FY2023
- Dr. Mohammad Nasir Uddin, Associate Professor of Medical Physiology, Texas A&M University School of Medicine, USA (seminar program and final report)
- Dr. Toshihisa Kawai, Chair and Professor of Department of Oral Science and Translational Research, Nova Southeastern University College of Dental Medicine, USA (seminar program and final report)
- Dr. Vimalin Rujivacharakul, Associate Professor of Architectural History & Director of Asian Studies Program, and Director of PhD Curatorial-Art History Program, University of Delaware, USA (seminar program and final report)
FY2022
- Dr. Fred Ariel HERNANDEZ, US National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow UCI Department of Anthropology; Lead Scientist at UCLA Sport and Society Research Lab (seminar program and final report)
Thanks to generous support of JSPS, Professor Nakazawa and the UCLA Disability Studies faculty and staff were able to complete all objectives of the seminar, solidify our desired outcomes and more, and firmly establish research and institutional relationships between Waseda and UCLA. It was a tremendous opportunity to grow recognition of UCLA Disability Studies and international recognition of Professor Nakazawa’s research agenda, including his lab and graduate students at Waseda University. The following summary documents the seminar and its outcomes. I first layout the objectives and outcomes pursued for the seminar and then layout in narrative form the event’s activities.
Original three objectives and outcomes of this seminar, each with a specific set of desired immediate and long-term impacts:
1) Present to US audience recent developments in Japanese Sports Science, attention on school athletics and sports for people with disabilities.
a) Formal, public lecture by Professor Nakazawa, followed by a dialogue with UC Berkeley Disability Studies professor Karen Nakamura, and Q&A with audience;
b) Informal research presentations and methodological discussions with UCLA faculty, postdoctoral scholars, and graduate students..
2) Build on existing partnership between UCLA Disability Studies and Waseda Sports Science.
a) Continuing the success of the first collaboration in 2021 (Perspectives on Paralympic Competition and COVID seminar with Paralympic athletes from Japan and US), this seminar highlights extracurricular youth sports, the development of sports for people with disabilities, and the experience of hosting the Paralympics.
3) Expansion of cross-Pacific sports and disability research collaboration. Establishment of cross-pacific sports research collaboration with applicant, UCLA faculty, and graduate students in anticipation of the 2028 LA Games
a) Preliminary planning and administrative discussions with UCLA Disability Studies for future research seminars leading up to the 2028 Los Angeles Games, and joint Waseda-UCLA undergraduate and graduate courses and research internships.
FY2020
- Dr. Zhiqiang (John) Zhai, Professor, University of Colorado at Boulder (seminar program and final report)
The rapid development of cities and the acceleration of urbanization bring large challenges to urban energy and environment, ranging from regional climate change, heat island effect, increasing natural disasters, to contamination of air, water and soil, traffic congestion and noise, and poor living environments. This 2-days JSPS workshop entitled “International Workshop on Urban Environment and Energy (IWUEE)”, organized by the University of Colorado at Boulder (US) and Concordia University (Canada), was held concurrently with the 5th International Conference on Building Energy and Environment (COBEE2022) on 25-29th July 2022 at Montreal, Canada. The workshop organized four 90-mintues sessions including the JSPS information session, which attracted a total of 151 participants (107 in-person and 44 virtual). The workshop was the first in the field to bring together experts and researchers in both urban air environment and energy field, who often hold their own conversation/meeting groups.
- Institute for Global Health, College of Osteopathic Medicine, Michigan State University (seminar program and final report)
One Health, One World Day offered the opportunity to recognize and address the global factors that impact the optimal health and well-being for humans, animals, and the environment. This event encompassed an international webinar on “Global One Health effects of low-level radiation on human health” featuring speakers from Japan, Canada and USA in correlation with MSU efforts on radiation effects research. - Dr. Barry P. Rosen, Distinguished University Professor, Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, Florida International University (seminar program and final report)
In this Florida International University-JSPS symposium titled Arsenic: from Environment to Medicine, Japanese and FIU scientists described how a search for methodologies to mitigate arsenic contamination in rice led to the discovery of a new arsenic-containing new antibiotic with potential applications for anticancer drug discovery.
FY2019
- Dr. Duy H. Hua, University Distinguished Professor, Department of Chemistry, Kansas State University (seminar agenda and final report)
Dr. Hua’s research interests include the discovery of new catalytic asymmetric oxidation reactions to advance the fields of synthetic organic, medicinal, and material chemistry. His group discovered a new class of chiral polymers for stabilization of bimetallic nanoclusters such as palladium/gold or copper/gold as chiral catalysts in the synthesis of chiral molecules including chiral drugs and complex bioactive natural products. His interests also encompass the discovery and development of small molecules for Alzheimer’s disease and detection of metastatic triple-negative breast cancer using electronic biosensors based on carbon-nanofiber nanoelectrode-array platform.
This seminar, titled “Designing Molecules,” will take place on August 16, 2019, at the Department of Chemistry, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas, and among the speakers will be Prof. Kiyosei Takasu, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Kyoto University, Japan. - Dr. Christina Laffin, Associate Head, Department of Asian Studies, University of British Columbia (seminar agenda and final report)
Dr. Christina Laffin’s research interests are in Premodern Japanese literature and culture, focusing on women’s writing, medieval women’s history, education and socialization of women, physical and social mobility, sexuality and gender, literary depictions of wet nursing, noh drama, diary literature, and travel writing.
