UT Civil Mail News No.18 June 30th, 2016

We have started to send monthly mail news to alumni members who have registered for our on-line network and would like to provide useful and interesting topics for members. If you have any requests, feel free to send an E-mail to:

dosokai-news@civil.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp. The topics in the June issue include:

1. Foreword -Looking back at the last two years - by Manabu Ito (Advisor of UT Civil Mail News)

2. Report from Construction Management laboratory 3. Open Campus at the Institute of Industrial Science (June 3rd, 4th ) 4. Voice from Alumni: Dr. Yolanda Alberto (PhD in 2014) 5. Notice: Annual Japanese Speech Contest (July 7th) 6. Report: Board Meeting of the Alumni Association in 2016 (June

15th)

Pic1: At Kegon Falls, Nikko. Pakistan students, Ali, Atta, Iqbal and their host family member, Mr. Ohta

1. Foreword -Looking back at the last two years - by Manabu Ito (Advisor of UT Civil Mail News)

While many organizations or societies inside or outside Japan send e-mail news to their own members, we have only been keeping in touch with our monthly UT Civil Mail News in Japanese and English since June 2014. We have so far managed to send out a total of 18 newsletters including this month’s edition. The editorial members are Ms. Ayuko AKAIKE (alumna in 1995) as the chief editor and other young members introduced at the end of this e-newsletter. And for looking at issues from a more senior point of view, I, Manabu Ito, will also join as an advisor. The topics of the e-newsletter include: Reports from each civil engineering laboratory and research institute in turn. Notices and reports from events in the Department or U-Tokyo. Notices or reports from annual gatherings in each branch and all. Reports from activities in the Host Family Program. From this year we will also begin a series named “Voice from Alumni” in which we introduce messages from alumnus or alumna, younger or senior, working or retired alumni or interview them. Voice from Alumni will also be reprinted on the homepage of the Alumni Association with their permission. We would welcome contribution messages from alumni, too. There is one thing that I would like to mention here. Despite our dedicated editorial work over the last 2 years, there are still few readers of our e-newsletter (940 SNS members including 165 foreigners). If you know of any classmates who haven’t yet registered for our SNS network, please introduce UT Civil Mail News to them and ask them to contact the alumni office with their name and graduation year. If you have already registered, please check your e-mail box and let us know your comments and feedback.

Manabu Ito, alumnus in 1953

2. Report from Construction Management laboratory It looks like 2016 will be another busy year for the Management Group. After our students finished submitting and defending their undergraduate and graduate theses in Jan-Feb, the lab took 6 students to Sydney, Australia for a study trip in March. The objective of this trip was to understand the current state and future challenges of Australia’s infrastructure management system. Apart from visiting several stakeholders in Sydney’s infrastructure industry and their project sites, we were also very excited to visit a UTokyo Civil Engineering alumni and former faculty member Petr Matous – Senior Lecturer at the School of Civil Engineering at The University of Sydney. Several opportunities for educational programs and research collaboration were discussed, and we are pleased to announce that a student from the IP lab will be conducting his Summer Overseas Internship at The University of Sydney this year. Upon returning from Sydney, three special research seminars were organized by the Management Group: 1) Tony Young and his team from Newcastle University (UK) gave presentations to update on the progress of a collaborative research project on intercultural communication in engineering education; 2) the CEO of BERD, a Portuguese R&D company specializing in advanced bridge-building technologies, gave us a talk on his company’s latest efforts in realizing breakthrough innovations in the construction industry; and 3) Keith Hipel (Professor at the Faculty of Systems Design Engineering of the University of Waterloo) and Liping Fang (Associate Dean of Undergraduate Programs and Student Affairs at the Faculty of Engineering & Architectural Science at Ryerson University) both gave us talks on the role of research in policy and environmental issues. Further details of the research seminars and a report on Sydney’s infrastructure management system (only in Japanese) can be found on the Management Group’s Homepage: www.ken-mgt.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp

Pic2: A meeting with Professor David Airey, Head of the School of Civil Engineering (The University of Sydney)

Pic3: Management Group members taking a break with a view of the Sydney Harbor Bridge.

3. Open Campus for the Institute of Industrial Science (June 3rd, 4th ) Open campus for IIS was held on June 3rd and 4th at Komaba Research Campus. Many people including high school students and workers from ordinary companies came to the open campus and made the campus lively. One of the characteristics of the open campus is the depth of explanation of research. Conventionally, the researchers in IIS tend to collaborate with workers of corporations in research, which encourages an atmosphere of opening up the results of research to the public. It is rare that a research institute makes the results of its research available to the public so openly and in such detail. There was also the opportunity to learn about engineering through practical hands-on experience, which amused the wide range of visitors, including high school students, and successfully conveyed some of the attractions of the engineering world. Please visit the IIS open campus next year if you have some interest in it. You will undoubtedly discover a lot of surprises and cutting-edge knowledge. (Yu Hasegawa, master course student of Oguchi & Iryo lab. at IIS)

