Graduate School of Engineering

Associate Professor Yoshihiro Oka

I am developing a water-based pesticide that uses only water as an ingredient and which is safe and worry-free for both humans and the environment.

In recent years, there have been problems such as the emergence of pesticide tolerance disease and effects of chemical pesticides on human health, so there has been a demand for the development of new pesticides.

Cavitation plasma technologies can be used to create disinfectant water that is highly effective against plant pathogens.
I believe that cavitation plasma disinfectant water can greatly contribute to the realization of sustainable farming that is not dependent on chemical pesticides.

Graduate School of Engineering

Associate Professor Naohisa Takagaki

The violent winds, high tides, and heavy rainfall from typhoons cause major damage to society. In that regard, my graduate school is developing a highly accurate forecasting model of typhoons using an ultra-large mock ocean experimental tank called a “typhoon simulation tank”, the only one of its kind in Japan.

Moreover, being able to modify typhoons, much like suppressing global warming, will create a society with fewer disasters, so we are also investigating that potential.

We are also utilizing engineering to develop ocean energy technologies.

Graduate School of Disaster Resilience and Governance

Associate Professor Hiroshi Taniguchi

Meteorology and climatology are fields in the natural sciences that are closely connected to the everyday lives of humans. I learn about these fields and conduct research so that the knowledge I gain can be applied to future disaster prevention and disaster resilience. For example, methods such as analysis of observation data and re-analysis data, numerical simulations, and theoretical calculations are used for clarifying the mechanisms of past, present, and future phenomena. The forecastability of such phenomena and the relevant knowledge can be used for creating hazard maps or other applications.

Institute for Nature and Environment

Full-time Lecturer Shinya Narusawa

Human beings, who have evolved while overcoming limitless odds, have an extremely precious existence. The human race must not perish, even with environment destruction, singularity, or war.

Can the human race continue on existing? Hints to this question exist within the number of civilizations in the universe.

This is because it is proportional to the average number of years a civilization has continued to exist. Conversely, we think about our future from speculation on the number of civilizations by SETI (search extra-terrestrial intelligence). “The future of humanity is in space”

Graduate School of Engineering

Associate Professor Takeshi Kakibe

Inedible plant biomass such as cellulose and lignin are polymers having superior characteristics to the biomass found in food products, so there are expectations that this biomass can be used as materials for plastics in place of fossil resources.

We are constructing a synthesis process that aims to convert these types of plant biomass to functional materials using derivatization and to achieve low-energy-cost synthesis.

Furthermore, we aim to be able to design a material that has a low environmental footprint by adding functionality such as biodegradability to yielded biomass derivatives.

Graduate School of Science

Associate Professor Yasuhiro Kashino

Diatoms use solar light to convert CO2 into oil that can be used for high-added-value materials or for biofuel, and they are extremely valuable as animal feed.

The goal is to establish technologies for molecular breeding of diatoms and low-cost, stable, high-concentration, high-volume cultivation of wild strains to achieve social implementation with expansion to application as useful materials in health and cosmetic products, biofuel, and for animal feed.