Many of the challenges facing modern society, such as in space, healthcare, agriculture, energy, the environment, disaster prevention, and digital transformation, cannot be solved with the knowledge and technology from a single specialized field. Rather, what is needed is for people with different areas of expertise to bring their respective knowledge and technical skills to the table with an understanding of each other’s fields and to collaborate to generate new solutions.
The Graduate School of Science and Technology’s cross-disciplinary courses have been designed to carry out education and research that crosses boundaries between Graduate School majors, with an eye toward these societal transformations. The courses were introduced in 2017, on the 50th anniversary of the Faculty of Science and Technology’s founding, as a Graduate School education program to promote education and research across multiple fields.
The program started with six courses, but it has expanded to eight: the Interdisciplinary Medical Science and Technology Course, the Interdisciplinary Agricultural Science and Technology Course, the Space Science and Technology Course, the Integrated Science and Technology for Human Safety and Health Promotion Course, the Energy and Environmental Systems Course, the Disaster Prevention and Risk Management Course, the Digital Transformation Course, and the Advanced Teacher Training Course. While deepening their expertise in their own fields of study, students in the cross-disciplinary courses gain exposure to knowledge and ways of thinking from other disciplines, thereby acquiring new perspectives that cannot be obtained through their specialized fields alone. The purpose, however, of the cross-disciplinary courses is not just to broaden students’ knowledge bases. The goal is to nurture professionals capable of connecting knowledge from different specialized fields, collaborating with people with diverse skill sets, tackling complex challenges together, and generating new research and value.
“We are planning to add more new courses in the future,” says Professor Kohmura. “We believe it is important for the cross-disciplinary courses themselves to flexibly evolve and adapt to stay relevant to the demands of the times and the changes in faculty members’ research themes.”
Furthering one’s knowledge in one’s own field and learning across disciplinary boundaries are by no means mutually exclusive. The fundamental concept behind the cross-disciplinary courses is to maintain a solid foundation in one’s own specialty while incorporating and integrating knowledge and perspectives from other fields.
One of the cross-disciplinary courses is the Space Science and Technology Course. Today’s space-related R&D requires knowledge and technologies from a wide breadth of fields, from the science that unravels the mysteries of the universe to the sensors and telescopes used to make space observations, as well as satellites, communications, energy systems, space transportation, and even Earth observations and manned space activities. No single laboratory or department can handle all of this alone. The Space Science and Technology Course brings together faculty members and students from multiple departments, ranging from the sciences to engineering, who carry out education and research that crosses boundaries between individual departments and laboratories.
“When students collaborate with researchers from different fields in their future careers, even holding discussions can be problematic if they have absolutely no knowledge of their partners’ areas of expertise,” explains Professor Kohmura. “It is important for students to maintain a solid foundation in their own specialty while bridging gaps to the point where they can discuss topics with researchers from other fields using a shared vocabulary.”
Professor Kohmura himself has been researching celestial phenomena, such as black holes, with X-ray space observations while also researching and developing the actual observational equipment, such as X-ray imaging sensors, used for his space observations. Thus, his research involves both the science of observing the universe and the engineering of creating the technology to do so. The researchers who participate in the Space Science and Technology Course have a wide range of specialties including physics, electrical and electronic engineering, information science, mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, and civil engineering. An example of their work is the miniaturization and improved energy efficiency of observation devices by combining sensor technology with circuit technology. Moreover, research that applies space technology to solve social challenges on Earth, such as monitoring disasters using satellites, is only possible by connecting knowledge and technology from different fields. Space is an ideal setting for linking knowledge from diverse disciplines to create new science and technology.
As part of the Space Science and Technology Course, students take an introductory course on space science and technology, which provides a broad overview ranging from astrophysics to space development and manned space exploration. Through omnibus lectures delivered by faculty members from various fields, students are exposed to leading research in each discipline.
The course also gives opportunities to students to present their own research in front of faculty members and students from other disciplines and to engage in discussions with them. In order to have people from different disciplines understand your research, you must first understand the essence of your own research and be able to explain it from the listener’s perspective. These experiences not only enhance presentation skills but also cultivate the communication skills necessary for collaborating with researchers from other fields.
Furthermore, through lectures and discussions led by guest speakers from private companies and other organizations, students learn how the knowledge they acquire at the university is applied in the real world and explore opportunities for collaborative research. Students are also provided with opportunities to participate in ongoing industry-academia collaboration projects, working alongside researchers and engineers from different disciplines to tackle real-world challenges.
The goal of the cross-disciplinary courses is not only to develop professionals with a broad range of knowledge. It is to foster the ability of students to build upon their own expertise to understand and connect knowledge and technologies from other fields, collaborate with people with diverse backgrounds, identify issues, devise solutions, and put them into practice. In this context, also important are system design skills, which involve taking a bird’s-eye view of complex challenges to create comprehensive solutions, and the management skills needed to connect people from different disciplines and drive projects forward. Studying in a cross-disciplinary course while also researching your major is by no means easy. However, the experience of collaborating with people from different disciplines to tackle a single challenge enables students to gain, ahead of schedule, the skills that will be required in research and development and in various settings throughout society after they graduate.
“The students are highly motivated,” says Professor Kohmura. “I believe this is because they can take on challenges in areas they are truly interested in that go beyond the boundaries of their own fields.”
The ability to delve deeply into a single discipline, the ability to connect people and knowledge across disciplinary boundaries, and the ability to apply these skills to solve real-world problems. The cross-disciplinary courses at the Graduate School of Science and Technology aim to cultivate professionals equipped with these abilities who can conceive and implement new research and projects.
Many of the challenges outlined by the SDGs cannot be solved by a single discipline alone. Issues in the fields of the environment, energy, disaster prevention, healthcare, food, urban development, and others are deeply interrelated; solving them requires integrating knowledge and technologies from different areas and encouraging collaboration among people from diverse backgrounds. To address these complex challenges, the cross-disciplinary courses at the Graduate School of Science and Technology aim to foster professionals who, while maintaining their own areas of expertise, can understand and integrate knowledge from other fields and apply it to real-world problems. Furthermore, in addition to collaboration among faculty members and students across different fields, partnerships through education and research with various companies and other stakeholders outside the university are also key components of the cross-disciplinary courses. The ability to deepen one’s expertise, the ability to collaborate across disciplines, and the ability to link diverse knowledge sets to solve social challenges. Cultivating professionals with these abilities and generating, together with society, new research, technologies, and value are the roles the cross-disciplinary courses play in realizing a sustainable society.
■ Main research themes
