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CUEE/ PEER YOUNG RESEARCHERS WORKSHOP
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| Participants in CUEE/ PEER Young Researchers Workshop |
1. Introduction
CUEE and PEER jointly sponsored a Young Researchers Workshop on 2nd March 2009 at the Marunouchi Building in Tokyo. The aim was to obtain a smooth flow of communication between younger researchers in Japan and the U.S. in fields tied to Urban Earthquake Engineering, as well to promote a broader viewpoint and deeper knowledge via this exchange of ideas.
2. Technical Sessions and Fellowship Banquet
With 25 young researchers from CUEE and 8 from PEER, a total of 11 presentations were made in the course of the workshop. Afterwards, we moved on to enjoy the Fellowship Banquet. We prepared printed PPTs, which each presenter used with a cover sheet portraying the night view from the conference room (Fig. at right). We packed all presentations, whether dealing with Concrete Structures, Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering, Seismic Damage Survey, or Transport Planning, into a single venue, so participants were exposed to divers areas of research, thus furnishing the opportunity for a broadened and enhanced research horizon. Here are two reactions from participants:
“This was a productive opportunity opening up my perspective through exposure to less familiar fields of research, such as methods for evaluating seismic damage by aerial photography or for assessing structural damage mathematically by simulated experiment.” (Ryota Matsui, D2, Department of Architecture and Building Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology) “Hearing presentations on various fields in Urban Earthquake Engineering permitted me to think broadly in terms of discovering and solving problems outside my own research field.” (Kazunori Ishii, D3, Department of Built Environment, Tokyo Institute of Technology) The moderators of the two technical sessions were for Session 1: Mr. A. Barbosa (University of California, San Diego) and Assistant Professor K. Nishimura (Tokyo Tech); for Session 2: Ms. A. Birely (University of Washington) and Assistant Professor A. Tanabe (Tokyo Tech) (Photo 1). After each presentation, a lively discussion among researchers from wide-ranging fields followed (Photos 2 to 4). The presentations from the Young Researchers Workshop are to be found (distributed by “research field">
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| Photo 1: Workshop Session 2: Moderators Ms. A. Birely and Assistant Professor A. Tanabe | Photo 2: Presenter from CUEE |
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| Photo 3: Presenter from CUEE | Photo 4: Young Researchers Workshop |
The fellowship gathering was held at a Japanese restaurant for the purpose of imparting Japanese food culture to guest researchers from PEER, namely a “Japanese Sake Party” chaired by Research Associate S. Inoue of Tokyo Tech. At the beginning of the party, some of the young Japanese researchers felt slightly nervous about conversing in English. But introducing Japanese dishes and showing others how to use a pair of chopsticks led to smooth conversation, and soon everyone was enjoying talk about life experiences at each university and details of research in their respective countries (Photos 26 and 27). “The workshop first broke the ice, so I could thoroughly enjoy the Fellowship Banquet, exchanging ideas for research and speaking about my own life as a researcher to students from other countries attending our joint PEER/CUEE symposium.” (Yuko Shimada, D3, Department of Environmental Science and Technology, Tokyo Tech) Sometimes it seems that differences of customs do in fact stimulate new ideas for research, so this workshop and banquet provided meaningful opportunities for both young Japanese researchers and their international counterparts.
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| Photo 5: Fellowship Banquet | Photo 6: Fellowship Banquet |
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| Photo 7: Fellowship Banquet | Photo 8: Fellowship Banquet |
3. Conclusion
To improve the quality of Earthquake Engineering, which must face increasingly complex urban issues, it is important for all researchers to gain a broad outlook and as profound knowledge as possible of all these various factors and components. In addition, there must be a network of researchers from different fields, especially among younger researchers, who will soon enough find themselves in charge of the field. Even though we organized this workshop on short notice, many young researchers both from CUUE and PEER took part. As a result of this experience, we were able to confirm the high level of interest among young researchers in our joint aims and goals. We, therefore, take pride in having implemented this workshop as a kick-off event for joint communication between young researchers in CUEE and PEER. We young researchers at Tokyo Tech wish to join and support our Tokyo Institute of Technology G-COE project in earnest as it moves forward. Moreover, the Young Researchers Workshop seemed to have offered quite a meaningful opportunity for PEER as well, as can be found in the report of it available on PEER’s homepage.
6th International Conference on Urban Earthquake Engineering
