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Friends of UTokyo, Inc.

Category: FUTI News

Category: FUTI News

FUTI Directors, Masaaki Yamada and Yuichiro Kuwama Elected as the New President and Vice-President, Respectively

At the board meeting held on September 19, 2015, Director of University Relations, Dr. Masaaki Yamada was elected the new president of FUTI, succeeding Dr. Hisashi Kobayashi who has been president of FUTI since 2010. Dr. Yamada will also continue his duties as Director of University Relations. In the same board meeting, Treasurer, Dr. Yuichiro Kuwama was elected to fill the newly established seat of vice-president of FUTI. He will also be continuing his post as Treasurer. Former President, Hisashi Kobayashi will remain involved in FUTI as Advisory Committee Chair. Currently a Distinguished Laboratory Research Fellow at Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), Dr. Masaaki Yamada received his Bachelor of Science degree in Applied Physics in 1966 and his Master of Science degree in Nuclear Engineering in 1968, both from the University of Tokyo. He received his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Illinois in 1973. His primary field of research is in plasma physics pertaining to nuclear fusion and space-astrophysics. In 1985 he was named a Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS), and In 2002 was awarded the Excellence Award in Plasma Physics Research from APS. The following year he was awarded Princeton University’s Kaul Prize for Excellence in Plasma Physics Research and Technology Development. Most recently in 2015 the APS has named him the recipient of the James Clerk Maxwell Prize in Plasma Physics (for more details please visit this page). Since 2000, Dr. Yuichiro Kuwama has been Medical Director at the Japanese Medical Practice Division of Mount Sinai Beth Israel. Dr. Kuwama serves as one of the primary care physicians for the Japanese community in the greater New York Metropolitan Area. He also serves as associate professor of medicine at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, teaching medical students at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and doctors-in-training at Mount Sinai Beth Israel. After graduating from the Faculty of Medicine, the University of Tokyo in 1987, Dr. Kuwama joined the Department of Surgery at the University of Tokyo Hospital. He was certified by the Board of Japan Surgical Society in 1991. In 2006 he was inducted into the Leo M Davidoff Society, which honors teachers who have made significant contributions to the education of students at Albert Einstein College of Medicine (for more details please visit this page). President Yamada commented, “Since 2011, under the leadership of Former President Hisashi Kobayashi, Friends of UTokyo, Inc. (FUTI) has grown a great deal, giving summer scholarship support to over 20 distinguished students annually from the U.S. and Japan, and raising awareness of FUTI among UTokyo and U.S. university students in recent years. Furthermore in the last three or four years, scholarship has been given to support student exchanges for research focused on physics at such schools as Columbia University and University of California, Berkeley. Starting next year, FUTI plans on supporting exceptional students in mid-to-long term study abroad programs. I hope to further strengthen our efforts in order to encourage students not only at UTokyo but also in the U.S. to leap out into the world and contribute to the international society. I would like to thank all those who have supported FUTI in its endeavor to foster the young global leaders of tomorrow and strive to boost efforts in the future.*

UTokyo Team Ranked among the Top Five Finalists in Airbus’ Fly Your Ideas Contest

