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Report on Workshop for
Interdisciplinary Global Engineers at MIT (2013)
September 8-14, 2013
Contents
Preface
Schedule
Individual Reports
Civil Engineering
Architecture
Urban Engineering
Mechanical Engineering
Precision Engineering
Aeronautics and Astronautics
Electrical Engineering and
Information Systems
Applied Physics
Systems Innovation
Materials Engineering
Applied Chemistry
Chemical System Engineering
Chemistry and Biotechnology
Nuclear Engineering and Management
Bioengineering
Technology Management for Innovation
1
p.2
p.3
Yasutaka Narazaki
So Ukawa
Asuna Segawa
Masanori Sakata
Fumihiro Miura
Naoya Ozaki
Satoshi Jo
p.4
p.5
p.6
p.7
p.8
p.9
p.10
Toshiyuki Kaji
Chieh Jane Chen
Yudai Suzuki
Hideshi Ooka
Ayako Kubo
Hiroshi Yamagishi
Mina Fujieda
Takayuki Ueki
Yasunori Shinohara
p.11
p.12
p.15
p.16
p.17
p.18
p.19
p.20
p.21
35()$&(
This workshop was carried out as a part of the Re-Inventing Japan Project. The
student delegation, composed of 16 participants visited MIT and Harvard University.
Through this workshop, all participants had a great time having discussions with MIT
academics, communicating with students studying in MIT or Harvard from around the world
including Japan, and visiting laboratories. The reports of the activities follow this preface.
Through communication with MIT staff and students, we were able to discuss our
research, culture, academic life, and career planning. Talking with MIT students from Japan
was also meaningful. We became aware of the significance of studying abroad and the
difference between higher education in the USA and in Japan. Attending Japanese classes
made us think about the style of foreign language education in foreign universities. It also
enabled us to make new friends at MIT.
Just as expected from a top university like MIT, in our laboratory visits, we were
amazed at the rich and varied equipment available, and we learned a lot about research life
and strategies. Additionally, a lot of participants learned about some differences between
students in Japan and the USA in their approaches to class. Some of us also got interested in
studying at MIT and Harvard for a Ph.D.
We appreciate the help of everyone who has been engaged in this program, especially
Furuichi-sensei, Su-sensei, Sekiguchi-san, Shiraishi-san, and Ishihara-san. There is no doubt that this workshop was a great experience for us, and it also helped
us make decisions for our future. Through this report, we hope to contribute to this program
next year. Furthermore, we hope as many students as possible will be active internationally.
(From all participants of the MIT Workshop)
2
Schedule
September, 8th
15:25
Departure from Narita Airport
13:55
Arrival at Detroit Metropolitan Airport
15:30
Departure from Detroit Metropolitan Airport
17:32
Arrival at Boston Logan Airport
18:30
Arrival at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel
September, 9th
09:00
MIT campus tour
17:00
Discussion with MIT students
18:00
Dinner with MIT students
September, 10th
Free time (Lab visit, participation in class, etc.)
18:30
Dinner with Japanese students studying at MIT
September, 11th
Free time (Lab visit, participation in class, etc.)
September, 12th
Free time (Lab visit, participation in class, etc.)
11:00
Participation in Japanese language class
14:00
Participation in Japanese language class
September, 13th
07:30
Departure from the Boston Park Plaza Hotel
10:45
Departure from Boston Logan Airport
12:52
Arrival at Detroit Metropolitan Airport
15:30
Departure from Detroit Metropolitan Airport
September, 14th
17:40
Arrival at Narita Airport
3
Civil Engineering
Yasutaka Narazaki
I visited MIT from September 8th to September 14th. The 8th , 13th, and 14th were mainly for
travelling, so the actual date of my stay were from the 9th to the 12th. Though the length of my
stay was short, it was full of new experiences and was very stimulating.
1. Campus tour and party
There was a campus tour and a party with MIT students who are learning Japanese on the
9th, and there was a party with Japanese students who are studying in MIT on the 10th.
During the campus tour, I saw a lot of curious-shaped buildings ranging from old to modern
with eccentric shapes. There were also some curious objects our group found amusing. In the
parties, we talked about a lot of topics. It was especially interesting how some of the Japanese
students studying at MIT said that universities in the US are much better than Japanese
ones from a financial point of view.
2. Visiting laboratories and attending classes and lectures
On September 10th, I visited Professor Ochsendorf, who is a professor in the department of
building engineering. This visit was my first experience visiting a laboratory in a foreign
country, so I was a bit anxious about talking and having a discussion in English before the
meeting, but the professor talked very clearly and kindly, so I had a good time. His focus is on
designing and performing stability analyses of primarily masonry structures. Recently his
focus has become centered on environmentally-friendly designs of modern buildings. Though
I was not familiar with these topics, talking about it was stimulating for me.
After visiting the laboratory, I heard a lecture for Chinese politicians given by Professor
Ochsendorf. The topic of the lecture was environmentally-friendly designs of buildings. After
hearing this lecture, I feel it is very important to do research which meets social demands and
to raise money ourselves.
