The 14th RIES-Hokudai International Symposium「網 (mou)」organized by the Research Institute for Electronic Science, Hokkaido University

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  14th RIES-Hokudai International Symposium participants
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  Poster session

The 14th annual Research Institute for Electronic Science (RIES)-Hokudai International Symposium was held on December 11th-12th , 2013 at the Chateraise Gateaux Kingdom Sapporo. More than 150  graduate students, post-doctoral researchers, and scientists from not only Hokkaido University, but also from Columbia University (USA), Georgia Institute of Technology (USA), Kyung-hee University (Korea), Seoul National University (Korea), Tohoku University, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Osaka University, Kyushu University, Gifu University, and Nara Women’s University came together for this international event.  

For the first time, sixteen Hokudai (Hokkaido University) graduate students outside of RIES– from the Graduate Schools of Information Science and Technology, Engineering, Chemical Sciences and Engineering, and the Institute for Genetic Medicine–also participated and gave further meaning to this year’s theme of  “網 (mou)” . 

 “網 (mou)” means “network”, “networking”, “connections”, and “covering” and scientific talks revolving  on this character were presented by twelve invited speakers in four talk sessions and two plenary speakers. The topics of the four sessions ranged from 1) Network and emergence of biological functions, 2) Quantum information and nonlinear materials science for photonic network, 3) Connecting materials, and 4) Methods for extracting universal properties from complex network systems. Prof. Susumu Kitagawa, director of the Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences and Professor of the Department of Synthetic Chemistry and Biological Chemistry, Kyoto University, and Prof. Hideo Nagashima, professor of the Institute for Materials Chemistry and Engineering (IMCE) at Kyushu University delivered exciting presentations and stressed the importance of networks in emerging functions in material sciences.

A poster session was also held during the symposium and awards were given to commend young researchers with excellent presentations. Enthusiasm of the presenters ran high, and  the session ran beyond the scheduled time. This year, symposium participants voted directly on the posters, and the two-day symposium successfully promoted interdisciplinary discussions and implemented the development of a new “network” of future collaborations: “A lot of professors and students gave me valuable comments. I’d like to utilize such an experience to my research for the future.”  Participants were able to set up their own scientific “network” in making “connections” to their peers as well as experts in their fields, and feedback from the participants and poster session winners through a survey conducted by the organizing committee revealed  that 80% of the respondents said they were satisfied with the convenience of the venue’s location and would like to attend next year’s symposium. 

The symposium was organized by the Research Institute for Electronic Science (RIES) HU, co-organized by the Nano-Macro Materials, Devices, and System Research Alliance, and the Network Joint Research Center for Materials and Devices, and supported financially by the University. To all persons concerned, thank you for your support and assistance!