UTokyo team led by Mr. Satoshi Miyatani, 2nd year student in the master’s program in aerospace and aeronautics engineering, was among the five finalists at the Fly Your Ideas Contest sponsored by Airbus in partnership with UNESCO. Mr. Miyatani participated in a short course at UC Berkeley in the summer 2013 as a recipient of FUTI’s Global Leadership Award. The competition attracted over 500 entries from 105 countries. The five finalists included the University of Tokyo team, Team Birdport. Because birdstrikes can cause serious damage to aircraft and pose a serious danger to the safety of passengers, the team wants to minimize the number of collision incidents using drones which will lead birds to a designated safe area away from planes. This is the first time that a Japanese team has advanced to the top five. For details see: http://www6.nhk.or.jp/kokusaihoudou/lounge/index.html?i=150602 (Japanese) http://edition.cnn.com/2015/05/26/travel/gallery/airbus-fly-your-ideas-contest/ In his reply to FUTI President’s congratulatory note, Mr. Miyatani says, “I appreciate the financial support from Friends of UTokyo for my study abroad program two years ago. It was one of the most important experiences in my life, which brought me to this final round.  At the summer program, I did my first-time English presentation in front of a lot of students from abroad. I still remember that while speaking I was shaking from extreme nervousness. I had no confidence in my opinion and English. The experience changed my mind. After the program, I was determined to apply to graduate schools in the U.S. and France and then have improved my English skill. As you watched in TV, I did my best English presentation on such a big stage. Now I have confidence in English and myself. I am going to study at a graduate school in France, ISAE-SUPAERO  (Institur Supérieur de l’Aérpnautique et de l’Espace), which is one of the best universities in Europe and famous for its drone research.”

Seven UTokyo Students and 11 U.S. Students Receive FUTI's 2015 Summer Scholarships

The Award Selection Committee met on March 14, 2015 at the Community Resource Exchange conference room in Downtown Manhattan. It was attended by Masaaki Yamada (Chair of the Committee and Director of University Relations), Hisashi Kobayashi, Shigenori Matsushita, Masako Osako, and Nobuko Sakurai. In a series of discussions that followed the preliminary selections made on March 14, the Committee has selected by April 27, seven UTokyo students and 11 U.S. students for this summer’s scholarship program. Due to UTokyo’s change to the four-quarter system this year, the applications from the University declined significantly this year. As a result, the number of UTokyo award recipients this year has dropped sizably from 13 last year. It is expected that the UTokyo applications will return to normal levels going forward. Four out of the selected seven UTokyo students will participate in various summer programs at U.S. universities, such as Princeton University, University of Michigan, University of California, Berkeley, and Stanford University, while two will attend English language courses at Yale University or U.C. Berkeley, and one will participate in the Global Summer Program (GSP) at Yale. Four are science & engineering majors, while three are humanities and social science majors. Four are undergraduates (three Sophomores, one Senior), and three are graduate students (one M1, two M2). Seven out of the 11 U.S. awardees will conduct research as summer interns at UTokyo’s laboratories. Five of these recipients will participate in the University of Tokyo Research Internship Program (UTRIP), which is hosted by professors in the School of Sciences at UTokyo. Two are going to participate in the University of Tokyo Internship Program in Kashiwa (UTSIP-Kashiwa) hosted by the Graduate School of Frontier Sciences (http://www.ilo.k.u-tokyo.ac.jp/summer_en.) In addition, two MIT and one Princeton students will take internships at UTokyo science laboratories. The selection process for FUTI awards was highly competitive. For instance, the four UTRIP participants have been selected from over 40 U.S. undergraduates, many of whom were top students from leading universities in the U.S. In addition to these internship students, two Yale students (both Sophomores) have been selected to participate in the Global Summer Program (GSP) courses offered by UTokyo. The FUTI summer scholarship award, a.k.a. the “FUTI Global Leadership Award (FUTI-GLA),” is designed to nurture future global leaders of Japan and the U.S. One of the selection criteria is a demonstration of leadership quality. List of Scholarship Recipients English Language Training Courses (2 UTokyo Students) Takato Masuda (Law School, 2nd Year): Yale University English Language Institute, English for Law Haruaki Tamura (Engineering, Master 1st): U.C. Berkeley Summer English Language Studies Non-Language Training Courses at US Universities (4 UTokyo Students) Fahd Khan (Chemistry, Masters 1st): Princeton Research Collaborators Program, Princeton University Tokuyou Li (Science I, sophomore): U.C. Berkeley Regular Summer Session Sayumi Miyano (Law and Politics, Senior): Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR), University of Michigan Daichi Tsuna (Science II, Sophomore): Stanford Summer International Honors Program, Stanford University GSP at Yale University (1 UTokyo student) Hiroya Sato (Economics, Sophomore): “Moral Foundations of Politics” UTRIP at UTokyo (5 U.S. students) Susanna Elledge (U.C. Berkeley, Chemistry, Chemical Biology, Junior): Professor Takeaki Ozawa Elbegduuren Erdenee (Princeton University, Molecular Biology/Neuroscience, Sophomore): Professor Takeaki Ozawa Yuka Esashi (Reed College, Physics, Sophomore): Professor Kazuki Koketsu Hsu (Indy) Liu (Reed College, Physics, Third Year): Professor Hirofumi Sakai Kenneth Wu (U.C. Berkeley, Nutritional Science and Toxicology, Sophomore): Professor Shu Kobayashi UTSIP Kashiwa Program at UTokyo (2 U.S. students) Masahiro Nakanishi (Brown University, Science, Applied Math and Economics, Sophomore) Maki Tohmon (Pomona College, Biology, Sophomore) GSP Program at UTokyo (2 Yale students) Claudia See (Biomedical Engineering, Sophomore): Nanoscience Carolyn Zhang (Electrical Engineering, Sophomore): Nanoscience MISTI Program at UTokyo (2 MIT students) Qiaochu Li (Material Science and Engineering, Ph.D. program 1st Year): Professor Takuzo Aida Krithika Swaminathan (Mechanical Engineering, Sophomore): Professor Yoshihiko Nakamura  