On September 11th, I attended a class for undergraduates given by Professor Ochsendorf and
then I visited Professor Bathe’s laboratory in the department of mechanical engineering.
Unfortunately I wasn’t able to meet Professor Bathe during that visit, but I was able to learn
about various things like the atmosphere in the lab, the backgrounds of students in the lab,
and their research. Furthermore, I was lucky enough to take Professor Bathe’s class for
graduates. After the class, I had a chance to talk with the professor a little.
This is a report on my visit to MIT. Through this visit, I could get a lot of new experience
that I feel will be helpful to my future. I sincerely appreciate everyone’s kind support.
4
Architecture
So Ukawa
¾ Campus Tour
The students who were in charge of the Campus Tour guided us in fluent
Japanese. I heard that they took Japanese Course as a second language. I’ve
studied English more than 10 years, and I felt kind of jealous of them. The
MIT chapel was designed by Eero Saarinen, the Media Lab was designed by
Fumihiko Maki, the Stata Center was designed by Frank Owen Gehry, and so
on. I looked at a lot of architecture that I had only seen in textbooks and
magazines.
¾ Talk with MIT students
I heard that about 40% of students go to graduate school, although it
depends on one’s major. It seems a small number considering that in the
University of Tokyo more than 80% of students go to graduate school, but this
is because in MIT students can return there at any point after getting a job.
In the faculties of engineering in Japanese universities, it is not so rare to go
to graduate school without any specific purpose. I can’t say which culture is
better, but it is good to have many options including being able to change
majors relatively easily when entering graduate school.
¾ Lecture
I took a class in the Engineering Science department. This department is
like the Graduate School of Frontier Sciences at UTokyo. I checked the
content and time of the class on the MIT course catalog website and noticed
that the class is divided into a lecture and recitation. I didn’t correctly
understand the meaning of the word “recitation” and stupidly wondered what
they would read. After the lecture, I found out that “recitation” is a class for
reviewing by teaching assistants. I think that providing students with such
an opportunity suggests that MIT’s faculty places high priority on education.
¾ Conclusion
This workshop gave me great motivation in pursuing research during the
rest of my student life. I was impressed by the words of Professor Moser
“What nationality you have, how old you are, whether you are male or female,
it doesn’t matter. What ideas you have, and what skills you have, MIT will
evaluate only those.” It was also valuable for deepening my friendship with
other students belonging to different departments in UTokyo.
5
Urban Engineering
Asuna Segawa
‫ڦ‬Lab VisitUrban Design : Miho Mazereeuw(Assistant Professor) Sky Milner(Research Staff)#
9/10 10am~1pm
At MIT,Urban Design is positioned between Architecture and City Planning. Ms. Mazereeuw has
taught at Harvard GSD and came to MIT last year. Her design studio focuses primarily on
disaster and urban development. For research projects, she is currently working on a housing
supply project in India, in collaboration with other departments in MIT. Since she also maintains
a project in Minami-Sanriku as a member of Otsuchi project in our urban design lab, we discussed
and shared difficulties and issues related to the disaster area of Tohoku.
‫ڦ‬Visiting Harvard GSD/ Takuya Iwamura (3rd year master course) @ 9/11 9am~12am
Takuya Iwamura, who is a Landscape Architecture master student, showed me the inside of
Harvard GSD and gave me a brief tour of the whole campus. Listening to his school life, it seems
that students in GSD are very busy during the semester, spending most of the time on design
studio assignments.
‫ڦ‬Lecture / MIT Architectural Studio pinup: Rafi Segal(Lecturer) @ 9/12 1pm~4pm
A 3rd year master course student at MIT MArch, Maya Taketani invited me to her design studio
pinup in MIT Architecture. The focus of this studio is village of Kibbutz, which is an Israeli union
based on collectivism. In the pinup, there are 2 people in 1 group and a total of 7 groups. Each
group presented their analysis of Kibbutz village or villages similar to Kibbutz. Each analysis was
based on each group’s focus factor, such as gender and the
surrounding environments. It was interesting how the
analyses varied in each group.
‫ڦ‬Media Lab Visit/Ira Winder(Project Manager)@9/12
5pm~6:30pm
In the Media Lab, Ira Winder, who is a project manager
in the changing places group, gave us explanation about
his own projects. He introduced us to a project intended
for people unfamiliar with urban systems. The project is
Space to rest at MIT Media Lab
meant to improve their understanding of these systems
using both LEGOs and computational models.
‫ ڦ‬Understanding urban structure of Boston @ 9/11
2pm~7pm
Since I belong to the Urban Design lab, it was important
for me to look around the city of Boston. I walked from
Harvard Square to North End to feel the continuous
sequence of Boston and was astonished by the varied
characteristics that each place has.
