Summer School 2014

Tohoku University invited high school teachers and prospective students to Future Global Leadership (FGL) Summer School again this year, from the 4th to 6th of August. 21 Participants joined the event from 7 high schools in China, Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia.

During the three-day program, participants got detailed information on Tohoku University, FGL courses, the application process, and even the city of Sendai.

On the 2^nd and 3^rd day, participants took a tour of the labs in each faculty of the FGL program: the Advanced Molecular Chemistry Course (AMC), Applied Marine Biology Course (AMB) and International Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Course (IMAC-U).

This is one of the labs in AMB. Students are working on research in the field of Integrative Aquatic Biology.

Students also learnt Japanese flower arrangement (Ikebana). This Ikebana class was taught by Prof. Chen. She is a professor of Nanomechanics in the School of Engineering of our university!

Thank you so much for joining the event. See you again!

Student interview: Sirinda Khurewattanakul of IMAC-U

Sirinda Khurewattanakul

 An IMAC-U student Sirinda Khurewattanakul is spending her 3rd year at Tohoku University. Having moved from Bangkok Thailand, she has gone through the first two years acquiring a solid foundation in liberal education on Kawauchi Campus. Now, she mainly stays on Aobayama Campus to focus on experiments and specialized classes, and says that the new environment is very different from previous places. “Before, almost all students at lectures were international students, but now I get to know quite a few Japanese students of my own age through a laboratory, which is nice” she says. She belongs to Prof. Kosuge’s system robotics lab, where there are more female students than at other laboratories. Joining the department’s field trip let her get to know the other female students well. Asked about the Japanese students, she says “they are always very helpful, whether male or female. If handouts are in Japanese, they explain them for me.”
 To our surprise, Sirinda’s first choice for her field was not robotics at the beginning. “I was drawn to the computer field, but rather than just dealing with information and serial numbers, assembling stuff and machines was more fun, I found,” she said. In fact, her knowledge of computer and programming helps her very much when working on robots and mechanisms. As is often said, everything is of use! “I still need to know more about programming for controlling mechanics…” She seems to have been, and still is, on the right truck.
 IMAC-U students actually participate in a program called Team-Based Engineering from sophomore year, in which Sirinda studied about silicon dioxide. There, doing experiments with a team was the main purpose, and she had to wear special white cover-alls, and get air-showered to become completely clean to prevent the experiments from being contaminated. So students can do fully-fledged experiments from an early stage. According to her, some other laboratories let their student participate in an international competition, and they were able to fly to the US where the competition was held.
 While being super busy with her school work, Sirinda thinks of what she will do in the future. “After receiving a bachelor’s degree, I want to go for a master’s degree, then work at some Japanese company in Thailand.” She has a clear picture of her future self. Though a student on an English degree course, she speaks Japanese quite well. Thanks to the new environment with many Japanese students, her abilities are improving more and more. With brilliant equipment and tools added to her competence, Sirinda will be able to become an outstanding female engineer.

University Fair in Russia

Last week, the 6^th university fair in Russia was held. This event was hosted by Tohoku University, and was realized thanks to cooperation from Novosibirsk State University and M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University.

On the rainy day of October 8^th, the fair started in Novosibirsk. There were five participating universities—Chiba University, Hokkaido University, Meiji University, Tokushima University, and us. Our President Prof. Susumu Satomi also participated in it, and gave a speech at its opening ceremony. Although it took place on a weekday, many students came to the event. In addition, many of them have been studying Japanese, and even spoke Japanese well! So it is no wonder they were looking for a faculty of Asian studies to enhance their knowledge of Japan.

Notice on “Introductory Seminar Presentation” by FGL students

Madoka Hazemi

On next Friday (9.27), three of our students will participate in an event where they will report the results of their studies. This “Introductory Seminar Presentation” (「基礎ゼミ発表会」) was created to give students opportunities to interact with each other beyond their own departments. The presenters from the FGL Program will be Madoka Hazemi of AMC, and Dewi Setyaningrum and Freeha Khalid of AMB. They prepared for it during summer vacation.

They will discuss what they learned through “Selected topics in cell biology” by Dr. Martin Robert. The title of the presentation by Madoka and Dewi is “Effect Colchicine in Cell Development”, while Freeha’s presentation is “Life in an Eye of Science.” In addition to oral presentations by the three of them, Madoka and Dewi will do a poster session too.
"I hope I can gain new experience through this event," Dewi says.

Anyone can attend this event and listen to the presentations, and top performers will be decided by the attendees’ vote. So please come!!

Freeha Khalid

《Oral Presentation》

Time and Date：September 27, 2013 (Fri)

13:30 to 15:30（expected）

Venue：#B200 at Lecture B building on Kawauchi North Campus

Dewi Setyaningrum

《Poster Session》

Time and Date：September 27, 2013 (Fri)

15:40 to 16:10（expected）

※The poster session will be held after the oral presentation is finished.

Poster Display：September 27, 2013 (Fri), 13:30 to October 4 (Fri) 12:00

Venue: Display space on hallway, 2^nd fl. at Lecture B building on Kawauchi North Campus

FGL Summer School 2013, VISIT US!

 Tohoku University’s summer school, “Future Global Leadership Program, Tohoku University Summer School 2013: VISIT US!” was held From August 5 to 7. It was a three-day program for high school teachers and prospective students, and nine high schools from six countries (Indonesia, Pakistan, Poland, Russia, Singapore and Thailand) participated in this event.