Applications Now Being Accepted for the 2015 FUTI Summer Scholarship Program

Friends of UTokyo, Inc. (FUTI) is now accepting applications for the 2015 Global Leadership Awards (FUTI-GLA). (1) UTokyo students interested in studying at U.S. universities and (2) students attending U.S. universities interested in internship and other programs at the UTokyo this summer are encouraged to apply. Application forms, deadlines, and other details are posted at www.friendsofutokyo.org. For questions, a contact can be made by sending an inquiry here. Last year 13 UTokyo students received FUTI-GLA and attended summer programs or English language courses at U.S. universities. In addition, 7 FUTI-GLA recipients from U.S. universities traveled to UTokyo to attend the GSP (Global Summer Program) courses or serve as summer interns (for details, see  the Roster of Recipients and the FUTI blog). Also a travel grant was awarded to a student in the PEAK or the Programs in English at Komaba. We note that (1) an applicant for the FUTI Scholarship is required to apply also for the summer program at UTokyo and (2) it is a requirement of the FUTI award that the student has to be accepted by the UTokyo summer program to which he/she has applied. Hisashi Kobayashi, President Masaaki Yamada, Director in Charge of University Relations

Friends of UTokyo Has Begun Its 6th Annual Fundraising Campaign

We sincerely appreciate the support of alumni and friends in this campaign. Greetings from FUTI President and Director/Treasurer are shown below. The photo was taken at the Language Institute class at Yale attended by Ms. Izumi Hayashi, a FUTI award recipient of the past summer.   Dear Friends of UTokyo (FUTI): I hope that this letter finds you well and thriving, although it is getting chilly in the morning and at night. As we reported in Newsletter No. 12, we provided financial support to 21 outstanding students in the 2014 Summer Scholarship Program. If you read their reports, https://www.friendsofutokyo.org/, you will find that the summer experiences have given them the first step of their leap towards the future. Such strides were possible solely because of the support from Shintech, Inc. and generous individuals like yourselves. I take this opportunity to thank you for your support again. In New York and many other places in the world, alumni groups such as Akamon-kai and Icho-kai have been established as forums for social exchanges and friendships among the UTokyo alumni. Among all these groups, “Friends of UTokyo, Inc. (FUTI)” distinguishes itself in the sense that it is the only volunteer organization in which the alumni and friends execute actual programs that provide scholarships and research grants to financially support academic activities of UTokyo, driven by our desire to nurture as many UTokyo students as possible to become global leaders of tomorrow https://www.friendsofutokyo.org/about-us/what-is-futi/ I would like you to appreciate the good cause of FUTI and provide us your stronger support so that we can maintain these programs in 2015 as well. Hisashi Kobayashi, President Dear Friends of UTokyo (FUTI): It is the sixth year since we launched our fundraising effort with the objective to help the internationalization of UTokyo, and to identify and nurture such talents who can grow to become leaders of the future, by providing scholarship programs and promoting exchanges of young researchers. Because of the falling interest rates in recent years, however, the donations from Shintech’s Trust Fund that have been supporting our activities from the beginning have been on the decline. We fear that this trend will continue for a while and we now confront such difficult situations that might force us to downscale our programs. The programs of FUTI which we have strived to establish now have real substance and quality and have become widely known not only to UTokyo students but also among students at reputable U.S. universities. In order just to sustain the current level of the programs, we must increase donations by as much as $30,000 to $40,000. Thus, we need to seek greater support from a larger number of people. The simplest way to support us is to mail a check, or to use our online donation system by clicking https://www.friendsofutokyo.org/giving/donate-online and charging a donation to your credit card. If you wish to transfer fund to FUTI’s bank account, please contact us at donationfriendsofutokyo.org. We will then provide you with such information as FUTI’s account number. Donations of securities (i.e. stocks and bonds) or donations from your IRA account may provide you with greater tax benefits than cash donations. Please consider such options and let us know at the same email address given above. Director and Treasurer:　Yuichiro Kuwama.