Room for Changing Places Group
6
Mechanical Engineering
Masanori Sakata
MIT Campus tour and party with MIT students (Sep. 9th)
I got to know the environment around the MIT students and how they spend their lives
during the campus tour. The architectural structures in MIT are very unique and amazing
and we could see the students actively studying in that atmosphere. After that, we had a
party with MIT students who take Japanese classes. We talked about the cultural differences
between the U.S. and Japan. The question “Why do you study English?” was somewhat
impressive for me. English skill is crucial for Japanese when communicating with foreigners
and for performing research. For MIT students, however, most of their motivation to learn
Japanese, as far as I have heard, is because of Japanese culture like manga or animation. A
lot of students are very skilled in Japanese considering the period they have studied it. I
would like to adopt their attitude toward learning language.
Lab tours
Aaron Schmidt lab (Sep. 10th 14:00~17:00)
Aaron
Schmidt
group
focuses
on
nanoscale
thermal
transport and Professor Schmidt is one of the pioneers of
TDTR: the time domain thermoreflectance technique, which
we also use for our experiment. The Ph.D. course students
showed me their experimental set-up and we talked about
that. In addition, I got a chance to introduce my research and
discuss it. The meeting was very intense and meaningful.
Gang Chen lab (Sep. 11th 11:00~15:00)
Their research is focused on nanoscale energy transport, conversion, and storage. They had
a lot of facilities and we focused our discussion on their TDTR experiments and my
experiment. They gave me many ideas and I had the opportunity to see what the researchers
in my field think about my research.
Keith Nelson group (Sep.12th 10:00~12:00)
Keith Nelson group belongs to the Department of Chemistry but we share a lot in common
in our research interests. This group uses the thermal grating method to measure nanoscale
thermal transport. We talked about their experimental set-up and found our set-ups have a
lot in common so the meeting was very meaningful.
Impression of MIT visit
This time, one of the purposes of this visit was to grasp how ideas and lifestyles at MIT
differ from ours. Actually, I did not feel so much difference in the facilities, research level or
their abilities, but what I was impressed with was their active and energetic communication
among themselves. I think that leads to their big results.
7
Precision Engineering
Fumihiro Miura
I was chosen by the School of Engineering at the University of Tokyo along with 15
other students to visit Boston from September 9th to the 12th as part of a collaborative
program between MIT and the University of Tokyo. During our stay, we had time to
visit labs at MIT and to discuss various topics with students there. Here is my activity
report.
(Monday September 9th)
I could not take part in activities on that day but I was able to join the others later on
the morning of the 10th.
(Tuesday September 10th)
I went to the Boston Museum and Boston University. The beautiful and well-arranged
sceneries of Boston city were fascinating and I was impressed by the abundance of
dormitories around the university. In the evening, we had dinner at a Chinese
restaurant with Japanese researchers from MIT. We talked a lot about the differences
between the educational systems of the graduate schools at MIT and the University of
Tokyo. It was a great opportunity for us to discuss research life at MIT.
(Wednesday September 11th)
I was guided around MIT campus by Mr. Han Kyul Joo. He is a second year master
student from the Department of Mechanical Engineering and his research is about
energy-efficient electronic devices using the vibration of non-linear springs. According
to Mr. Joo, graduate students at MIT often change their labs which can be done easily,
as opposed to the stricter system of Japanese universities. He said this flexibility
enables them to come up with creative ideas in their research. We also talked about
various topics that helped me better understand school life at MIT.
(Thursday September 12th)
I joined a Japanese class at MIT as a guest. The students’ positive attitude towards the
class inspired me a lot. After class we had lunch together and one of the students
demonstrated devices he had made himself. After that, I went to Harvard University
and strolled around the campus. While the MIT campus has a more modern
atmosphere, Harvard’s campus is more traditional.
I am grateful to all the people involved in this program, from MIT and the University of
Tokyo for allowing us to experience this enriching visit.
8
Aeronautics and Astronautics
Naoya Ozaki1
[MIT Space Systems Laboratory, 2013/09/10]
The objective of the Space Systems Laboratory (SSL) is to explore innovative concepts for
the design and integration of future space systems. The laboratory is notable for the
SPHERES Projects (see Fig.1), which is a robotics project for the International Space
Station. The laboratory engages in both research and development like the ISSL, our
laboratory. Most of the projects are small-scale and for student educational purposes. Most
of the students work for NASA or with others in the space industry after graduation.
[Model-based Embedded and Robotic System Group, MIT CSAIL, 2013/09/11]
The objective of the MERS, which is led by Professor Brian C. Williams is to develop
“cognitive robots”, robots that are able to think and act much like humans do. The students
research using not only computer simulation but also equipment such as robot arms (see
Fig.2) and quad rotors. The most impressive thing is that Ph.D. candidates instruct and
guide the younger students in their research and hold many small meetings. I will imitate
these styles in our laboratory.
[MIT Space Propulsion Laboratory, 2013/09/12]
The Space Propulsion Laboratory (SPL) mainly researches and develops electric
propulsion for spacecraft. Most of the propulsion systems and equipment are developed by
the students.