Pic4: At Oki Laboratory

Pic5: At Sekimoto Laboratory

Pic6: At Oguchi Laboratory

Pic7: At the room of International Center for Urban Safety Engineering (ICUS)

Pic8: In the experimental room for Concrete Laboratory

4. Voice from Alumni: Dr. Yolanda Alberto (PhD in 2014) Last name: Alberto Hernández (both are my last name) Nationality: Mexican The year of graduation 2014/ Degree: Ph.D. Laboratory: Geotechnical Engineering / Professor’s name: Prof. TOWHATA Ikuo 1. What made you decide to study in Japan or the University of Tokyo? During my master’s degree at the University of California, Berkeley, I became really interested in earthquake engineering and one day, one of my professors recommended the University of Tokyo for novel topics on that area. However, after graduation I went back to Mexico to work in a construction company and while working on tunneling in Mexico City, a highly seismic-prone area, I realized I needed to continue my education to understand more about seismicity and I applied to the University of Tokyo. 2. What is your best memory of the student life? I think I have plenty of good memories but overall I can say that the most beautiful one was the constant and enormous support I received from Towhata Sensei, from my friends at the laboratory and from FSO. It was so comforting to know that no matter the challenge, they would always be there for me. I treasure those friendships the most. 3. How did you find job opportunities after graduation and how did you get your current job? Once my graduation was imminent I started looking for jobs on websites specialized on professorships and postdoctoral positions. I also took advantage of the opportunities offered within the Department of Civil Engineering and in the School of Engineering, where I eventually had an offer by email that led to my current position. Through the websites I was able to become a Postdoctoral Researcher for 1 year at the University of Alberta, Canada and 6 months at the National Research Center for Integrated Natural Disaster Management, in Chile. At the University of Alberta, my interest in engineering education grew after having a chance to teach a class and I took a pedagogy class that gave me a new perspective on becoming a professor. 4. Please describe your current position or responsibilities. Currently I’m an Assistant Professor at the School of Engineering. I work directly in the Institute for Innovation in International Engineering Education and the Global Center for Innovation in Engineering Education. This center aims to reinforce a global system of education and research. My main responsibilities are teaching some project-based learning classes, conducting

research on my area of expertise, plan and pursue projects to promote UT engineering students’ globalization, in particular dealing with the organization of systematic programs such as Special English Lessons (SEL), Academic Writing, Academic Presentation, SNOWBALLS, M-Skype, English Writing Consultant (ERIC), in addition to discussion about their direction from an educational perspective. This first semester I’m getting to know each activity, for instance, M-Skype is an exchange program between students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and The University of Tokyo and I already had the chance to participate in the: MIT-UT Summer Camp for Asuno Technology (MUSCAT) which was a very satisfactory and enriching experience. 5. Please tell us your future plans or dreams of your career or private life. I have had the chance to get involved in very interesting and diverse projects and I would like to continue that path. In my current job I have the opportunity to learn more about engineering education and at the same time I can carry on with the research on geotechnical risks that I started in Chile. I am gaining new skills such as project management and cross-cultural abilities that I believe will be very helpful in shaping my career as a professor. At the same time, my husband and I have enjoyed living and working in different countries and we have become fond of traveling and experiencing new things.

Pic9: In front of her office, Education and the Global Center (Engineering Building no.8)

5. Notice: Annual Japanese Speech Contest (July 7th) Date: July 7th from 10:15AM to 1PM Place: Hongo, Engineering Building No.1 (Please come to the office no.229) Anyone can join. Please come and encourage our students.

6. Report: Board Meeting of the Alumni Association in 2016 (June 15th)

On June 15th, the Board Meeting of the Alumni Association was held at Sanjo conference hall in Hongo. 49 board members, who represent each class, discussed the international alumni network and the annual fee of membership. The President this year is Prof. Maekawa, Concrete laboratory and other board members are introduced on the HP of the Alumni Association. This year the faculty is going to arrange a get-together for foreign alumni on November 24th, at Hongo Campus. Please join us and let your classmates around you know about it. Currently, there is no annual membership fee, especially for foreign alumni, however positive activity needs support from lots of members. We accept donations from alumni throughout the year. If you would like to support our association, please contact our office (Ayuko AKAIKE, alumni@civil.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp) or President Maekawa (koichi_maekawa@civil.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp.

We are looking forward to your feedback and suggestions!

The editorial team of

the Alumni Association of the Civil Engineering at the university of Tokyo Chief editor: Ayuko AKAIKE (1995 alumna)

Associate editor: Kiichiro HATOYAMA (2001 master)

Editors: Akiko SUZUKI (2009 alumna) Yuya Takahashi (2008 alumnus)

Yu Hasegawa (2015 alumnus), Shota Umezawa (2015 alumnus)

Adviser: Manabu ITO (1953 Alumnus) Proofreader: Alexander GILMORE

(Associate Professor, Department of Civil Engineering)