Who I am today is the result of pursuing what I love. I continue to grow thanks to the wonderful environment at the university.

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From Teikyo University Junior & Senior High School, a private school in Tokyo

While attending a combined junior and senior high school, he became absorbed in the programming club. The club's activities, which involved using calculations to simulate things, are connected to his current research. Declaring his dislike for liberal arts subjects such as Japanese, English, and social studies, he had no hesitation in choosing a path solely in science and engineering. After enrolling in the Keio University Faculty of Science and Technology, he was greatly inspired by the many active students and is now, alongside his own research, focusing on activities to "nurture talent." We spoke with him about how he spends his university life, which is a completely different environment from high school, and about the meaning of a university in an era of universal access to higher education.

[*] His grade at the time of the interview (July 2019).

I was a science person through and through, even as a child, enjoying things like astronomy encyclopedias. I attended a combined junior and senior high school, where I joined the programming club in my first year of junior high and really got into programming in my third year. I would play around with things that connect to my current research, like using calculations to run simulations. I also liked reading science magazines likeNewtonandScience.

On the other hand, I disliked and was bad at liberal arts subjects like Japanese, geography, and English. I only immersed myself in the subjects I liked, and my club activities were just an extension of my hobbies, so I ended up being a student who couldn't do English, Japanese, or social studies (laughs).

What's more, my memory isn't very good to begin with, so even though I studied properly for English quizzes, I would get scores close to zero... Even in math, which I liked, I was bad at things like memorizing formulas.

As for studying for the exams, although the amount of studying increased as the exam day approached, I didn't go to a prep school or anything. I just did a run-through of past exam papers. My English was on the borderline, but I figured I could just get a perfect score in math and science to make up for it.

Regarding my weakness in memorization, I compensated by deriving things from logical thinking and reasoning. For example, if there was a formula I couldn't remember, I would get through the test by first deriving the formula before solving the problems. When I tell people this, they say, "No way!" (laughs).

It was science and engineering or nothing. As a result of only studying what I liked, universities that required English, Japanese, and social studies were inevitably out of the question. Among the options, I thought Keio University, with its top-class research capabilities among private universities, would be the best environment to study mechanical engineering. Keio also has strong brand power and is good for job hunting, so I thought it would broaden my future options (laughs). I took entrance exams for two private universities, including Keio, and one national university, and of the ones I could get into, Keio was the most attractive.

Since I was on the borderline for passing, I knew there would be people at Keio with better grades than me. I had hoped to interact with those kinds of people a lot once I got in, and I was glad to actually meet people who knew things I didn't.

I joined two clubs: the IT-focused "Computer Society" and the robotics-focused "Keio University Robotics Association." I was inspired by the many active members who had been participating in robot contests and competitive programming since high school. In high school, I didn't even know such competitions existed, and I never imagined that other students were already going out and interacting with others externally. This wasn't limited to programming; I felt it in all of Keio's clubs and circles. You could say it's a "school culture of proactively engaging with others and taking action."

One advantage is the " JABEE accreditation [*]," which grants an exemption from the first-stage examination for the national qualification of Professional Engineer. Another is that you can learn the four essential mechanics (dynamics of machinery, mechanics of materials, fluid dynamics, and thermodynamics). However, in terms of passively receiving knowledge from instructors, these two points might not be different from high school. I believe that universities exist to provide experiences that can only be had at a university.

In an era of universal access to university education, just graduating is meaningless. What you did and what you were involved in at university becomes important. In this context, the Department of Mechanical Engineering offers a rich curriculum for learning outside the classroom, including factory tours of various companies and research institutes like JAXA, and simulations of corporate work. I think the value of a university is to provide a place to hone technical skills through friendly competition, and Keio provides an excellent environment for that.

[*] JABEE accreditation ... The educational program of the Department of Mechanical Engineering has been accredited by the Japan Accreditation Board for Engineering Education (JABEE) since fiscal year 2003. Graduates of the Department of Mechanical Engineering are considered to have sufficient knowledge and ability as engineers and are exempt from the first-stage examination for the Professional Engineer qualification.

To utilize my strengths in programming and machine learning, I needed to choose a computational laboratory in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Among them, the Yasuoka Laboratory focuses on disseminating research results, and I think it has one of the highest numbers of publications in the department. Another deciding factor was that Professor Yasuoka readily agreed to my desire to "do research that I came up with myself, rather than just taking over someone else's."

As an undergraduate, you rarely have much communication with faculty members, but once you join a laboratory, you interact with them closely. The good atmosphere, with Professor Yasuoka and the lab members being so friendly, was another reason I chose it.

There are two main themes. One is "research integrating molecular simulation and machine learning," which I'm working on in my own Yasuoka Laboratory, and the other is "research on quantum computers."

I can't say much about the latter as it's still in progress, but the former is research that derives information by calculating the properties of things like proteins, polymers, and carbon nanotubes at the atomic and molecular level. Since the research only started a little over two years ago, it hasn't been applied in the real world yet, but it is believed that it will contribute to drug discovery (the discovery and design of pharmaceuticals) in the future.

Current drug development involves a process of repeating experiments over and over, which is inefficient. If the "research integrating molecular simulation and machine learning" is realized, it will be possible to accurately predict experimental results through rapid computer calculations, reducing the effort of experimentation and lowering development costs.

What I'm focusing on right now are my activities in the "Keio University AI and Advanced Programming Consortium (AIC)[*]." To borrow a phrase from Professor Kohei Itoh, the head of the consortium, AI education is in extremely high demand in Japan's future. You see articles in the newspaper about "nurturing 250,000 AI professionals," but the reality is that there is an overwhelming shortage. To begin with, there are few faculty members at universities who can teach computer science, so the conventional system of university faculty teaching students cannot keep up.

The idea we came up with is the "Keio University AI and Advanced Programming Consortium (AIC)[*]," where students with high-level skills in AI and IT train the next generation. If we can create a cycle where the students who are trained eventually become teachers themselves, we can nurture a large number of AI professionals. Furthermore, the students who do the training are properly compensated. This also plays a role in protecting students who would otherwise spend a lot of time on part-time jobs to make a living and lose study time.

[*] The " Keio University AI and Advanced Programming Consortium (AIC) " is a place of learning where Keio students interested in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and advanced programming can gather and study independently. It is open to students of all faculties and years. Various projects such as study sessions, lectures, and contests are already underway.

After obtaining my Ph.D., I hope to find a job at a research institute or a research organization where I can utilize my skills. I like to think for myself and do things in my own style, so positions that require a lot of communication, like sales, would be difficult for me personality-wise (laughs). When I first enrolled, I wasn't really thinking about getting a Ph.D., but as I got more and more into research in my fourth year as an undergraduate, I felt that research was what I was suited for, and I naturally came to think about pursuing a doctorate.

Watching the faculty, I'm keenly aware that securing budgets at research organizations seems difficult, but I do have a desire to teach and spread knowledge to others. Last year, I held an experimental workshop for the "Keio University AI and Advanced Programming Consortium (AIC)" where I was the instructor, and the course was a great success. I'm good at launching projects in the first place, so I hope to decide on my future path while also leveraging those strengths.