TAC-MI master’s students present AY2024 research findings at industry-academia exchange event
The Academy for Convergence of Materials and Informatics (TAC-MI) held an event on Ookayama Campus on September 27, 2024 for TAC-MI students to present their latest research findings and receive career guidance from TAC-MI member companies.
In the first part of the event, 19 master’s students gave poster presentations to approximately 100 TAC-MI program staff members, students, and industrial collaborators. In the second part, TAC-MI students held interviews and received advice from their industrial mentors. The third part was an industry-academic exchange event, during which 29 TAC-MI member companies introduced themselves for the purpose of career guidance to TAC-MI students.
Part 1: Poster presentations of research findings by master’s students
After brief opening words from School of Materials and Chemical Technology Dean Hidetoshi Sekiguchi and TAC-MI Director Takeo Yamaguchi, the poster presentations kicked off. Nineteen master’s students gave poster presentations to TAC-MI program staff members, students, and industrial collaborators. TAC-MI’s industrial collaborators and program staff members examined each poster carefully while actively and openly exchanging opinions with the students. In addition to face-to-face presentations, the students also delivered presentations via Zoom to online participants.
“Each student gave a presentation with careful consideration as to how they could explain their topic to corporate attendees who were not specialists in their field.” one of the participants commented.
“I felt that the levels of presentations were very high as master’s students. ” another participants stated.
” We learned a lot from the various comments we received from the unique perspective of participants from the industry.” one of the student presenters commented.
“During the presentation, we received many questions about practical application, such as how to solve the issues that arise when applying this technology to human society, which provided an opportunity to think deeply about the future prospects of our research.” another student stated.
Overall, this was another wonderful opportunity for TAC-MI students to think about how to convey their research to non-specialized audiences.
Part 2: TAC-MI students’ interviews with industrial mentors
In the second part of the event, master’s students held interviews with and received advice from their industrial mentors. TAC-MI students have the advantage of evaluating their strengths and weakness in face-to-face meetings with researchers, developers, technical experts, product planners, and marketing professionals from various industries. One industrial mentor is assigned to each student. Throughout the duration of this program, each student has an industrial mentor who continuously guides the student from enrollment to program completion. Master’s students meet their mentors once a year, while doctoral students meet them twice a year. After listening to the poster presentations in the first part, industrial mentors gave various useful tips to the students regarding research activities, future careers, and other aspects of their development.
Part 3: Company introductions and career guidance for TAC-MI students
The third part of the day was an industry-academia exchange event, during which 29 TAC-MI member companies introduced themselves in booths for the purpose of career guidance to TAC-MI students.
The students commented on the interviews as follows:
- I was able to hear detailed explanations about job opportunities for doctoral students at the booths of the five companies that were assigned to me in advance. I was also able to go and hear explanations from other companies during my free time afterwards, so I was very satisfied.
- The company representatives answered even my in-depth questions, so it was a very meaningful experience for me.
Participating companies (29 in total)
AGC Inc. / AKEBONO BRAKE INDUSTRY CO., LTD. / ASAHI KASEI CORPORATION /
Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd / Hamamatsu Photonics K.K. / Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd. /
JEOL Ltd. / JFE Steel Corporation / Kurita Water Industries Ltd. /
KYOCERA Corporation / MITSUBISHI GAS CHEMICAL COMPANY, INC. /
MITSUI MINING＆SMELTING CO., LTD. / NGK INSULATORS, LTD. /
NIPPON KAYAKU CO., LTD. / Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. / Niterra Co., Ltd. /
Panasonic Industry Co., Ltd. / Resonac Corporation / SCREEN Holdings Co., Ltd. /
Seiko Epson Corporation / Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd. /
SUMITOMO CHEMICAL Co., Ltd. / TAIYO YUDEN CO., LTD. / TDK Corporation /
TODA KOGYO CORP. / Toray Industries, Inc. / Toshiba Corporation / TOSOH CORPORATION /
Toyo Seikan Group Holdings, Ltd.
At the exchange event, in addition to learning about the business activities of the participating companies, the students also gained valuable knowledge about the human resources required by these firms, and about the fields where doctoral graduates can play active roles. Through regular exchange events such as this with companies, TAC-MI aims to cultivate multi-talented individuals required by industry who apply a broad, global perspective to understanding new social services and creating new ideas.
