Tokyo Tech News
Tokyo Tech News
Published: September 12, 2016
The Tokyo Tech Summer Program was held from June to August 2016 to provide top students from leading research universities in Asia, Europe, and the US with opportunities to experience education and research at Tokyo Tech.
Inaugurated in 2016, the Summer Program offers a four-week intensive course-oriented program for undergraduates, and a longer research-oriented program for undergraduate and graduate students. This year, 31 students ranging from 2nd-year undergraduates to doctoral students from 16 universities participated.
Summer Program participants with Tokyo Tech students
The four-week Course-oriented Program, held from July 4 to 29, offered 12 participants intensive courses including Environment & Energy, Engineering Design, and Communicating Science and Engineering in Society (CSES), as well as Modern Japanese Architecture and The Age of Ethical Crisis for Professional Scientists. Participants also took part in Survival Japanese, an introductory Japanese language course for Summer Program students.
Site visit to Kawasaki Thermal Power Station
Site visits, conducted as part of the Environment & Energy course, introduced students to cutting-edge Japanese technologies in the areas of waste management and power generation. At the Kawasaki Thermal Power Station, students observed technologies used in high-efficiency gas combined cycle power generation. A visit to the Tsurumi Plant in Yokohama featured a facility tour and explanation of integrated solid waste management strategies and renewable energy technologies employed by Yokohama City.
On July 19, students from Tokyo Tech High School of Science and Technology joined the Communicating Science and Engineering in Society class. Summer Program participants tested their leadership and intercultural communication skills as they challenged the high school students to participate in English language-based discussions on green energy and sustainability.
Discussion with Tokyo Tech High School students
The Research-oriented Program, offered for six or ten weeks, provided a total of 19 students with opportunities to pursue individual summer research projects under the guidance of Tokyo Tech faculty members. Project topics this year included environmental application of photochemistry, information visualization and social network analysis, and semiconductor devices.
For those interested in supplementing their research, the introductory-level Japanese language course, Survival Japanese, and a course on advanced Japanese technologies, High Tech Japan, were also offered.
On August 10, the final day of both Research-oriented Program sessions, participants shared thought-provoking presentations on their summer research projects and enthusiastically discussed their experiences at Tokyo Tech.
A variety of activities were offered for participating students in both the course-oriented and research-oriented programs to learn about and experience Japanese culture during their stay at Tokyo Tech. The highlight for many was a two-day field trip to Nikko, an area famous for its beautiful landscape and the Toshogu shrine, known as the mausoleum of the shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu. Cultural and social activities organized with Japanese and international student groups at Tokyo Tech also provided opportunities for Summer Program participants to integrate with local students outside the research labs and classrooms.
Tea ceremony and kimono experience
Tokyo Orienteering with SAGE, Student Association for Global Exchange.
The Tokyo Tech Summer Program is a university-wide program for students from designated universities in Asia, Europe, and the US. It is conducted as part of Tokyo Tech's Top Global University Project with funding from the Japanese government.
Contact
International Student Exchange Division
Exchange Project Group
E-mail : summer.program@jim.titech.ac.jp
© Tokyo Institute of Technology. All rights reserved.
