The National Science Foundation's (NSF) Tokyo Office periodically receives and disseminates reports on research developments in Japan that are related to the Foundation's mission. NSF-sponsored researchers currently working in Japan prepare many of these reports. These reports present information for use by NSF program managers and policy makers; they are not statements of NSF policy.
The following report was prepared by Edward Murdy and Masanobu Miyahara of the NSF Tokyo Office. They visited the Kanazawa Institute of Technology on September 29, 1998. They may be reached via email at: nsftokyo@twics.com
Profile of the University:
The Kanazawa Institute of Technology (KIT), a fully accredited private technical university, is Japan's largest institution of higher education specializing in engineering and technology. Current enrollment is approximately 8,000. Founded in 1965, KIT is a member of the Japanese University Accreditation Association and the International Associations of Universities. The university has grown steadily, and its School of Engineering now comprises four divisions, Mechanical and Mechanical Systems Engineering, and Materials Science; Electrical Engineering and Electronics; Human, Information, and Managerial Engineering; and Civil and Environmental Systems Engineering, and Architecture. The divisions offer major programs in thirty-three fields of engineering and applied science. Besides the undergraduate School of Engineering, the Institute includes a Graduate School and a number of specialized research laboratories, as well as the affiliated Kanazawa Technical College.
Undergraduate Studies:
The comprehensive engineering curriculum at KIT furnishes undergraduate students with a solid educational foundation and instills innovative and flexible thinking required to keep abreast of today's rapidly developing technologies, while a broad liberal arts curriculum including mathematics, natural and social sciences, humanities, and foreign languages ensures a well-rounded education. In a program unique to KIT, every student is required to complete a sequence of three engineering design courses. Engineering design education thus forms a pillar through the student's entire course of study at KIT, connecting upper and lower division technical course work and utilizing the communications skills and understanding gained in the liberal arts and sciences classes as well. The engineering design sequence integrates the information and techniques students are mastering in order to develop analytical, application, and problem finding and solving abilities. The three-course program promotes creativity and hones leadership skills as students carry out group and individual tasks in solving open-ended design problems. Engineering Design III involves substantial individual research in one's major field, in crafting a solution which takes into account social factors of the problem, safety, reliability, aesthetics, ethics, and the social impact of the proposed solution. Graduate students complete Engineering Design IV as one of the requirements for a master's degree.
Graduate Studies:
A growing number of KIT graduates go on to pursue master's and doctoral degrees in the Graduate School departments of Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Electronics, Information and Computer Engineering, Civil Engineering, Systems Design Engineering, and Material Design Engineering. KIT alumni are also undertaking graduate study in other leading universities in Japan and abroad.
Research:
Education and research at KIT have greatly benefited over the years from the exchange of ideas and personnel with various private and public organizations, as well as with other educational institutions. At the same time, KIT has become a valued partner for many Japanese companies and agencies by helping their research activities. Research projects commissioned by such organizations, as well as joint projects, are an important part of the research agenda at KIT.
Research ranks alongside education as an essential endeavor at KIT. The University maintains nine research laboratories in Kanazawa for research in information science, human information systems, environmental science, structural engineering, material systems, regional planning, electronic devices and systems, applied computer technology, and foreign language training. The laboratories work closely with public and private organizations on a variety of research projects with important applications. KIT also maintains research facilities in Tokyo, helping to keep the educational and research programs at KIT abreast of the latest scientific and technological developments around the world.
One of the laboratories we visited at KIT was the Materials System Research Laboratory. The Director of the laboratory is Professor Yasushi Miyano. As one of its projects, this laboratory studies the viscoelastic behavior of CFRP composites. Prof. Miyano is currently collaborating with Drs. Tsai and Christensen of Stanford University on an NSF-sponsored project (CMS-9812758) entitled, "Accelerated Testing of Durability of Composite Materials and Structures." In conjunction with Drs. Tsai and Christensen, Prof. Miyano is organizing a Composites Durability Workshop to be held in November 1998 at KIT.
