Special Committee on Globalization of Education & Research, Faculty of Science & Engineering, Iwate University

K E N G U R O 季 刊 報 vol.18
Quarterly

3D Ganchan: Produced
by an on-campus company, MMM

Issued on March 31, 2019

Special Feature‼ Three Students Visited Saskatchewan University in Canada!!
Starting in 2013, Saskatchewan University in Canada has been hosting Iwate University students in a short-term overseas researchinternship. This year, three students spent three weeks from October 2 to November 10 to experience a local research environment.
They will share how they felt through the various useful experiences they had including the advancement in their research work and theimprovement of their English in the science field.

★ Momoko Chiba, Materials Science and Engineering, M １
Research about morphological evaluation of hollow Fe3O4 nanoparticles at Prof. Szpunar lab. of Department of Mechanical Engineering !
Just three weeks of living overseas has completely changed my motivation toward research work and my view of othercountries. Everything was new to me from research work to working with lab mates, living with the host family, andCanadian culture. While I felt lost or had to struggle sometimes, the overall experience was pure fun. My lab mates took
me on a campus tour when they had time and told me about
the food court that sold sushi. My host family treated me likea member of the family from the moment they met me at the
airport. The biggest difference I noticed during these three weeks
of experience as a researcher was the daily schedule. In Canada,
lab work starts in the morning. Many researchers get to go homeby 5:00 pm and enjoyed the evening. In contrast, researchers inJapan engage in their research work until midnight. I liked how
With the members of Prof.
they enjoyed their lives in Canada and I also like the dedication ofWith her host family
Szpunar’s Lab.
Japanese researchers and how they try to improve each other.

★ Hiromasa Yamazaki, Electrical, Electronic, and Communication Engineering, M1
Research about feedback control with neural networks at Prof. Gupta and Bui lab. of Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering !
I never lived abroad before this internship at Saskatchewan University. My English was the worst among the three students
from Iwate University, so it was really difficult to communicate with non-Japanese people all in English. I tried to carry anelectronic dictionary and smartphone to look up words immediately when anything was unclear so that I could find a key
for advancing my research work and achieve something,which was after all the biggest focus of my internship.
Also, I tried repeatedly to communicate my ideas withwords and gestures when I talked to the locals andgradually increased communications by making myself
understood and conveying my feelings. I think it was agreat improvement for me. This internship was a great
opportunity for me to have a broader perspective beyond
the research domain and think about different aspects
With a foreign student who was so
Communicating with enrolledof life.
Japanese students

supportive★ Yuya Shoji, Electrical, Electronic, and Communication Engineering, M1
Research about real time measurements with analog-digital converter at Prof. Whid lab. of Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering !
I applied to this three-week internship at Saskatchewan University as I thought it would be a rare opportunity for me to stayin an English-speaking country no matter how short that was. From the moment I arrived in Canada, I was overwhelmedby how fast the locals talked and I felt like I was ignorant of the world! In other words, I was able to realize how small theworld I was in before is. So, in that sense, this experiencemeant a lot to me. It was an eventful three weeks.
Among others, the farewell party on the last day ofinternship made the strongest impression on me. Not
only Japanese and Canadians, but also students from
China, India, and Ecuador gathered. It was a great
opportunity for me to talk to them in English and feelan international atmosphere first hand.
I hope more students get to have an opportunity likethis. It was actually my first time abroad. I thought
I knew about internationalization but the actual
experience left a strong impression. I hope more Sightseeing with Sebastian who is from
Farewell Party
people will have a chance to experience this.
Ecuador and was home staying same timeSpecial Feature !!

Ten Iwate University Students Visited
Hanbat National University in Korea

As part of a student exchange program, ten graduate and undergraduate students visited Hanbat National University
in Korea for a week from October 29 to November 3, 2018. The program was a sequel to the program at Iwate University
in August 2018 and designed to encourage deeper exchange through mutual visits (the program in August 2018 wasfeatured in the newsletter vol.17). This time, students engaged in a joint PBL (joint Problem Based Learning), field trip to
local businesses, and cultural site tours.

★ Day 1 and 2: PBL and Final Presentation

Working for
PBL(picture left).
The discussion
was taken placesmooth since thestudents did it
once in last Augustin Iwate Univ.

The awarded
team for the best
PBL and Prof. Lee(picture left). Ms.
Hyewoon Kim, Ms.
Sohyun Lee, Mr.
Takumi Watari and
Mr. Hideto Nobuta
from the left.

