U of T Engineering hosts students and professors from the University of Tokyo for the 12th COSM-UT² Graduate Student Workshop
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Photo: attendees at the 12th Anniversary COSM-UT² 2013 Graduate Student Workshop with ChemE faculty co-lead Professor Charles Jia (first row, first left), MSE Chair & faculty co-lead Professor Jun Nogami (centre left), Dean Cristina Amon (centre right), and UTokyo faculty co-lead Professor Kazuki Morita (right of Dean Amon)
June 11, 2013
From June 4 to 8, U of T Engineering hosted professors and graduate students from the University of Toyko for the 12th Consortium on Sustainable Materials (COSM) UT² Graduate Student Workshop. This year’s conference theme, titled “Materials for Sustainability” brought together 14 faculty and graduate students from the University of Tokyo, and over 30 professors and graduate students from the departments of Chemical Engineering & Applied Chemistry (ChemE), Materials Science & Engineering (MSE), and Mechanical & Industrial Engineering (MIE).
The workshop featured more than 20 graduate-level research topics, such as sustainable metallurgical processing, advanced nano-composites, bio-inspired microstructured materials, organic optoelectronics, and many more.
“UT² is a great opportunity for graduate students to meet with colleagues and faculty members from a different institution in a different country. It creates opportunities for new collaborative research projects and exchange programs between the two universities,” said Leili Tafaghodikhajavi (MSE PhD candidate), one of this year’s student organizers who has also been to the University of Tokyo twice – first in 2009 as a UT² guest and as a visiting scholar in 2012. “It was pleasant to see some familiar faces and meet new people who were participating for the first time.”
“The workshop has further strengthened ties between two leading engineering schools in two continents,” said Professor Charles Q. Jia, Associate Chair, Graduate Studies (ChemE) and one of this year’s faculty co-leads. “It has provided a valuable opportunity for graduate students to share the excitement of their research and build friendships that will help them professionally.”
“It is always a great pleasure to host our colleagues and students from the University of Tokyo,” said Professor Jun Nogami (Chair, MSE) and another faculty co-lead. “This workshop is an important part of a long history of friendship and collaboration between our two schools of engineering.”
The workshop was supported by the Department of Materials Engineering and the International Research Center for Sustainable Materials at the University of Tokyo, the Consortium on Sustainable Materials (COSM), along with the three participating engineering departments from the University of Toronto.