[Summary and Acknowledgements]
This workshop was significant for me as it helped me decide what I want to do in the
future. Through this workshop, I felt that I want to study more than a year in the United
States. I am thankful to all UTokyo and MIT people I met during this program.
Fig. 2 MIT CSAIL MERS
Fig. 1 MIT Space Systems Laboratory
Intelligent Space Systems Laboratory, Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the
University of Tokyo
Email: ozaki@space.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp
1
9
Electrical Engineering and Information Systems
Satoshi Jo
MIT campus tour, party with MIT students, and class visits
I came to understand the campus life of students at MIT through the campus
tour. There were many spaces where students could study and work in a group.
That was pretty impressive. After the campus tour, I attended a party with
students at MIT and talked about the differences between the University of
Tokyo and MIT. I was impressed by how hard they worked. Some of the
students had studied Japanese and could speak very well.
I also attended a party with Japanese students at MIT. I learned about their
campus life, scholarships in America, and research environments at MIT. I
heard that almost all students at MIT receive a full scholarship and do not need
to repay the money after graduation. I think this is wonderful because the
students can concentrate on their research without worrying about money.
I attended a class at MIT. The number of students in attendance was small.
Many students interacted during class in positive ways. That kind of behavior is
rare at the University of Tokyo. The experience helped me recognize differences
between students at the University of Tokyo and students at MIT.
Visiting laboratories at MIT
I visited four laboratories: SSL(Space Systems Laboratory), SPL(Space
Propulsion Laboratory), Media Lab and Arvind lab. In SSL and SPL, I was
introduced to research topics like SPHERES (a spherical satellite), electric
propulsion techniques and so on. I visited the Media lab during the campus tour
but my second time there, I observed their interactive demonstrations and
exhibits which were very interesting. Professor Arvind’s group researches
Bluespec, a hardware description language and its applications. I visited them
and I was introduced to their research topics. Additionally, I also introduced my
research to the people I met and received some feedback and advices. I learned
a lot from this experience.
Through this program, I had very good experiences visiting laboratories and
building relationships with students at MIT. I particularly enjoyed talking with
students at MIT because it motivated me to work hard. I learned about taking a
doctorate course and studying abroad, and it was a good opportunity for me to
consider my future.
10
Applied Physics
Toshiyuki Kaji
1, Activities during my stay in Boston
Lab Visit at MIT
I visited the following 4 laboratories conducting researches on Quantum
Information Science or Quantum Optics.
Isaac Chuang’s Lab
I visited Professor Chuang and talked with him for about 20 minutes. We
mainly talked about my future path, and he gave me some advice based on his
experience. Then, a student in his lab showed me the lab and we all had lunch
together.
LIGO Lab, Vladan Vultic’s Lab
I visited Tomoki Isogai who is a Ph.D. student at LIGO. He is doing research on
Gravitational Wave Detection. He showed me around his lab and explained
their research. Afterwards, we visited Akio
Kawasaki who is Ph.D. student in Vladan
Vuletic’s Lab.
Jeffery Shapiro’s Lab
Finally, I visited Professor Jeffery Shapiro. In
this lab, they are doing research on Quantum
Optics and Quantum Information Processing.
First, he explained what they are doing, and then
I gave a presentation about my study. Dr. Franco
Wong showed me around his lab and explained
his research in detail.
Aikido at Harvard University
I participated in Aikido practice with Harvard
Aikikai. They usually practice Aikido at a Squash
court covered with Tatami.
The facilities are not very good, but they have
good manners in the “Dojo” and are doing very
well.
‫(ڸ‬Top) with Prof. Shapiro at MIT
(Bottom) with Kipp-sensei at Harvard
2, Summary
It was a great experience for me to participate in
this workshop. I learned a lot of things through my presentation to MIT
professors, discussions with MIT students, Aikido practice at Harvard
University and through chats with the 15 participating Todai Students.
3, Acknowledgements
I’d like to thank the staff at the School of Engineering, Professor Akira
Furusawa and all the people I met in this program.
11
Systems Innovation
Chieh Jane Chen
The workshop in Boston was remarkably interesting and inspiring. I was
reminded of my previous study experiences in the U.S. and discovered some reasons for my
seemingly odd behaviors in class and in my current laboratory in Japan. Some of these
thoughts will be included in this report along with my daily experiences.
On the first day, we joined a MIT campus tour. The student showing us around
was learning Japanese, so we had the tour in Japanese. This was rather convenient for
most students, but quite challenging for me. Regardless, I got to hear self introductions in
Japanese 15 times, which is definitely worth learning. I now know a little more about how
to introduce myself in Japanese. Moreover, I felt the school spirit strongly during the
campus tour because we walked by so many students wearing MIT T-shirts.
