen. The supervisor for the competition are from Indonesia, Malaysia, and Turkey," said Faiz.

The Nano Biopesticide Formulation innovation certainly provides a valuable alternative for farmers on pesticide product. It is common knowledge that Leaf Borer attacks on chili, tomato, potato and other vegetable crops if not handled seriously can cause crop failure. (Witono, Tj.Lak)