In the afternoon of Thursday, December 12, 2013, 34 students and 5 professors from the University of the Ryukyus (Ryudai) came to visit OIST for a special campus tour. This tour was planned to strengthen ties at the student level.
This was the first visit to OIST for many of the students. The students, who study medicine, agriculture, marine sciences, education, law, and literature, were taken around several research units related to their interests and fields of study. Ayano Shimabukuro from the Department of Agriculture commented that the visit to the Plant Epigenetics lab was particularly exciting for her. She explained, “I had an opportunity to take a look inside the room where Arabidopsis plants are grown. I hear of Arabidopsis all the time in my area of study, as they are a popular model organism. This was the first time I saw it in real life!”
After the tours, the University of Ryukyus students joined the OIST teatime and casually mingled with OIST researchers. The visit concluded with a Science Café session in which two of the OIST graduate students shared their experience as a PhD student at OIST.
Ali Mualimah Hudatwi, who studies in the Marine Sciences Program, said, “I am very impressed with OIST. I think the environment here is ideal for pursuing graduate studies.”
This tour will be the first of many tours geared towards University of Ryukyus students, and we hope that this will facilitate further collaboration with the University of the Ryukyus.