During the second day of the workshop, I had an appointment with Professor
Lermusiaux from the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Ocean Science
Engineering. He was kind enough to show me all of his latest research and some ongoing
projects. This took about an hour and he brought me to the research lab to talk to some
graduate students: Matt, Tapovan, and Deepak. They went over the basics of their theses
and I was truly inspired by the technology. They are working on optimized paths in current
and model comparison methods. Later in the day, I talked to Chris, a post-doctoral
associate, who researches ocean salinity around Taiwan during the passing of a Typhoon. I
joined them for lunch around one in the afternoon and ended my laboratory visit around
two o'clock.
This laboratory visit reminded me of an incident back in my laboratory. At the end
of the first and second seminar, I had gone to my professor with some simple problems I
had with my research. Of course, my professor was very kind and answered all my
questions in details. However, none of the other Japanese students in my laboratory did the
same thing. My first thoughts were that my colleagues must all be geniuses with no
questions on their research. Later on, I discovered that students will first bring the
problems to the assistant professor and then to the associate professor. My odd behavior
which seemed perfectly reasonable to me is not a common practice in Japan. "How odd and
rude I must have seemed to behave that way in front of my professor". This thought
puzzled me for a few days, but eventually I forgot about it and started to follow the norm
and stop bringing my questions straight to the professor.
During this visit to Boston, I discovered the reason for my seemingly odd behavior.
The composition of the laboratory is the reason for my behavior. At MIT, a professor works
with his group of students without the presence of an assistant professor or an associate
professor. The assistant professor and the associate professor will have their own groups of
students. Hence, students are most likely to bring all their questions straight to the
professor. While I was talking to Professor Lermusiaux, a first year graduate asked to
speak with the professor in his office. On top of that, when Professor Lermusiaux brought
me to the research laboratory, every student we came across asked for an appointment time
later in the day. My seemingly odd behavior appears to be common practice in the U.S. This
is cultural difference that one gets to experience in different countries.
After the visit, I met up with three Japanese students and went to visit the library
together. We decided to sit-in on a class, so we followed some students and headed into the
classroom. The class turned out to be a drama class. It was the beginning of the semester
for them and was the second class. Therefore, the teacher asked if there were any new
students in the classroom and I raised my hand to let her know that the four of us wished to
12
sit-in in the class. She said it was fine and asked the class if it was fine that we sit-in. The
class gave unanimous consent. Immediately after I entered the class, I was reminded again
of an interesting experience I had in my materials science class this semester.
The professor in the material science class asked a simple question to the class and
I was the only one who raised my hand to answer the question. The class was taught in
Japanese, so I tried to reply in Japanese. The professor then asked me to elaborate on my
answer. Of course, my Japanese is not good enough for further explanation, so again I
embarrassed myself a little. But I figured my effort would give a good impression. However,
what was shocking to me was the fact that no one raised their hand to answer the question
other than me. My first thoughts were that maybe because systems innovation is a broad
major and the students have a variety of skills, they might not be familiar with the subject.
I quickly discovered, however this is not the only class in which students do not respond.
Conversely, I found my odd behavior acceptable at MIT. There were about 20
students in the drama class and almost every student answered at least one question that
was asked. For some more debatable questions, three or four answers resulted. Another
interesting thing to discover was that there were seven rows of seats in that classroom and
the first three rows were filled and the seats in the back were completely empty. I believe
this was new for the Japanese students who attended the lecture with me. There was
something quite shocking the first day I walked into the classroom in Japan. When I
decided to sit in the second row of the classroom (thinking it would be exactly the middle of
the class), I ended up being the only person at the very front of the class. This is not to say
that I believe one way is better than the other. However, this is a difference I have come
across between the two countries. It was perhaps the most interesting discovery during the
trip.
For the following two days, I visited Professor Bathe's lab with Yasutaka Narazaki
and Naoya Ozaki and attended a class taught by Professor Bathe on the finite element
method. The material covered in the class was more or less the same as the material at the
University of Tokyo. Although the class is more interactive, I think the class covered much
less content and was less in depth.
Overall, this workshop provided me a great study opportunity, especially with
regard to my understanding of different educational systems as well as learning new
computation methods related to my current studies. I come across many new research on
computation improvement of the finite element method including the discontinuous
Galerkin finite element method on fluid dynamics and the ongoing research on the ADINA,
one of the most common software for the finite element method.
13
14
Materials Engineering
Yudai Suzuki
First of all, I would like to thank the staff at MIT and UTokyo, students who participated
in this workshop, Dean of the School of Engineering, and my professor for letting me take
advantage of this opportunity. This was my first visit to the continental United States, a
place in which the Japanese language cannot be understood. This was also my first visit to
a university abroad and to another laboratory. It was great experience for me, and I
understood the importance of communicating in English. In this report, I write about what
I felt, thought, and found in visiting laboratories, communicating with MIT students and
staff, and through joining classes.