One-Day Trip to Kaminoyama and Zao

The best season has come for cherry-picking.This year’s place for that was Kaminoyama in south Yamagata prefecture. This is a hot spring area accessible from Sendai, so FGL students and professors took a day trip there by bus.The place where we went is called “Takahashi Fruits Land”. There were several types of cherries there such as Satonishiki, Benishuhou and Napoleon. All of them were very sweet and delicious, but their textures were all different from each other. Some cherries had a very dark color like purple red. 

University Fair in Kuala Lumpur

Tohoku University participated in the University Fair at Methodist College Kuala Lumpur on June 29^th. 

New Professor!!

Dr. Martin Robert arrived at Tohoku University in April, and is in charge of two lectures this semester.  Here is an interview with Dr. Robert.

Where are you from?
I’m originally from Montreal, Canada.

School visit in Malaysia 2013

A presentation on Tohoku University’s FGL program was given in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in March. This was our first visit and it was one of the most fruitful, with many discoveries.

Student Interview: Chanon Pornrungroj, Advanced Molecular Chemistry

The second-year student Chanon Pornrungroj has a dream—to do satisfying desk study as well as experiments.  Tohoku University is committed to the “Research First” principle, and when Chanon heard about this, and about the existence of the English degree course, he felt ready to apply.  After acceptance by the university, however, his family members and friends were concerned about his departure because of the Great East Japan Earthquake and the radioactivity.  Nevertheless, he decided not to waste this opportunity, and his ardent professors and kind senpai (older students) made his study environment perfect.  “Now I feel very comfortable being here from every aspect,” he says.  Behind this remark is the fact that he tried to meet more people by joining the Tohoku University Foreign Students Association. Through it he met many people, from international to Japanese students.

Classroom Visitation

Since the fall semester is almost over, we visited some classes to see the professors and students in January.  At some classes, the atmosphere was very relaxed, while at others students seemed more eager to listen to what their professors were saying.

In the “Linear Algebra” class, Prof. Igor Trushin was teaching ardent students who were working as hard as possible to prepare for an exam.  The class was mixed, with both international and Japanese students, so there were almost 30 people in the classroom. 

School visit in Turkey 2012

So far, the FGL program has been presented at many high schools all over the world.  In November, our visit extended to Istanbul and Ankara, Turkey.

We presented at two schools in each city this time.

At Istanbul Lisesi, we were welcomed by 50 students who sincerely listened to our presentation.  

Reminder: FGL Application Deadline is January 31!

Happy New Year! We hope you are having a great January, and that this year brings you health, happiness, and successful entrance into the college of your choice (^-^) On that note, if you are considering applying to the Tohoku University Future Global Leadership undergraduate program in 2012, please keep the following in mind:

1. There are two application deadlines:

• 1st Application Period: September 1 (Thu.), 2011-January 31 (Tue.), 2012
• 2nd Application Period : February 1 (Wed.)-May 31 (Thu.), 2012

If you want to apply to FGL in 2012, you may apply during either of the above periods. However, if possible we highly recommend that you apply during the first period.

2. Undergraduate students all undergo the same basic application process (see here for application guidelines). For Graduate students, application deadlines and procedures vary for each course. Graduate students should apply directly through their prospective program (see here for a list of programs).

3. Scholarships are available for outstanding students. Furthermore, FGL undergraduate students receive priority for the Tohoku University President Fellowship for International Undergraduate Students.

-FGL Staff

A (Belated) Welcome to 2011's New FGL Undergraduates!

This autumn, Future Global Leadership welcomed some 17 international students into its undergraduate programs. Descriptions of the courses and pictures of the new recruits are as shown below.

The AMC Welcome Ceremony

AMC: The Department of Chemistry in the Faculty of Science offers the Advanced Molecular Chemistry Course. Most students enrolled in this course are assigned to the Institute for Materials Research, the Institute of Multidisciplinary Research for Advanced Materials, and Advanced Institute for Materials Research from the latter half of their third year to prepare their graduation theses. 

This year's new AMB students

AMB: The Faculty of Agriculture offers the FGL Bachelor of Agricultural Science degree in Applied Marine Biology. It combines a solid general education with a practical grounding in marine biology through stimulating research in the laboratory and in the field. 

IMAC-U: The International Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Course undergraduate course (IMAC-U) is specifically designed for international students. Students are required to learn technical drawing and to familiarize themselves with experimental procedures and the use of machine tools. TAs will coach international students, as necessary. 

New IMAC-U students and their professors

-FGL Staff

November 26, 2011 Trip to Yamadera

November 26, 2011 Trip to Yamadera

The FGL Program organized a trip to Yamadera, a temple in nearby Yamagata Prefecture, for the FGL undergraduate students. The Yamadera area is one of the many places in Tohoku where the Japanese haiku master Matsuo Basho (1644- 1694) stopped off to write a poem during his wanderings.

The conical hat the student in the below photo is wearing is the traditional headwear of “ohenro-san” (pilgrims) who travel to famous temples, such as Yamadera, on foot, or (more recently) by bus.

In addition to taking in the sights around the temple, the students attended a pottery workshop where they were able to create their own dishes or mugs.

The autumn foliage was gorgeous, and the surrounding mountains already had a light dusting of snow. It was very typical autumn weather for this part of Japan.

 The students also held a friendly photo competition. It was a close race, but eventually this photo was selected as the winner!

Almost every town in Japan is famous for some kind of food, sweet, or style of cooking, so no excursion is complete without sampling the local cuisine!

-FGL Staff