NSF Program Taps Young Scientists To Forge Link With Japan

U.S. students found their summer in Japanese labs professionally as well as culturally productive, but not many plan to return WASHINGTON--A National Science Foundation program to forge closer ties with Japanese scientists is gaining popularity among the next generation of United States scientists, say NSF officials. The Summer Institute in Japan, which sent 25 U.S. graduate students in science and engineering to Japanese research facilities last summer, will support 50 such students this coming summer. And last month, NSF and Japanese officials agreed to expand opportunities for young researchers by allowing U.S. graduate students to apply to similar programs in Japan that were previously open only to postdoctoral fellows and principal investigators. "It's all just mushrooming," says Larry Weber, program manager for the Japan Program at NSF. "It's increasing everyone's awareness that there is something interesting going on in Japan." The attempt to encourage U.S. students to enter Japanese laboratories stems from past imbalances in the flow of knowledge and people between the two countries, say NSF officials. For many years, Japanese students, postdoctoral fellows, and even senior scientists have come to the U.S. to work in labs or attend conferences. But U.S. scientists have not been as eager to go to Japan for such purposes, despite a two-year-old U.S.-Japan Agreement on Cooperation in Research and De- velopment in Science and Technology and older programs that support long- and short-term visits and Japanese language study. Many factors have kept these scientists from taking advantage of these opportunities. Too few researchers realize or accept the idea that important work goes on in Japan, says Weber. Plus, most U.S. scientists cannot read Japanese journals. And U.S. postdoctoral fellows express concern that they will be unable to compete for U.S.-based jobs while they are thousands of miles away in Japan. The summer institute was set up to break down such barriers for the new U.S. scientists. "We decided to go one step down in the pipeline," says Weber. "[The program] is targeted specifically at graduate students, with the expectation and the reality that they are more flexible." The students spent eight weeks in Tsukuba, Japan's science city, and worked in one of the city's 50 government laboratories. Each morning, the students worked with Japanese language instructors to master a few words and phrases. The rest of each day was spent doing science. NSF tries to place the students in labs with research interests closely related to theirs, says Weber. The Japanese provided the accommodations, research expenses, and language classes, while NSF financially supported a week-long orientation in Washington, trans- portation to and from Japan, and a $2,000 stipend. Students lived together in a dormitory, each with his or her own room, and gathered each evening to talk about their experiences or vent their frustrations about the day. When it was over, the students said they had grown personally and professionally. "It gives you a lot of confidence when you're there as you find yourself handling a difficult situation," says Gaile Gordon, a Ph.D. candidate in applied sciences at Harvard University. Like many others, she says that her moods changed to match the events around her--one day excited, another day frustrated by the experience of living in such a different culture. "You're continually on this roller coaster," Gordon notes. John C. Krumm had little trouble adjusting to his group at the Electrotechnical Laboratory. A computer science graduate student from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Krumm works on computer vision. "They were using American computers in the lab; I could start writing programs the first day I was there," he recalls. "It was really easy to fit in." At the National Chemical Laboratory for Industry, organic chemistry student Joey Storer was able to work on theoretical calculations of reactions using Japanese supercomputers on par with the best in the U.S. Given that he rarely has access to such equipment back home at the University of California, Los Angeles, his summer was productive, he says. "For me to do two papers in eight weeks is an incredible thing," he says. "Usually it takes six months to do just one." Other students came away with less tangible but equally valuable results in the form of overseas contacts for further collaborative efforts. Gordon wanted to attend the institute because "I knew a lot of money is being spent in Japan on face recognition, which isn't the case in the U.S." She is developing computerized face recognition for her doctoral degree. Her lab at Harvard and another lab in Japan are the only ones in the world that are working with the data set her work requires. During her stay, she was able to meet the head of the Japanese lab and, through a translator, to study his approach to getting a computer to key into facial features. They agreed to keep in touch through electronic mail following her return to the U.S. "You make contacts that you could never make unless you did it in person," says Catherine Macleod, a linguistics graduate student from New York University. "I'm now in touch with people I really feel are my friends." Some of the students hope to return to Japan for a longer stay. "If I have a chance to go back, I will take it," says Storer. But others are more cautious. Gordon says she would like to go again, but only for a visit. She says the U.S. investigators there for a long time seem frustrated and isolated. "There are so many ways their culture conflicts with ours," she explains. Plus, she thinks she'd have trouble getting a job in the U.S. if she were to spend a year in Japan. That feeling, common among the first group of students, throws into question the program's ability to reach its long-range goal of enlarging the pool of scientists who are willing to do research in Japan. And there are some immediate problems that must be resolved as well, the participants say. Still, they did begin to understand the Japanese a little better. Storer noticed that his colleagues there didn't like to say no or to speak frankly about ideas they did not agree with. Gordon was impressed with the levels of politeness subtly expressed in the language. There were also unexpected adventures. Macleod was stranded in a train in a tunnel during an earthquake. Gordon was stranded at the rim of a volcano because she didn't understand where she was supposed to pick up a bus. Finally a family stopped and, using hand signals, understood where she wanted to go and took her there. Krumm appreciated the fact that, for Japanese barbers, a haircut includes a shave with a straight razor and a head and neck massage. All the students felt that the institute was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. "I would say, `Go,'" says Gordon. "It put me three months behind in my research, but it was totally worth it." The deadline for the 1991 summer institute program is January 15. For more information, contact Larry Weber, Japan Program, NSF Division of International Programs, NSF, 1800 G St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20550; (202) 357-9558.

NSF Program Taps Young Scientists To Forge Link With Japan

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