I visited Professor Kimerling’s laboratory and Professor Gleason’s laboratory. At
Professor Kimerling’s laboratory, I visited an experimental room in which CVD apparatus
for semiconductor devices were installed and discussed them with students in the lab. In
Professor Gleason’s lab, I saw special CVD apparatus for bio-engineering, and discussed
the differences between metal film and bio film in the point of deposition. I also saw the
shared equipment room. During this visit, one thing I was impressed about was their
understanding of their equipment, the level of their study and their background. Of course,
I tried to help them understand the information I had to share, but I think I have to try
harder to understand my own equipment, studies, and background in order to answer
clearly when someone asks me about those things. I had a chance to talk with Professor
Kimerling, so I asked him about my future courses, including PhD courses. It was great
chance for me to think about my future plans.
By communicating with MIT students in laboratories through this project, I discovered
clear differences between MIT and UTokyo. First, students at MIT study harder than
students of UTokyo, especially in the graduate school. Second, MIT students are active not
only when studying but also spend time playing, volunteering and so on. We have to, I
think, learn from them to be more active. MIT students’ attitudes in classes were positive,
so they frequently asked questions to the Professor and discussed a lot. They frequently
discussed with other students so as to gain a deeper understanding.
Finally, I would like to report the thing which most impressed me. “What is your dream?”
I was asked. I noticed, then, that I didn’t have an answer because I had not thought
seriously about my dream. I was shocked. I therefore decided to think seriously about my
dream and to make a path to my goal.
15
Applied Chemistry
Hideshi Ooka
I had two main objectives for my visit to MIT. The first was to have thorough discussions
during my lab visits and deepen my understanding of science and chemistry. The second
objective was to understand what society demands from such a top-notch science
community, and how the students at MIT are trying to respond to those demands.
As for the first objective, I had 5 lab visits over 3 days. At each lab, I was able to engage
in a heated discussion lasting several hours. I am glad I checked many of their
publications beforehand, as I wouldn’t have been able to have such a heated discussion if I
had no background information. Due to unexpected misfortune, I was not able to meet
any of the professors, but many of the post-doc and graduate students were very
professional, and I believe each visit was very fruitful.
We also exchanged ideas about things other than research. I would like to write about a
particular post-doc student who inspired me greatly. Although her major is metal-organic
synthesis, she was also capable of quantum calculations and crystal analysis. It seemed
she had had some hardships in the past, and since then, she has always been
self-sustaining, never relying on others to get a job done. Regardless, she is very helpful
for other students, and although she has been post-doc for a very short time, I could tell
that she was being counted on by the whole lab. I have never seen a person who was as
hard on oneself as she, and still capable of being tolerant. I think she could easily be one
of the most capable researchers in the world.
I also had some experience that gave me a sense of self-confidence. Although the people
at MIT all had a good understanding of their research, many did not have a clear vision of
why their particular research was important. This may have to do with my instructions
from my supervisor, but I think understanding what society wants is necessary to do
applicable research. In that sense, I think it would be possible for Japan to compete with
the highest level institutes if we have both a wide vision and deep understanding of science.
This MIT workshop was a very good experience for me, and although I spent only 4 days
in Boston, I learned many things, both as a fledgling scientist and a human being. I would
like to express my gratitude towards everyone at MIT, the teachers who made all this
possible, and my 15 fellow participants with whom I shared this wonderful experience.
Thank you all very much.
16
Chemical System Engineering
Ayako Kubo
‫ ە‬Introduction
I’m doing theoretical research about photocatalyst in my laboratory. My objectives
throughout this workshop were as follows.
1. Visit laboratories similar to my lab.
2. Interact with students with different majors.
‫ ە‬Activity
September 9th Campus tour with MIT students & Discussion with MIT students
I communicated with many MIT students during the campus tour and discussion.
We talked with many students with different majors, such as computer science, physics,
and economics. We also met many foreign students, especially from Asia.
September 10th Visiting Jianshu Cao’s lab & Dinner with Japanese MIT students
I visited Cao’s lab, which studies theoretical chemistry. Together with the lab
members, we discussed our research and academic life, and they gave me lots of advice on
my research. At dinner, we met many Japanese students with different backgrounds. I
realized that “diversity” is one of the impressive aspects of MIT.
September 11th Visiting William Green’s lab, Yuriy Roman’ lab, and Moungi Bawendi‘s lab
I visited Green’s lab, which studies fuels. I discussed with members who do
theoretical calculation. Then I visited Roman’s lab, which studies catalysts. They showed
me their lab equipment. I also visited Bawendi’s lab and hear about photovoltaic made of
quantum dots, a novel compound recently attracting wide attention.
September 12th Attending Japanese Class & Visiting Troy Van Voorhis’ lab
In Japanese Class, I spoke with MIT students in Japanese. There were many
student from Asia who could already speak more than one language. After the class, I
visited Voorhis’ lab, the lab of theoretical chemistry. We spoke with a staff member from
Japan and a female student from China. We talked not only about the research, but also
about carreer planning. It was very interesting for me because I had the chance to discuss
these issues with female students. They told me that there were many female students in
MIT.
‫ ە‬Summary
I visited five laboratories, including two theoretical labs and three experimental labs.
It was very interesting to hear about chemical research from many point of view. Through
the workshop, I was able to communicate with many students with different backgrounds.
