SAKURA SCIENCE University Program
Learning About Power Devices and Information Sciences at Osaka University
On Thursday, September 12, 55 students selected from the top universities in India visited Osaka University, Suita Campus. In the morning, the students were treated to a lecture on power systems (devices) by Prof. FUNAKI Tsuyoshi (Division of Electrical, Electronic and Infocommunications Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering), and then were taken to visit the laboratory in two groups. In an anechoic chamber, including various devices for designing, manufacturing, and evaluating power devices, the students were given the experience of a radio-wave shielding space by confirming that the radio waves of their smartphones were completely blocked.
In the afternoon, the students were taken from the large campus to the Graduate School of Information Science and Technology. After listening to the explanation given by HARA Takahiro, dean of the graduate school, the students visited ─ Maeda Laboratory (Bioinformatics), Nakamura Laboratory (Mathematics), and Kawahara Laboratory (AI/Computer Science) ─ in order.
At the Maeda Laboratory, the students participated in a demonstration experiment such as "smart fingers" and "illusion interfaces" that artificially reproduce human senses. The students were able actually to feel the research content of bioinformatics, which traverses information engineering, medicine and biology.
In "mathematics," three students from the Nakamura Laboratory presented each of their research topics. An exchange of mathematical formulas was held with an Indian student majoring in mathematics.
In "AI/Computer Science" at the Kawahara Laboratory, the researchers explained in front of a poster of the applications and machine learning. There were many Indian students majoring in the same field. Despite the short amount of time, they engaged in a very lively discussion.
The Indian students seemed very satisfied with the schedule allowing them to experience various areas of research in one day.
