Okinawan science teachers and education administration officers visit OIST

By Hitomi Imamura

The Educators’ visit on Monday, August 8, was aimed at stimulating scientific education in local schools and at learning about OIST’s current situation and future plans. The group was made up of 40 people including Mr. Hiroshi Oshiro, the superintendent of Okinawa Prefectural Board of Education.

Dr. Kenji Doya, Principal Investigator (PI) of the Neural Computation Unit, and Dr. Noriyuki Satoh, PI of the Marine Genomics Unit, presented their research which generated a lot of interesting questions from the educators. They also showed enthusiasm for developing collaboration with OIST by researchers giving talks at local schools.

After the presentations, Dr. Masahisa Yamada, Scientific Senior Manager of the Common Resources Group, and Dr. Mizuki Shimanuki, Manager of the Research Support Section, joined the group and took them on a tour of the facility. The tour included the visit to the electron microscopy room and the robot room.

The visit was a fantastic opportunity for the island’s leading science educators to gain a better understanding of the potential for mutually beneficial collaboration with OIST. We will be waiting for you to come back - with your students next time!