Elucidation and engineering applications of the information processing functions of the human being are areas of special interest to researchers in this university. KIT's Laboratories for Human Information Systems was established in 1994 within the Ishikawa Soft Research Park; an industry-university R&D complex in Matto City near Kanzawa. There, we visited the Laboratory of Experimental Hand Robot Systems. A four-finger hand robot, attached to a 7-axis manipulator, was in the process of "learning" how to move its fingers in order to pick up a cup in front of it, in response to the video images of the cup and the data received from a number of sensors (touch sensor, force sensor, angular directional sensor, etc.) attached to the four fingers. The learning exercise was performed by a human trainer (a graduate student) who was wearing a special glove on his right hand. As the trainer moved his fingers, the hand robot would follow him by moving its fingers in the same way. According to the researchers in charge of this project, the learning exercise was still in an early stage, and the robot hand was still somewhat slow in moving its fingers.
Besides the hand robot project, several other projects are undertaken in the Matto Laboratories for Human Information Systems, such as: design of information environments based on human information processing systems, development of hypernetwork systems for conceptual support and collaborative production support, studies on principles of social organization for advanced information-oriented societies, and so forth.
Following the Matto Laboratories, we visited the Applied Electronics Laboratory (AEL), located in Amaike Campus, about 20 minutes by car to the east of KIT's main campus. Superconductivity electronics is the main thrust of R&D in this laboratory. In particular, Professor Hisashi Kado and his colleagues have developed an advanced SQUID-based MEG (magneto-encephalography) system for the analysis of ultra-weak magnetic fields of the human brain. Compared with conventional electroencephalographs, the new system is by far the better one in terms of resolving power. Moreover, at this laboratory, the new MEG system is used in combination with an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) system so that MEG's imagery data can be readily superimposed with its corresponding MRI data of the same brain for in-depth analysis of brain activities. While this new MEG system has been developed originally for research use, it can be also utilized for medical diagnosis at hospitals. In fact, it has been under clinical tests at Keio University Hospital and at Osaka City University Hospital, to collect the data needed for government approval for its use in clinical applications.
Based on an agreement signed in July 1997 between KIT and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, a Joint MEG Research Laboratory has been established at MIT where a set of KIT's MEG system has been installed for studies primarily on such brain functions as related to linguistics and cognitive sciences.
International Programs:
Besides the research collaboration with MIT noted above, KIT has enjoyed a close relationship with other universities in the United States. KIT now has formal agreements of cooperation with six American universities: Rochester Institute of Technology, (Rochester, New York); Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (Terre Haute, Indiana); Tri-State University (Angola, Indiana); the University of Illinois (Champaign-Urbana, Illinois); the University of Hawaii (Manoa, Hawaii); and Harvey Mudd College (Claremont,California). These programs include student and faculty exchanges as well as other forms of scholarly collaboration. In addition, KIT has an agreement for faculty and graduate student exchanges with Mahidol University in Bangkok, Thailand in the field of information systems.
American researchers interested in visiting and working at KIT can apply to: the JSPS Fellowships; and the NSF-Center for Global Partnership Science Fellowship (junior and senior level researchers). Information on these and other US-Japan programs can be found at: http://www.twics.com/~nsftokyo/fel-opty.html
Research Laboratories: With the growing importance of interdisciplinary research in many engineering fields, KIT has responded by inviting research fellows from various fields of science. The organization and infrastructure for research at KIT is extremely flexible, enabling researchers from different fields to work together effectively on interdisciplinary projects. The following is a listing of laboratories at KIT with examples of on-going research studies.
- Environmental Information Research Laboratory
- Advanced Materials Science Research & Development Center
- Structural Engineering Research Laboratory
- Materials Systems Research Laboratory
- Urban Planning Research Laboratory
- Basic Language Education Research Laboratory
- Electronic Device Systems Research Laboratory
- Computing & Networking Frontier Laboratory
- MATTO Laboratories for Human Information Systems
- Ba Research Institute
- School of Advanced Management and Technology
- Applied Ethics Center for Engineering and Science
For further information, please contact:
Office of International Programs
Kanazawa Institute of Technology
7-1 Ohgigaoka, Nanoichi,
Ishikawa 921-8501, Japan
Phone: +81-76-294-6725
Fax: +81-76-294-6718
http://www.kanazawa-it.ac.jp/index_e.html