This seminar, titled “The Making of Japanese Books,” will take place on February 6, 2020, at IK Barber Learning Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada. Among the speakers will be Prof. Sasaki Takahiro, Research Centers and Institutes, Institute of Oriental Classics, Keio University. - Prof. Sumith Ranil Wickramasinghe Raffi, Ross E. Martin Endowed Chair in Emerging Technologies, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Arkansas (seminar schedule and final report)
Prof. Sumith Ranil Wickramasinghe Raffi ‘s research interests are in membrane science and technology. His research focuses on synthetic membrane-based separation processes for purification of pharmaceuticals and biopharmaceuticals, treatment and reuse of water and for the production of biofuels. Typical unit operations include: microfiltration, ultrafiltration, virus filtration, nanofiltration, membrane extraction etc. A current research focus is surface modification of membranes in order to impart unique surface properties. His group is actively developing responsive membranes. These membranes change their physical properties in response to changed environmental conditions. A second research focus is the development of catalytic membranes for biomass hydrolysis by grafting catalytic groups to the membrane surface.
This seminar, titled “Advanced Membranes and Membranes Based Separation Processes,” will take place on May 16, 2019, at Inn at Carnall Hall, 465 N Arkansas Ave, Fayetteville, AR, with a ‘Welcome reception’ on May 15 from 8:00-9:30 p.m. Among the speakers will be Prof. Hideto Matsuyama, Center for Membrane and Film Technology, Department of Chemical Science and Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Kobe University, Japan. - Dr. Anthony J. Tosi, Associate Professor , Anthropology Department, Kent State University (seminar poster and final report)
Dr. Tosi’s research interests include Primate Evolution: phylogenetics, biogeography, hybrid zones & introgression, sex chromosomal genetics, mating systems, male-male contests and Molecular Forensics: low-template DNA (“touch DNA”), mixture analysis.
This seminar, titled “Stone Age Science: Insights into the Deep Human Past” will take place on February 14, 2020, at Kent State University, Kent, Ohio, and among the speakers will be Dr. Seiji Kadowaki, Nagoya University Museum / Graduate School of Environmental Studies Nagoya University, Japan.
FY2018
- Dr. Baofeng Feng, Professor of School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley ( seminar agenda, abstracts, and final report)
Dr. Feng’s research basically lies in the applied mathematics and computing mathematics. He is interested in (i) Continuous and discrete integrable systems; (ii) Nonlinear waves with applications; (iii) Scientific computing and numerical analysis and (iv) Nonlinear optics and optical fiber communications.
This seminar, titled “Recent development in continuous and discrete integrable systems” will take place on November 30 and December 1, 2018, at University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Edinburg, TX, and among the speakers will be Dr. Yasuhiro Ohta, Kobe University, Japan. Update: The seminar Agenda is available now along with abstracts of the planned talks. - Dr. Raffi Takvor Khatchadourian, Assistant Professor, City University of New York (CUNY) Hunter College (seminar agenda and final report)
Dr. Khatchadourian’s research interests include techniques for automated software evolution, particularly those related to automated refactoring and source code recommendation systems, with the goal of easing the burden associated with correctly and efficiently evolving large and complex software. His interests also include software security, secure software engineering, programming languages, type theory, static and dynamic program analysis, information retrieval, and formal methods.
This seminar, titled “New York Seminar on Programming Languages and Software Engineering” will take place on February 25, 2019, at City University of New York (CUNY) Hunter College, New York, NY, and among the speakers will be Dr. Shigeru Chiba, University of Tokyo, Japan. - Dr. Matthew J. Major, Assistant Professor, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine (seminar program and final report)
Dr. Major’s research interests include: 1) investigating the sensory-motor mechanisms that underlie postural control in individuals who have neuromuscular or musculoskeletal pathology and who use assistive devices; and 2) integrating mechanical characterization of prostheses and orthoses with numerical simulation and human subject testing to explore the fundamental relationships between device properties and user performance.
This seminar, titled “Neuromechanics of Rehabilitation for Lower Limb Loss,” will take place on 11 June 2018 at Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, and among the speakers will be Dr. Hiroaki Hobara, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology from Tokyo, Japan. - Prof. Lawrence T. Scott, Adjunct Professor at University of Nevada-Reno and Professor Emeritus at Boston College (seminar program and final report)
Prof. Scott ‘s research interests focus on chemical syntheses of isomerically pure fullerenes; carbon nanotubes, nanocones, and nanobelts; geodesic molecular bowls; graphene nanoribbons; grossly warped graphene subunits; and other nonplanar carbon-rich compounds.
This seminar, titled “Chemistry for New Solar Energy Materials” will take place on November 16, 2018, at the Department of Chemistry, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, and among the speakers will be Dr. Atsushi Wakamiya, Institute for Chemical Research, Kyoto University, Japan.
FY2017
- Dr. Mohammad O. Hoque, Associate Professor of Otolaryngology, Johns Hopkins University (seminar program and final report)
Dr. Hoque’s research interests are to develop and validate genetic and epigenetic approaches for early cancer diagnosis, cancer risk assessment and cancer prognosis in addition to the study of molecular biologic basis of head and neck, lung and genitourinary cancer. - Dr. Ramesh P. Singh, Professor, Schmid College of Science and Technology, Chapman University (seminar program, event web page, and final report)
Dr. Singh’s research interests include the study of natural hazards, early warning of coastal earthquakes, soil moisture, landslides, snow avalanches, floods, dust storms, remote sensing applications, geophysical explorations, atmospheric pollution and mining environment.