The FUTI Award Selection Committee has selected six UTokyo students and nine U.S. students for this summer’s scholarship program. A list of these students is shown at the end of this article.
The number of UTokyo award recipients declined significantly from nine in 2015 to four this year. This may be attributed primarily to the newly implemented semester system at UTokyo. To the award committee’s disappointment, while last year three attended English language programs and two attended Global Summer Programs (GSP) in the US, no UTokyo students have been selected for these programs this year. FUTI hopes award recipients in these categories will increase in coming years.
Six UTokyo students will participate in regular summer courses at U.S. universities, such as Yale University, MIT, University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley), Stanford University and University of Michigan. Of the six award recipients, two are science or engineering majors, three are social science majors, and one is a PEAK (Program in English at Komaba) student. Four are undergraduates and two are graduate students at the time of FUTI application submission.
The award committee has selected six U.S. awardees to support their summer internship at UTokyo’s laboratories. Three 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. One is going to participate in the University of Tokyo Internship Program in Kashiwa (UTSIP-Kashiwa) hosted by the Graduate School of Frontier Sciences and two in other internship programs. They are all juniors or seniors majoring in science or engineering and come from Indiana University, Pennsylvania State University, Bates College, University of Southern California, UC Berkeley, or University of Florida. 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 juniors) and one UC Berkeley student (sophomore) 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
Summer Courses at U.S. Universities (6 UTokyo Students)
- Ayaka Seki (Science III, Freshman): Yale University Regular Summer Session
- Nonoko Kawabata (Clinical Psychology, Senior): UC Berkeley Regular Summer Session
- Yuchen Yan (PEAK, Sophomore): Stanford Summer International Honors Program, Stanford University
- Yurika Doi (Engineering, Senior): Graybiel’s Lab, McGovern Institute of Brain Research, MIT
UTRIP at UTokyo (3 U.S. students)
- David Burke (Indiana University, Chemistry, Junior): Professor Mitsuhiko Shionoya
- Rocco Vitalone (Pennsylvania State University, Physics and Mathematics, Junior): Professor Ryo Shimano
- Niccolo Bigagli (Bates College, Physics and Mathematics, Junior): Professor Hirofumi Sakai
UTSIP Kashiwa Program at UTokyo (1 U.S. student)
- Roxanne Lai (University of Southern California, Geological Sciences/Environmental Studies, Junior)
GSP Program at UTokyo (3 students)
- Grace Pan (Yale University, Physics, Senior): Nanoscience
- Jeffrey Gau (Yale University: Mechanical Engineering, Senior): Nanoscience/Japanese Language
- Tianyi Dong (UC Berkeley, History, Sophomore): Japan in Today’s World
Other Internship Programs at UTokyo (2 students)
- Meng Luo (UC Berkeley, Physics, Senior): Prof. Masaki Ando
- Nicholas Pasternack (Univ of Florida, Neuroscience, Senior): Prof. Haruhiko Bito