The themes of the joint PBL are 1) Applied technology of artificial
intelligence, 2) Systems for creating, storing, and saving energy forthe future, 3) Power generation, 4) Reduction of oceanic pollution,and 5) Controlling algae for improving water quality. Students
were divided into mixed groups of four or five Japanese andKorean students based on themes and have repeated discussions
on SNS to find out solutions from a science and engineering
perspective for the last two months after the program in August.
The morning of Day 1 included an interim debrief session in which
each team gave a ten-minute presentation. Students engaged in
the joint PBL in the afternoon following the mini-lectures by four
instructors from Iwate University and Hanbat National University.
Students reviewed and redesigned the solutions based on theadvice they received from instructors from both universities
during the interim debrief session.
On Day 2, students made their materials for the final
presentation scheduled in the evening. The presentation was 25
minutes long and had to be given in English. All teams presented
unique ideas including the technology to apply AI to the selectionof every day outfits and a method of controlling the growth ofalgae with ultrasound to prevent water quality deterioration. As
a result of voting by the instructors, the team that presented theidea of effective air cooling and power generation using a water
circulation system in a building won the first prize (see the photoon the left). After the final presentation, there was a dinner party
at a barbecue restaurant in Daejeon. Students seemed relieved
after the presentation and enjoyed each other's company in arelaxed mood.

★ Day 4 and 5: Visit to KIMM, Internship at Labs!
Daejeon, where Hanbat National University is located,
is known as a hub of leading-edge companies andresearch institutions. Students visited the Korea Instituteof Machinery (KIMM) in the morning of Day 4 and learned
about state-of-the-art machine processing technologies
and future energy technologies. The KIMM boasts the firstcommercial maglev in Korea (second in the world) in its
premise and students got to ride it. The maglev was loadedwith a number of cutting-edge technologies including awindow that turns opaque as soon as it enters a residential
area. After the tour around KIMM they visited the Bank of
Korea Museum and learned about the country's currency
and the history of minting.
For a day and a half from the afternoon of Day 4 to theend of Day 5, Iwate University students had internships
separately at the labs in their respective fields such as
chemistry, machinery, electric and electronic engineering,and materials. Unlike their earlier program, they
independently engaged in the lab work but they were able
to collaborate with lab members with high spirits.

The exhibition
hall of history
at Hanbat Univ.
(picture right).
Prof. Lee eagerly
explained to us.

Students visited the History Hall in Hanbat National University
and took a tour around labs in the morning of Day 3. The
History Hall exhibits the steps that the university took from its
predecessor, founded in 1927, to the current Hambat National
University along with the history of Korea and of the KoreaJapan relationship. In the afternoon, they went to Buyeo, which
is an hour west of Daejeon by bus. Buyeo is an ancient cityof Baekje and has numerous historical sites. Students visited
Jeongnimsaji Temple and National Museum to learn and feel theculture and history of Korea.

Korea Baekje
Cultural Complex
in Buyeo (pictureleft). It is a hugehistorical theme
park and was
built in 2010.
TV crew wasshooting TV
dorama there.

In front of
P o r c e l a i n
Levitation Railway(picture right).
You can see it in
Incheon Airport,
Seoul, too

At Prof. Lee’schemistry lab.
(picture right).
Our dean, Prof.
Funazaki is on
the left part ofthe picture.

★ Day 6: To Seoul
In the morning of Day 6, which was the last day of the
program, students moved to Seoul by bus with Hambat
students. After independent Seoul city tours in two groups,
they visited the Joseon era Changdeok Palace together. As
it was the season of fall colors, and the already picturesquegarden and palace were even more beautiful with thecolors and presented gorgeous and spectacular scenery.
After the last Korean meal in Seoul, students departed forJapan after a lingering farewell.

★ Day 3: Cultural Site Tours
Drinking together
after the lastpresentation(picture left).
Looks like they
were having somuch fun.

２０１8. 10. 29 ～ 11. 3

Sacrilegia Palacein Soul (pictureright). The place
was crowded
w i t h m a n ytourists since it
was a coloredmaple season.

Participant's Voice
Ms. Yumi Kawamura, Regional and Community
Design (Civil and Environ. Eng.) M1: This time,
I had a sense of further fulfillment since it wassecond time to meet those Korean students.
Talking about the lab internship, it became avery meaningful time for me. The members wereso generous to explain and exchange ideas
and opinions. I’d like to take advantage of thisexperience to develop my research works.