Surprisingly, there were a lot of international students and female students. MIT seems to
be more open to the world than Japanese Universities.
17
Chemistry and Biotechnology
Hiroshi Yamagishi
‫ە‬1st Day MIT Campus Tour
࣭MIT students guided us around the campus. We walked around some
famous places and walked into some buildings to see classrooms and
laboratories. There were many benches and tables inside and outside of the
buildings for students to do work or discussions. A wireless LAN was
installed in the whole campus allowing students do their work anywhere
they want.
࣭Chapel on the campus has ceremonies not only for Protestants but also for
Catholics, Buddhists and so on. Seeing this place, I realized that MIT has a
variety of students who have different cultural backgrounds.
‫ە‬2nd, 3rd, 4th Day Lab Visit
࣭The instruments in the labs were not so different from the ones in our labs, I
felt the American and Japanese chemical laboratories were equally matched
in terms of their facilities. I was surprised to see that every room has at least
one blackboard or whiteboard, which enables them to discuss more readily.
It was also surprising that there were no walls or doors between labs. The
experimental rooms were connected, and in some cases, the neighboring
experimental desks belong to students in other labs. Seeing such rooms
which were incompatible with my image of the American culture, I realized
the importance of seeing things with my own eyes.
࣭I spoke with MIT students and postdoctoral fellows about our respective
researches. I was able to explain my research to them clearly and talked
about it, though it was not easy for me to understand their works which
were unfamiliar to me. Thanks to the opportunities I have had to do
presentations in English in my lab, I feel my English skills have developed,
but they are still not enough for me to fully understand people who speak
English.
‫ە‬Summary
࣭Seeing the MIT campus and communicating with the students was really
exciting. I came to understand that there are many things we will fail to
recognize if we cling to Japan. The time with students from the other
departments was also very precious for me.
18
Nuclear Engineering and Management
Mina Fujieda
‹ MIT Campus tour, Meeting with MIT students on Sept. 9
Activity㸸Communication, Discussion, Dinner party with MIT students
࣭Many chairs and desks were located in open spaces inside various buildings so that
students can discuss or do group activities freely. Most of the students at MIT live in
the dormitories, and can do their homework with seniors such as TAs in the dorm.
Moreover, professors and students carry out active discussions constantly. All of these
observations assured me that the MIT education environment is well-established, and
the Japanese education system could really learn from it.
‹ Attending a class, Meeting with Japanese MIT students on Sept. 10
Activity㸸Class “Overview of Nuclear Energy”, Dinner with Japanese MIT students
࣭Many friends around me said that they had a hard time understanding technical
terms in English; however, I am used to hearing those words at classes held in my
department (all classes took place in English), so I was able to follow without any
trouble. On the other hand, I realized the MIT students had a great enthusiasm for the
class and expressed their opinions whenever they were unclear about the content.
Hence, I believe that it is important for me to build my competence in English
discussion.
‹ Laboratory visit on Sept. 11
Activity㸸Visiting the Department of Radiation Oncology 㸦Massachusetts General
Hospital㸧
࣭The ratio of women to men among doctors and researchers in the U.S. is higher than
that of Japan, which consists of nearly 40% in the hospital. I was elated when
researchers expressed interest in my research. I believe investigating my topic in
Japan is better because heavy ion beams are not used in cancer treatments in the US.
Hence, much more research has been performed with higher quality facilities in Japan.
‹ Summary
I was interested in doing research abroad before the workshop; however, I realized
Japan is the best place to proceed with my current research topic due to better
experimental facilities. I also found out that Japan has the highest level of techniques
and knowledge in the nuclear energy field throughout the world because many
Japanese companies and technologies are introduced in classes and laboratories. I
think we have to keep developing these techniques. In terms of educating people who
can compete in the global market, the curriculums in my department seem to work
very effectively.
19
Bioengineering
Takayuki Ueki
From September 10th to 13th, I communicated with scientists belonging to some of the top
institutes in the world: MIT, Harvard and MGH. I would like to express my deep
appreciation for the support provided for this opportunity. Before this workshop I had
visited some foreign countries, however, I had had no opportunities to visit such
educational or research institutes, and it was a precious experience for me.
࣭Brief schedule
September 10th : Lab visit (Prof. Kimerling @MIT), Discussion and dinner with MIT
students
11th : Attending class (@MIT), Visiting Dr. Takaya (@MGH), Dinner with
Japanese students at MIT
12th : Lab visit (Prof. Khademhosseini @Harvard), Visiting Dr. Nakagawa
(@MGH)
13th : Attending Japanese class (@MIT), Lunch with MIT students, Visiting
Japanese students at MIT (@MIT), Visiting Media Lab (@MIT)
In the beginning, I felt uneasy about speaking English. However, it was a groundless fear.
Boston is a wonderful, beautiful and safe place, and almost all the people in Boston were
kind. The workshop was a meaningful and pleasant tour. (The only thing I suffered from
was jet lag.) In Boston, the buildings on the MIT campus were the most impressive.
