Tokyo Tech’s Suzukake Science Day 2024 Draws Over 3,000 Participants
Suzukake Science Day 2024, an open-day event for children, prospective students, and other members of the public which focuses on activities on Tokyo Tech’s Suzukakedai Campus, was successfully held on May 11 and 12. In addition to hybrid lectures, this year’s event included in-person and online open labs and science experiments, allowing participants to experience and feel the fun and excitement of science. This year, the two-day event attracted over 3,000 participants.
Suzukakedai Open Campus, which included Institute-wide and School-specific graduate-level information sessions, was also held over the same weekend.
Hybrid lecture offers sneak peek intro convergence science
On the first day, Professor Hirohiko Kaneko from Tokyo Tech’s School of Engineering and Assistant Professor Aya Isumi from the Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences at Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU) gave participants a sneak peek into convergence science* through lectures under the theme Tokyo Institute of Technology x Tokyo Medical and Dental University – The forefront of interdisciplinary research. Tokyo Tech and TMDU will merge to form Institute of Science Tokyo (Science Tokyo) in October 2024, and convergence science will be a key factor in the new university’s approach to learning and research.
After this, a panel discussion entitled What is the Future of Mental Health Created by the Fusion of Different Fields? was moderated by Associate Professor Tso-fu Chang and Associate Professor Tomohisa Sawada, affiliated with the Laboratory for Materials and Structures and the Laboratory of Chemistry and Life Science at Tokyo Tech’s Institute of Innovative Research, respectively. Roughly 100 people, joining both in person and online, were present for this lecture and panel discussion.
On the second day, four emerging researchers gave lectures on the following topics:
- The Art of Cell Design
- Mystery of the universe and particle physics probing through big data
- Biofilms and polysaccharides of microalgae
- Architecture supports Humans
These speakers included students and graduates of Tokyo Tech’s Organization for Fundamental Research
, which was established in 2018 with the goal of fostering researchers who focus on fundamental research and strongly support the future of academia. The presenters did not disappoint as they explained their topics to the approximately 100 in-person and online participants in a clear, easy-to-understand manner.
- Convergence science is an approach in which multiple historically different disciplines converge, resulting not merely in addition, but rather the creation of new disciplines after convergence to discover unknown issues and solve social problems.
Thirty-one research labs open their doors to public
Thirty-one laboratories from a wide variety of fields opened their doors to the public during Suzukake Science Day 2024. Based on their daily research activities, members from these labs introduced various topics that included explanations of common illnesses and experiments using microorganisms, and a look at the latest research equipment at the Institute. Participants listened to explanations from members of the different labs, deepening their understanding of each area of research.
Some 120 elementary school students join Kurarika science classes
As in previous years, volunteers from the Tokyo Tech Alumni Association also held the Kurarika experimental science classes that attracted roughly 120 elementary school students and their guardians to Suzukakedai Campus and to the online session.
In the face-to-face Slime Class, students made original slime by mixing laundry starch, borax, and paint. The participants enjoyed changing the shape of their own slime by cutting, stretching, and blowing air into it.
In the online Gishi-gishi Propeller Class, participants made two types of creaky propellers. For one, they made 10 grooves on disposable chopsticks with a file and attached a propeller to the tip of the chopsticks. The other method was to attach something that generates vibrations, such as wrapping a wire around disposable chopsticks or sticking them to the corrugated surface of a tofu case, and attaching a propeller to the tip of the disposable chopsticks. When the children rubbed these grooves with a rubbing rod, the propeller started to rotate. The participating children worked meticulously at home with their guardians on their computers and tablets.
In an online survey conducted after the class, almost all 120 students who participated in the Slime Class responded that they would like to participate again, and more than 90 percent of their parents also said they would like to continue participating in Kurarika.
Tokyo Tech will merge with TMDU in October 2024 and will be reborn as Science Tokyo. Despite this change, members of Suzukakedai Campus look forward to creating more exciting projects and events for the public in the years to come.