Ms. Lee Sohyeon, Creative Convergence Engineering B3:
Before this activities, I thought Japanese friend’s
country and my country were different. But I felt it was
not different from what I felt in Korean peers. It wasn't
awkward at all and it wasn't different from us at all. I
was so sorry to break up with these friends. I think it
was a great activity to get such good friends, to sharethoughts with foreign friends and to interact with eachother in culture.

Mr. Keita Hayasaka, Electrical Engineering andComputer Science B4: One thing I felt throughthis program was that there is not muchdifference in thoughts between us and Korean
people. There were so much in common, likehobbies or experiences. It was so difﬁcult to me
communicating with them in English. But I noticed
then, it is important to express myself to let themunderstand me. At first, one week seemed longto me, but it came out to be a really short timeafterwards.

Mr. Jeon Junyoung, Civil & Environmental Engineering B4:
Three months later, we met again. On the ﬁrst day, we
prepared a presentation for three months. The nextday, we finally made the final announcement. I was
nervous because the other teams did well, but we
did our very best. Although we did not win the prize,
we did well enough. I had an opportunity to makeJapanese friends and talk about themes. It was areally good experience and memories.

★ Eight Iwate University Students Visited King Mongkut's
University of Technology Thonburi and Ladkrabang in Thailand!
The Faculty of Science and Engineering sent eight undergraduate students to King Mongkut's University of Technology
Thonburi and Ladkrabang in Thailand from August 24 to September 15, 2018. Two of them were also at Furukawa Fitel(a subsidiary of a Japanese company, Furukawa Electric) and another two were in Sumida Electric (a subsidiary of Sumida
Corporation) and had valuable experiences. Interns, Yohei Sato and Takuto Kikuchi will share their stories.

★ Yohei Sato, Electrical, Electronic, and Communication Engineering, B4
I was in two completely different programs in Thailand. One was a training program at a university lab and the other was
an internship program at a company's factory. I had a week-long short research internship at a science and engineering
university called King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang (KMITL) in Bangkok where I experienced research
projects in various fields that I had never had a chance to know. Although it was difficult to get a deeper understandingof each project as it was a short period, I was able to experience many fields that I didn't know about and gain a broader
perspective through this program.
I also had a two-week training at a factoryof Sumida Electric Thailand. First, I had tothink about the concept of the activities that I
wanted to engage in and made specific plansin various directions. The main theme of mywork was the improvement of production
efficiency and I had a chance to present myproposals in a video conference to a numberof participants.
All of the communications were done inEnglish during this internship. This wasa great opportunity for me to gain an
Prof. Daibo, Mr. Yohei Sato, Ms.
Laboratory at KMITL
international way of thinking.
Shiho Ichikawa, from the left

★ Takuto Kikuchi, Electrical, Electronic, and Communication Engineering, B3
I was an intern under Dr. Orapin Kerdchoechuen at King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi. I'm a student
in the electrical field but I was also interested in the application of plasma to the biological field. So, I was given achance to study biology during this internshipand engage in an experiment to "disinfectthe surface of a mango with UV rays" in her
lab. Dr. Orapin and her graduate students
were kind enough to carefully explain theexperiment in English to me who had almost
no knowledge in biology. Thanks to them, theexperiment went smoothly. They also talked
to me whenever they had time and I was able
to improve my communication skills in English.
I'm grateful to Dr Orapin and the membersof her lab who gave me such a previous
Taking lunch with Prof. Orapin andopportunity.
Presenting his works in English
her students

Bulletin Board

The editor's note
★ Assoc. Professor Yoshihara gave us a help

★ Exchange program with Hanbat University and Internship programto University of Saskatchewan are going to be held next year period too

for editing this issue. We are really gratefulThose two programs we introduced on this quarterly: Exchange

professors or students in this KENGURO

program with Hanbat University and internship program to
University of Saskatchewan will carry out in 2019, too. We will
start accepting applicants in May (Hanbat Univ.) and in August(Saskatchewan Univ.) respectively. Those who are interested inparticipating these programs, watch out the advertisements will be
putting on the wall.

to him. We are going to carry those brilliant
quarterly in 2019 continuously.

Editor：Special Committee on Globalization of Education &Research, Faculty of Science & Engineering,
Email: kenguro@iwate-u.ac.jp
TEL: 019-621-6405