Campaign Result for FY 2013-2014: Final Report

As of July, 2014 The annual fundraising campaign for the fiscal year 2013/2014 (July 2013-June 2014) has achieved almost $110,000, although the revenue was below the previous year. We sincerely thank Shintech, Inc. and a large number of individuals for their continuing and generous support of  Friends of UTokyo, Inc. We show below a list of donors.  The wishes of those donors who prefer to remain anonymous or not to disclose their donation amounts are honored.   CORPORATION Benefactor ($25,000 or more) Shintech Inc. $52,956.24** **Dividend income from a $5 million trust fund created for the benefit of FUTI. INDIVIDUALS Sponsor ($10,000-$24,999) Hisashi & Masae Kobayashi $10,000 Donor ($1,000-$9,999) Junji Masuda $3,000 Yuichiro Kuwama $2,500 Yasuo Okamoto $2,500 Motoatsu & Nobuko Sakurai $2,500 Tohru Asami $2,000 Sumiko Ito $2,000* Masako Osako $1,500 Masaaki Yamada $1,500 Teruaki Aoki $1,000 Ichiro Ishi $1,000 Shunichiro Kishioka $1,000 (late) Shoshichi Kobayashi $1,000 Chiaki Kusuhara $1,000 Iwao Ojima $1,000 Sadayoahi Okubo $1,000 Kenichi Sugiyama $1,000 Hideaki Takagi $1,000 Yasuhide Watanabe $1,000 Shunpei Yamazaki $1,000 Anonymous $1,000   Supporting Member ($500-$999) Kazutaka Yamaji $900 Takeo Hoshi $500 Masayuki & Sakiko Ono $500 Ko-Yung Tung $500 Yoichi Yoshida $500 Anonymous $500 Friends ($250-$499) Anonymous $300 Kenichiro Yamada $250 Anonymous $250 Donations below $250 Jyotaro Hamada $200 Yoshiyuki Kawashima $200 Tadasu Takuma $200 Anonymous $100 Anonymous $100 Anonymous $100 Anonymous $100   Names only (in alphabetical order) Tetsunosuke Fujisaki Koichi Hamada Kenichi Imai Yasunao Katayama Hisao Kameda Shigenori & Sumie Matsushita Hirokazu Miura Shigeru Mori Nhut Nguyen Hiroshi Saito Nahoko Sato Yoshikatsu Takeda Mami Terai Sohei Tokuhisa Nobuo Urata Shoji Yoshisato Kengo Yoshiwara Subtotal $11,860   Total:  2 corporations*, 58 individuals; $109,616.24* Total including matching gift from State Street Bank Foundation.