Shuhei Higashibayashi: Reflecting on the Past Two and a Half Years

September 12, 2022

As of early July when this article was written, there are concerns about a seventh wave of COVID-19. However, before the resurgence begins in earnest, I would like to take a moment to reflect on the past two and a half years leading up to this spring, which had seen some periods of relative calm.

Three years after I took up my post at the Faculty of Pharmacy, just as I was finally getting used to things and catching my breath, the COVID-19 pandemic began, and I was swept up in the need for new responses on the ground. The first challenge I faced was conducting the Organic Chemistry Practicum in April. I felt that a practicum for acquiring chemical experiment skills and experience could not simply be replaced by online home study. Although it was postponed many times due to the state of emergency, we repeatedly reorganized the content and schedule, took thorough infection control measures, and managed to hold it at the university. With opportunities to learn on campus being extremely limited, the joyful expressions on the students' faces left a lasting impression on me.

My greatest concern was the impact on the graduate students' research projects. In the field of organic chemistry, which is my specialty, hundreds of experiments to synthesize compounds in the laboratory are essential, and the number of experiments is directly linked to the volume of results. However, due to campus closures and restrictions on the number of students allowed on site, experiments were also heavily restricted. Because of differences in circumstances, some other universities were able to conduct research activities almost as usual. I worried that a gap in experience and results might have a negative impact on their futures, and at one point, I even considered whether I should recommend taking a one-year leave of absence. However, the graduate students managed to pull through by conducting as many experiments as possible within the limited time—for example, by coming in on Sundays and holidays when they couldn't come on weekdays—and I am relieved.

In the 2020 academic year, the lectures I was responsible for were entirely online. However, out of a desire to allow students who wished to do so to attend on campus, I made it possible to take the lectures either online or in person in the 2021 academic year. Out of nearly 200 enrolled students, only about 30 attended in person, but when I saw comments in the course surveys saying they were glad I held in-person lectures, I felt a quiet sense of satisfaction that I had made the right choice. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, there were many students and quite a bit of side-chatter, but since the group was small and consisted only of those who wanted to be there, not a single person talked during class. This year, since we returned to in-person only, the class size went back to nearly 200, and I expected the chatter to increase again. However, once the lectures began, everyone listened quietly and seriously. I reflected on my shallow prediction, which had underestimated the students' motivation.