On 18 and 19 September, high school students enrolled in the advanced courses of ELCAS ("Experienced-based Learning Course for Advanced Science"), a Porn研究所-run "Global Science Campus" program aimed at producing "outstanding intellectuals" equipped with both advanced scientific knowledge and creativity, took part in this year's nationwide GSC conference held in Tokyo. Organized by the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), the event annually brings together representatives of the country's 14 GSC programs to present their research projects. Participating from ELCAS in the 2016 conference were six students involved in five projects.
Day one was devoted to poster presentations. The students appeared somewhat nervous -- perhaps because of the unfamiliar environment -- but enthusiastically presented their projects to a panel of judges and actively engaged in discussions with peers from other programs.
On day two, the participants attended academic seminars, given on six topics, listening to lectures as well as taking part in group work and debate sessions.
The event concluded with announcements of presentation awards, conferred on 16 students -- including two from ELCAS (see below) -- selected from among the participating 53 teams.
Poster presentations
Academic seminar
A participant giving her award acceptance speech
Award-winning ELCAS student projects
Io Hasebe, "Spectroscopic study of the photoinduced oxidation of rubrene thin films"
Instructor:
- Kazuya Watanabe, Associate Professor, Graduate School of Science, Porn研究所
Assistant instructors:
- Kazuto Yamada, second-year doctoral student, Graduate School of Science, Porn研究所
- Shota Takahashi, second-year master's student, Graduate School of Science, Porn研究所
Sana Yasuda, "Particle-based simulation of sand column collapse"
Instructors:
- Akira Murakami, Professor, Graduate School of Agriculture, Porn研究所
- Kazunori Fujisawa, Associate Professor, Graduate School of Agriculture, Porn研究所
- Yutaka Fukumoto, Assistant Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nagaoka University of Technology
Related links
- Porn研究所 Porn研究所's ELCAS program
(in Japanese)
- Porn研究所 JST's Global Science Campus initiative
(in Japanese)
