Tenure-Track Faculty Open Symposium Held on February 4

Past Events

Published: March 6, 2014

The Tenure-Track Faculty Open Symposium was held on February 4 at the Ookayama Campus to present the research results of Tokyo Tech's tenure-track faculty members.

In the tenure-track system, fixed-term faculty members are recruited for a period of five to seven years. Should their research results receive recognition during the term, they are offered tenured positions as faculty members. The system is widely adopted in universities in the U.S.A.

Under this system, young faculty members obtain opportunities to independently conduct research. They are expected to achieve results by taking advantage of this opportunity to explore their unique ideas. Tokyo Tech implemented the system in 2006 and has hired 27 tenure-track faculty members to date.

Presentations and Q&A

In the tenure-track system, it is very important to fairly assess the research results of each faculty member. The Tenure-Track Faculty Open Symposium is held annually as one of the opportunities for fair assessment. 2014 marks the eighth such symposium. Presentations of research results and Q&A sessions are all held in English, which has not changed since the first symposium.

Six tenure-track faculty members made presentations this year, and their expertise ranged from organic and polymeric materials and mechanical engineering to communications and computer engineering. Each presentation represented major developments in their research over the past year.

Presentations by alumni were also given. Associate Professor Andres D. Maturana from Nagoya University and Initiative Research Scientist Jonathan Heddle from RIKEN made presentations. They reported on their research developments after having left Tokyo Tech.

At the closing of the symposium, Executive Vice President Kiyoshi Okada, the executive administrator in charge of the tenure-track system, delivered a speech on the grand design of the Tokyo Tech tenure-track system.

Tokyo Tech supports and promotes the tenure-track system as a fair and transparent personnel system for recruiting and cultivating excellent young researchers, and aims to further develop this system.

List of Presenters

Hidetoshi Matsumoto	Associate Professor, Department of Organic and Polymeric Materials, Graduate School of Science and Engineering
Yuhei Hayamizu	Associate Professor, Department of Organic and Polymeric Materials, Graduate School of Science and Engineering
Takako Yoshida	Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Sciences and Engineering, Graduate School of Science and Engineering
Yoichi Murakami	Tenure-track Assistant Professor, Global Edge Institute
Hiroya Yamada	Tenure-track Assistant Professor, Global Edge Institute
Nicodimus Retdians	Tenure-track Assistant Professor, Global Edge Institute
Andres D. Maturana	Associate Professor, Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sciences, Nagoya University
Jonathan Heddle	Initiative Research Scientist, Heddle Initiative Research Unit, RIKEN

Tokyo Tech's tenure-track system

Contact
Office of the Tenure-Track System
tenure.track@jim.titech.ac.jp

Group photo: Executive Vice President Okada, tenure-track faculty members and administrative staff