Message from the Chair for the Department of Engineering and Applied Sciences
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Modern society is becoming increasingly sophisticated, complex, and internationalized. In this context, what should students learn at university now to prepare themselves for the future? In the future, students will need the ability to understand each other's expertise and cooperate in a team consisting of various fields as well as their advanced professional skills. I believe the Department of Engineering and Applied Sciences (EAS) at Sophia University is one of the best choices in Japanese universities to acquire such abilities based on "cross-disciplinary knowledge." The EAS combines science and engineering for sustainability based on physical phenomena to explore cutting-edge physics as an academic discipline and establish methodologies that are useful to society. In EAS, students study general science and technology and can choose their major from three academic fields consisting of physics, mechanical engineering, and electrical and electronics engineering. The topics covered by EAS are various; here, let us take optics as an example. You can find some members in EAS;
investigating the behavior of light in materials,
using light and radio waves to study the universe,
developing photocatalysts to decompose pollutants,
developing LEDs to emit light,
using laser beams to precisely process objects,
applying sensors that use light and radio waves to measure and control objects,
using light and radio waves to transmit information,
using solar power to produce electricity,
and so on.
These cover a wide range of physics, mechanical engineering, and electrical and electronics engineering. In addition to optics, EAS faculty members are leading experts in automobiles, airplanes, railroads, smartphones, medicine, welfare, environment, energy, space, superconductors, semiconductors, elementary particles, etc.
The EAS curriculum is characterized by the fact that while students experience natural phenomena through experiments, they also learn the theory of design and control by describing the mechanisms of objects and materials with mathematical formulas and learning the two organically. Students who can consider things based on physical phenomena will always be in demand in society, and in fact, EAS's employment situation is excellent.
Sophia University is known as one of the most internationalized universities in Japan. We offer the Green Engineering Program of EAS for international students since all courses in the program are taught in English. You can interact with many Japanese students, learn Japanese, and enjoy the Japanese culture during your stay at Sophia in the heart of Tokyo. Graduation research is conducted for one year in the fourth year, with another year of the selective course named "research trial" in the third year, but these are not really enough for cutting-edge research. About half of the students in EAS go on to the master's program, and they present their excellent research results at conferences and academic journals. We also offer the Ph.D. program for Ph.D. degrees. Taking advantage of our location in the heart of Tokyo, we have active partnerships with research institutions and companies in Japan and abroad. The fact that both liberal arts and sciences are on the same campus makes it easy to conduct cooperative research based on diverse perspectives. EAS has an excellent environment for learning and research to acquire "cross-disciplinary knowledge" that meets the demands of society. Still, to make full use of this environment, students must also have an attitude to learn actively. Fortunately, Sophia University offers an education with a small number of students per faculty, and EAS faculty members are ready to support your learning. We hope that many motivated students will enroll in and graduate from EAS, and that they will play an essential role in society.
Prof. Dr. Masafumi MiyatakeMIYATAKE, Masafumi / 宮武 昌史.icon
Chair for the Department of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Sophia University.