Forty-one U.S. graduate students in science and engineering are participating in the 1998 Summer Institute in Japan Program from June 24 - August 21, 1998. Including this year's participants, a total of 466 students have been supported by this program since it began in 1990.
The Summer Institute Program evolved from discussions of the Task Force on Access of the U.S.-Japan Agreement on Cooperation in Research and Development in Science and Technology, and was established to provide U.S. science and engineering graduate students first-hand experience in a Japanese research environment, intensive Japanese language training, and an introduction to the science and science-policy infrastructure of Japan. The goals of the program are to introduce U.S. graduate students to Japanese science and engineering research laboratories and to initiate personal relationships that will better enable students to collaborate with Japanese counterparts in the future. The long-term goal of the program is to increase the number of American scientists and engineers who are both familiar with the culture and language of Japan, and the research being conducted in Japan in their fields of expertise.
The program is jointly supported by the Japanese government agencies concerned with the Task Force on Access (TFA) under the U.S.-Japan Agreement for S&T Cooperation, the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), U.S. Agricultural Research Service (ARS), and the National Science Foundation (NSF). NSF and the Science and Technology Agency (STA) of Japan serve as implementing agencies, and Japan International Science and Technology Exchange Center (JISTEC) provides administrative and logistical assistance to participants while they are in Japan.
Participants in the 1998 Summer Institute first go through a 7-day intensive course on "survival Japanese," followed by 7 days of 2-hour Japanese language lessons each weekday morning. Students will be integrated into on-going research projects at the host institutes and are supervised by Japanese host researchers. Students are encouraged to visit other laboratories doing research in their disciplinary areas. An overnight trip to Nikko area, Kabuki and tea ceremony, and a series of lectures are also scheduled during the program.
Host institutes for the program include Japanese government, university and corporate laboratories. Among the 41 participants (30 male and 11 female students) selected from 24 U.S. universities, 14 will work at laboratories in Tsukuba, 25 at laboratories in Tokyo and its environs, and 2 at laboratories outside Tokyo/Tsukuba areas including Kyoto and Gifu. Ten students are hosted by corporate laboratories, 12 by laboratories at national universities, 16 by Japanese government institutes and 3 by semi-governmental and non-profit research organization. Lists of host institutes, students' home universities and students' area of research are attached.
The application deadline for the Summer Institute is December 1. Graduate students who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents in science or engineering, including biomedical and agricultural sciences, may apply. Application materials and information are available via the NSF/Tokyo Homepage (http://www.twics.com/~nsftokyo/home.html). For further information, please contact NSF's Japan and Korea Program as follows:
Japan and Korea Program, Room 935
Division of International Programs
National Science Foundation
4201 Wilson Boulevard
Arlington, VA 22230
Phone: 703-306-1701
FAX: 703-306-0474
E-mail: JKPinfo@nsf.gov
| Host Institutes for Summer Institute '98 | |
| National Police Agency (1): | |
|---|---|
| National Research Institute of Police Science | 1 |
| Science and Technology Agency (1): | |
| National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention | 1 |
| Ministry of Education, Science, Sports, and Culture (13): | |
| High Energy Accelerator Research Organization | 1 |
| Tokyo Institute of Technology | 2 |
| Tokyo Medical and Dental University | 4 |
| University of Tokyo | 6 |
| Environment Agency (2): | |
| National Institute for Environmental Studies | 2 |
| Ministry of Health and Welfare (2): | |
| National Institute of Public Health | 1 |
| National Rehabilitation Center for the Disabled | 1 |
| Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (4): | |
| Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute | 1 |
| National Agriculture Research Center | 1 |
| National Institute of Agro-Environmental Sciences | 1 |
| National Research Institute of Agricultural Economics | 1 |
| Ministry of International Trade and Industry (3): | |
| Mechanical Engineering Laboratory | 3 |
| Ministry of Construction (2): | |
| Building Research Institute | 1 |
| Public Works Research Institute | 1 |
| Semi-Governmental Research Organizations (3): | |
| Japan Marine Science & Technology Center | 1 |
| Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuel Development Corporation | 1 |
| The Institute of Physical and Chemical Research | 1 |
| Corporate Laboratories (10): | |
| ATR Interpreting Telecommunications Research Laboratories | 1 |
| Fujisawa Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. | 1 |
| Hitachi Ltd. | 1 |
| Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. | 1 |
| Kajima Corporation | 1 |
| Nikken Sekkei Ltd. | 1 |
| NTT | 2 |
| Tokuyama Corp. | 1 |
| Urban Project Machine Co., Ltd. | 1 |
| Home Universities of Summer Institute '98 Students | |
| Duke University | 1 |
| Fordham University | 1 |
| Georgia Inst. of Technology | 1 |
| Harvard University | 3 |
| Michigan State University | 1 |
| Michigan Technological University | 2 |
| Mississippi State University | 1 |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology | 1 |
| Purdue University | 1 |
| Rice University | 1 |
| Stanford University | 3 |
| State University of N.Y. at Stony Brook | 1 |
| University of California, Berkeley | 4 |
| University of California, San Francisco | 1 |
| University of California, Santa Barbara | 1 |
| University of Illinois at Chicago | 2 |
| University of Maryland | 3 |
| University of Massachusetts Boston | 1 |
| University of Notre Dame | 3 |
| University of Texas at Austin | 3 |
| University of Washington | 2 |
| University of Wisconsin - Madison | 2 |
| Utah State University | 1 |
| Washington University | 1 |
| 24 Universities | 41 students |
| Summer Institute '98 Students' Areas of Research | |
|---|---|
| Aerospace Engineering | 1 |
| Agricultural Economics | 1 |
| Applied Mathematics | 1 |
| Architecture | 2 |
| Biological Sciences | 2 |
| Chemical Engineering | 1 |
| Chemistry | 2 |
| Civil & Environmental Engineering | 4 |
| Civil Engineering & Geological Sciences | 4 |
| Computer Science | 3 |
| Electrical Engineering & Computer Science | 1 |
| Geology | 1 |
| Mechanical Engineering | 3 |
| Medicine | 3 |
| Ocean Science | 1 |
| Physics | 1 |
| Political Science | 1 |
| Reproductive Toxicology | 1 |
| Social Science | 3 |
| Toxicology | 1 |
| Plant Biology | 1 |
| Plant Ecology | 2 |
| Plant Pathology | 1 |