The Fun of "Visualization": Drawing the Invisible. A Lifelong Curiosity from Childhood Opens the Door to the Future.

Profile

Graduate of Caritas Girls' Junior & Senior High School, Kanagawa Prefecture

She spent her high school days immersed in drawing and creating things, a passion she has had since she was little. So why did this so-called "artistic girl" end up enrolling in the Department of Information and Computer Science at the Keio University Faculty of Science and Technology? Art and computer science. These two points, which at first glance seem unrelated, were firmly connected by a single line in her mind. The keyword is "visualization," her research theme in the Fujishiro Laboratory. What did she learn at university, what kind of inspiration did she receive, and what kind of future is she looking toward?

[*] Academic year at the time of the interview (August 2018).

I was drawing a lot in high school. I've loved drawing since I was little, and in junior high and high school, I would draw for pamphlets for school events and the covers for the order of service for the regular masses held at school. In high school, I was in the manga research club and drew pictures, and I also joined the cultural festival executive committee, but my purpose was to be involved in decorating the school... As for my studies, I took them seriously, attending Juku and prep schools in addition to my regular school, but outside of studying, I feel like I was always drawing.

To begin with, I really loved doing detailed work. I wasn't very good at drawing in the past, but once I became able to draw, I was happy that I could express myself exactly as I wanted. It made me even happier when people around me looked at my drawings and enjoyed them. In any case, I felt joy in creating things that had "tangible results."

When I reconsidered my future, I realized I didn't want to be a painter or a graphic designer for a living. But I was absolutely sure I wanted to create things. That's why I decided to aim for an engineering faculty.

I was admitted through designated school recommendation, and a major turning point was visiting several laboratories during the Faculty of Science and Technology's open campus in my third year of high school. In every lab I went to, the university students there taught me about their research with great enthusiasm and enjoyment. Their attitude left a strong impression on me. Also, the entire university was bustling with a pleasant energy, which I found very appealing.

Furthermore, the "Gakumon" system was an important factor in my choice. I wanted to go into engineering, but I hadn't decided on a specific major yet. Having attended the same school from kindergarten all the way through, I didn't know much about the outside world. I thought that by interacting with various people at university, I might develop an interest in new things or things I hadn't been interested in before. In that respect, I thought the Gakumon system was very suitable for me. In fact, after enrolling, I was inspired by many things, such as attending classes and listening to senior students. I'm really glad that during my first year of university, I was able to rethink the field I wanted to study and my future path through classes and interactions with friends and senior students.

Since I had been at an all-girls school through high school, just having boys around was a big change for me (laughs). Also, there were people around me who were student entrepreneurs, and others who were going to study abroad at universities overseas. Overall, I feel that many people have a strong desire to "go out into the world." I feel that there are many students with far more diverse talents than I had imagined, and each of them is working hard in various places to develop their own talents. When I first entered university, I was comfortable where I was, so I didn't have a strong desire to "go out into the world," but influenced by those around me, my thinking changed to wanting to be more proactive.

In the Department of Information and Computer Science, much of the research is related to things we actually use or see in our daily lives. For example, robots, communications, AI, and even games. I think it's one of the departments where you can learn knowledge and skills that are highly valued in society right now.

Besides programming practice, many classes include practical content, allowing you to learn by actually using your head and hands to create things. It's also fun because in many cases, you can see the tangible results of what you've made.

That would be "Information and Computer Science Experiment 1" and "Information and Computer Science Experiment 2," which I took in my third year of undergraduate studies. In the experiment classes for the Department of Information and Computer Science, the instructor changed every two weeks, and each one gave lectures and practical training related to their research area. For example, we created CG works, made VR games, and so on. It was a lot of fun to be exposed to research in various fields, and it also helped me when it came to choosing a laboratory.

In a nutshell, I'm researching the "visualization" of astronomical observation data using CG in the field of astronomy. It's a joint project with the Hiroshima Astrophysical Science Center at Hiroshima University, and the goal is to advance astronomers' data analysis by visualizing observation data of celestial objects called "blazars." So, what is a blazar? There are galaxies called active galaxies that shine much brighter than other galaxies, and a blazar is what we see when we look directly down the cosmic jet ejected from the black hole at its center. By analyzing in detail the polarization, intensity, and temporal and correlational changes in the color of the blazar's light, astronomers classify the blazar's behavior and attempt to unravel the mystery of the magnetic fields at work in the cosmic jet. However, in Japan, due to reasons like unstable weather and the inability to observe during the daytime, there are times when the observation data has very large errors or when there are periods where observation is not possible. In my research, to resolve such data ambiguity, I am doing things like virtually achieving high-precision visualization by merging data from observations of the same celestial object in different regions of the Earth, and supporting the efficiency of astronomers' data analysis by enabling the automatic extraction of specific phenomena that astronomers should pay attention to from long-term observation data.

I was very happy when I heard from astronomers who actually used our visualization tool that they were able to gain insights that were previously unknown. It's also very rewarding to feel that what I've created is contributing, even in a small way, to astronomy, such as when an astronomer from Hiroshima University introduced our tool to an acquaintance, an astronomer in Greece, who then used it. For me personally, this visualization tool is a "tangible result," so it also connects to the joy of drawing and creating things that I've loved since I was little. It's also a great joy to be able to create CG expressions within this tool that I find satisfying to look at, that I'm happy with, and that others can enjoy. In the lab, there are many opportunities not only for conference presentations but also for research exchange meetings with labs at other universities, and for inviting researchers from the same field overseas to give lectures and receive advice on our research. Opportunities to write papers and present my research to get feedback are very stimulating for my research, and I feel that I'm developing my presentation and English skills. My days are immersed in research, but since I'm researching what I love, every day is truly enjoyable.

This fall, I will complete my master's program six months early and advance to the Ph.D. program at Keio. In the Ph.D. program, I plan to study abroad for two years at Harvard University in the United States to gain more diverse experience. I had always wanted to study abroad since I was in high school, but the preparations were difficult, it was expensive, and I never really had the chance. However, I was able to receive a scholarship for my doctoral studies from the Yoshida Scholarship Foundation, so I finally decided to take action. The professor at my study abroad destination's lab is one of the leading researchers in my field of scientific and technological visualization. I'm both excited and nervous, but through my research activities abroad, I hope to firmly acquire not only knowledge and skills related to visualization but also the ability to discuss in English.

As for my future beyond that, I'm thinking I'd like to make research my career, but I haven't decided for sure yet. Whether to stay in academia, become a researcher at a private company, or if there are other paths. I'm also looking forward to seeing what changes will occur in me and what new version of myself will emerge during my two years of studying abroad.