Compared with UTokyo (which has many traditional buildings), the MIT campus has many
modern buildings. Stata Center has an especially strange look. I am majoring in
engineering and feel attracted to new things, so I longed for the campus life at MIT. In the
workshop, I had some opportunities to communicate with students of MIT. All of them have
busy daily lives because they have many things to do; homework, preparation of lessons,
review of lessons and so on. Another impressive aspect of MIT is that there are many
students from abroad especially from Asia. Many of them had lived in an English-speaking
world before entering university, so they were able to communicate in English fluently. I
felt the importance of improving my English ability. Americans consist of people who have
various cultural backgrounds, so there are many people who can speak more than two
languages. It is a different situation from Japan where the skill of speaking another
language is quite evaluated. It is because Japan is an island nation and there are few
opportunities to connect with foreigners. For learning language skills, it is important to use
the language (I think speaking is most important.). I think it is difficult for us Japanese to
master English even if we have studied for more than 10 years. In the workshop I spent
most of my time touring labs. Visiting foreign labs was an important experience for me.
Although there was not much difference in terms of facilities, I was shocked to see the
chemical laboratories contain the office and the laboratory in the same room. One positive
is the ease with which people can communicate with each other. A negative is that it is
likely difficult to concentrate on desk work. There is also the risk of a chemical reagent
flying onto a desk. Through communicating with researchers in the facilities, I particularly
felt a difference in the average abilities of people who are in the Ph.D course or have Ph.D
degree. Throughout this workshop, I experienced events that may affect the choices of my
life. Though it was only a short time of one week, the workshop was enjoyable and exciting.
20
Technology Management for Innovation
Yasunori Shinohara
Purpose
As a student majoring in management, I set 3 objectives for the visit to MIT and Harvard. The first
objective was to understand the difference between lectures in our department and that of MBA. The
second objective was to find the difference between students in our department and theirs, since it is
often pointed out that ‘Management’ can be studied only after you get job experience.MBA usually
requires students to have job experience whereas our department does not. Finally, I wanted to know
how students study so that I can decide whether to go abroad to study management further or to search
for a job after graduation.
Place & People
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
9
MIT campus tour
HBS campus tour & info session
MIT admission office
MIT Sloan MBA class (Professor Malloy)
HBS MBA class (Professor Hauser)
MIT Museum
MIT Media Lab.
Japanese students in MIT Sloan
Japanese student in MIT Economics
MIT undergraduate students
MIT graduate students
The difference between classes are explicit in three points: students’ active participation, professors’
careful preparation for classes and the reality of class materials. Students sit in designated seats and
present their name to the professor, which means that they always have to concentrate on the lecture in
case they are asked their opinion. In addition, students are very confident of themselves so they don’t
hesitate at all to express what they think. These seem to be the reasons why active participation is
encouraged. Additionally, professors carefully consider what they teach and how they deliver it to
students so that students who have professional job skills can be fully satisfied with the lecture.
Furthermore, the lecture material contains recent theories and news such as stock price developments of
the previous day, which strongly indicates to students that they are studying material that can be used in
the future and that what they learn is useful.
I could not find much difference between students from each respective institution. It is true that
judging only from the lectures I took may not be adequate but there were very few subjects that could
only be understood by students with job experience. Though degrees of participation during lectures
might be different, judging from the fact that MBA Japanese students tend to be quiet, the difference
seems to come from other factors such as nationality.
Finally, I started to consider studying abroad as a career option after graduation. Before this
workshop, I didn’t think about Ph. D course due to its poor reception in the Japanese labor market.
Nevertheless, through meeting students in economics and other graduate students, I remembered the fun
of studying and came to be interested in getting a Ph. D. It would be fascinating to pursue a Ph. D degree
in the US where I can get a fair evaluation for studying hard.
21
ႆᘍᴾ ᴾ
Center for International Affairs
ிʮ‫ܖٻ‬ᴾ ߻‫ܖ‬ኒᄂᆮᅹᴾ
‫׎‬ᨥ߻‫ܖ‬૙Ꮛਖ਼ᡶೞನᴾ
‫׎‬ᨥʙಅਖ਼ᡶἍὅἑὊᴾ
ẖᵏᵏᵑᵋᵖᵔᵓᵔᴾ
ிʮᣃ૨ʮғஜᣂᴾ ᵕᵋᵑᵋᵏᴾ
߻‫ܖ‬ᢿ ᵖ ӭ᫾ ᵏ ᨞ᴾ
ᵣᵋᵫᵿᶇᶊᵘᴾᶒᵋᶍᶇᶁᶃᵞᶒᵋᵿᶂᶋᵌᶒᵌᶓᵋᶒᶍᶉᶗᶍᵌᵿᶁᵌᶈᶎᴾ
Institute for Innovation in International
Engineering Education (IIIEE)
Graduate School of Engineering
The University of Tokyo
1st Floor, Faculty of Engineering Building No.8
7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Email: t-oice@t-adm.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp