Special program for international high-school students(JST Sakura Science Plan High School Program)

 On April 17, 2018 (Tue), KIT held a special program for 30 high-school students coming from Thailand and Malaysia, as part of Japan Science and Technology Agency’s (JST) Japan-Asia Youth Exchange Program in Science (Sakura Science) , High School Program, which invites brilliant high-school students from countries of Asia.
 The program began with a special lecture entitled “Mystery of Natural Rubber” by Professor Yuko Ikeda, Faculty of Molecular Chemistry and Engineering. Plantation of rubber is thriving in Thailand and Malaysia and the students had the opportunity to learn about the material familiar to them while enjoying quizzes and demonstrations. After the lecture, the students visited the laboratory of Assistant Professor Peter Huang, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Electronics and were explained about the “3 port power router”, developed by Professor Yuichi Kado of the same faculty. This device enables the sharing of electricity in the community, through the community network, speeding up restoration and recovery time in the event of a disaster. The students attentively listened about the role of university’s research in solving energy problems. At lunch time, everyone became teams with Japanese students and experienced making “chirashi zushi”. The students were divided into 6 teams, competing for the best one and prizes were given to the winning team. In the afternoon, they visited the laboratory of Professor Kaeko Kamei, Faculty of Molecular Chemistry and Engineering. The students were staring at the petri dish with bacteriophage, which they saw for the first time, and were surprised to know that 75% of the genes of Drosophila are the same as those of humans.
 In addition to KIT’s Japanese students, during this special program, high-school students had the opportunity to interact with international students from Thailand and Vietnam. It was an experience that allowed them not only to touch the Japanese culture and the university’s advanced research but also, through watching senior students, to get a more concrete feeling of how studying and working abroad actually is.

  • Lecture on the “Mystery of Natural Rubber”Lecture on the “Mystery of Natural Rubber”
  • Making “Chirashi Zushi”Making “Chirashi Zushi”
  • Looking at bacteriophageLooking at bacteriophage
  • Group photoGroup photo