Researches make us exciting. If one wants to enjoy the research activity, he/she needs knowledge and technique.
In scientific researches, we first find a new research topic, that is to say a kind of mysteries, and second investigate the theme to find an answer, and finally publish the results as a scientific paper. The second part, in a narrow sense, is just doing a scientific work, which is thought to be a great experience. For this, we have to know mathematics, physics, computer programming, and meteorology and physical oceanography. The last part of the research, i.e., the publication of research findings, needs the ability of writing scientific paper and the ability of having an oral presentation. The first part of the scientific research to find a new theme is actually most difficult. This is because, in order to find a new scientific theme, one should know many publications on the field and one have enough research experiences to judge whether the new theme is or is not feasible within a limited time with a present technology.
We, Physical Oceanography and Climate Laboratory, will guide a student to acquire these abilities step by step while doing the research activity in an undergraduate or a graduate school. Roughly, a student can learn knowledge and technique that are necessary for the research activity and then he/she can answer a modern scientific problem from bachelor to master course. In a doctoral course, we will teach a student how to find a cutting-edge research problem, how to answer it, and how to publish the research findings. We will explain the details as follows.
Bachelor thesis in Division of Earth Planetary Science, Faculty of Science
All the undergraduate students entering Hokkaido University after FY2011 and assigning Division of Earth and Planetary Science must take the research course of Earth and Planetary Science for graduation. Our laboratory strongly recommends that all the undergraduate students belonging to our laboratory take the research course in the final year and write the bachelor thesis, even though the research course is not a required subject for the students entering Hokkaido University before FY2010.
There are roughly two approaches to take the research couse in our laboratory: one is to perform data analysis and numerical simulation by oneself and the other is to review several papers on a scientific topic. In the data analysis and/or numerical simulation, one can select an unknown problem or the reconfirmation of a known fact. In the review, one can catch up cutting-edge research topics and clarify present problems.
In our laboratory, the faculty staffs will guide a student to think how he/she does in the bachelor thesis with two-way communications on what he/she is interested in.
Master thesis in Department of Natural History Sciences, Graduate School of Science
In master thesis, one will challenge a new scientific topic. For this, it is important to obtain the latest knowledge on the topic to read published papers, and to acquire the technique necessary for doing the research. Since our laboratory copes with topics shared in the international research society, almost all papers we read are written in English and published in the international journal. To read such a paper needs both English literacy and fundamental expertise. If one can read published papers, one can grasps what has already known and what has not yet known in the research front, and then you can judge the value of your research results. Moreover, since data analysis and numerical simulations need for a new finding of the research, one has to acquire such kind of techniques when necessary. The master course student in our laboratory uses knowledge and technique freely and challenges a scientific topic in the research front. Although some of master course students slow down their research activity when they are busy in job-hunting activity, we hope that they will feel pleasure in the research activity when they finish the master course. We will support a master course student sufficiently until he/she completes his/her master thesis with reflecting his/her own idea. If a student completed the research findings with an ample high level, we would organize an occasion that you would have an oral presentation in an international academic conference and/or you would write a scientific paper to be submitted to an international journal.
We welcome an applicant from the overseas.
Doctrate thesis in Department of Natural History Sciences, Graduate School of Science
We require a doctorate course student to set up a new scientific issue and solve it by oneself and to write a paper to some international journal. A student writes a paper in English and submits it to an international journal in our laboratory. Though it takes much time to master writing a paper in English, we hope that a doctorate student perservingly acquires how to write his/her research findings with spending a long time. Moreover, an oral presentation in an international academic conference is inevitable to open one’s research findings. We, our laboratory, will organize the chance that a student makes a presentation in the overseas.
To set up a new scientific topic and to solve by oneself is the ability that a scientist can generally acquire in the final educational stage. (In addition, if one wants to become an excellent researcher, one would have to acquire the ability to overview the research field and to propose a new field, but in general this is not for a student.) In the doctorate course, one will look for papers that are necessary for a research topic and one may get much of the latest information deeply. Moreover, one clarifies a scientific problem at the moment, and often notices what no one thinks. The self-supporting scientist can downsize it to a piece of scientific problems to answer by oneself, can solve it, and can write a paper on the result. If you were a self-supporting scientist, you would hit upon new ideas one after another, realize the research based on the new ideas, and feel a great pleasure of the research activity. We wish that one would enjoy the research planning by oneself after one takes a doctor degree in our laboratory.
Posing the doctorate course as the research-career stage just before the self-supporting researcher, we, the faculty staffs, will be a supporter for a doctorate student such that he/she performs the research activity by himself/herself.