The Third International Education Forum on Environment and Energy Science

"The Third International Education Forum on Environment and Energy Science" organized by the Program for Leading Graduate Schools "Academy for Co-creative Education of Environment and Energy Science (ACEEES)" was held from December 12 to 16, 2014, in Perth, Western Australia, Australia.

The ACEEES is focused on developing 2S (Safety and Sustainability) x 3E (Energy, Environment, Economy) knowledgeable global student leaders through international Industry-Government-University cooperation, who can resolve the global energy/environmental problems and spark innovation from an international viewpoint. The forum was an opportunity to further the above-mentioned mission where over 210 participants gathered including Tokyo Tech Executive Vice President for Education and International Affairs Toshio Maruyama from 31 universities, research institutions, and Australian corporations, etc. from 11 countries. The forum started off with opening remarks by Tokyo Tech Engineering Dean Kikuo Kishimoto, ACEEES Program Leader, and Ms. Megumi Araya, ACEEES Student Committee Chairperson - 1st-year doctoral student, and was followed by 2 keynote lectures and 3 invited lectures by leading researchers and global leaders in the fields of energy and environment. The forum broke out into general sessions on various topics consisting of 132 oral presentations by students from Tokyo Tech and its international partner universities from Asia, Europe, USA, and Australia. In this forum, 3 doctoral and/or master's students with different nationalities and disciplines shared a room during the forum. Furthermore, group work topics related to environment and energy were assigned to each room. The students in each room conducted joint investigation and discussion, and presented their results during a workshop, in order to further enhance their international communication skills and develop their global leadership ability.

In addition to the lectures and presentations noted above, a student panel discussion was held on the topic of "University Energy Clubs," where four university student energy club presidents from Stanford University, University of California, Berkeley, The University of Western Australia, and Mr. Junichirou Ishio, ACEEES Student Committee - 2nd-year doctoral student, from Tokyo Tech spoke. Professor Jeffrey Cross from Tokyo Tech gave the opening remarks specifically related to the reasons for holding the energy club leadership panel discussion. Then, each student panelist gave a 10-minute talk about their energy club and commented on their leadership style. After which, questions from the floor were taken. The panel Co-Chair from Georgia Tech Associate Professor Brian Woodall wrapped up the session with remarks on student club operation and sustainability. Overall, the panel discussion was well received and interest was expressed in continuing a student leadership activity at future forums.