WASEDA University Newsletter from WOL

To Continue Being A University that Contributes to the World: Formulating Waseda Vision 150 President Kaoru Kamata Message

Japan today faces many difficult issues, such as rapidly aging society and falling birthrate, continuing recession, and political stagnation. In addition, the Great East Japan Earthquake, the nuclear plant accident, and torrential rains in Japan and abroad have caused enormous damage to the country. We must take them seriously and think about our science and technologies, social infrastructure, role of researchers and our way of life. The disasters also tell us that the current circumstances on global issues, including those on environment and energy, are more serious than expected.

Science and Technology—Has the Vital Information Been Delivered? -Taking the Activities of the Science Media Centre at the Time of the Earthquake as an Example-

Miho Namba
Associate Professor, Journalism Course, Faculty of Political Science and Economics, Waseda University

On March 11, 2011, on the campus of Waseda University in Shinjuku, Tokyo, those in laboratories and study rooms on some floors experienced such incredible shaking that they could not stay on their feet. We, on the staff of the Science Media Centre (SMC), also evacuated outdoors. On the PCs brought outside with us we looked at Twitter, where people began to confirm the safety of family, friends, and acquaintances, as posts were flowing in from all over Japan.

Our own past posts can be checked on a service called Twilog.

Toward a World-class Research Base with Innovative Approaches to Mathematical Fluid Dynamics

Research Institute of Nonlinear Partial Differential Equations

Since olden days, people have tried to understand nature through mathematics. Scholars active in the 16th to 18th centuries, starting with Galileo Galilei who left us with the words of "The greatest books of nature have been written in the language of mathematics," as well as Kepler, Newton, Leibniz, and others, tried to explain each natural phenomenon by mathematical laws. It was Euler in the 18th century who first tried to describe nature through nonlinear partial differential equations. We can say that the development of modern-day civilized society and science and technology that has been driven by industrial society has had this basis supported through basic partial differential equations amassed by our predecessors.

Autumn Issue (Nov.)

News related to the Great East Japan Earthquake

News related to the Great East Japan Earthquake

NEWS REPORT

Minister’s Award presented to two professors in the Faculty of Science and Engineering

SPECIAL REPORT

Creating new knowledge by realizing gender equality in society Chapter.1 Discussion Gender equality at universities

Career compass

A working career is like an ultra-marathon race—Therefore, passion is needed

Message to the second century

Let’s reconsider the value of traditional Japanese culture in order to preserve cultural diversity

From the classroom window

Analyze current conditions, conceive new ideas and express them to society

Waseda rediscovery

The Large Hall Okuma Hoped For