Aiming for the Cutting Edge of Natural Science with us in Kumamoto

We are approaching to the end of first quarter of the 21st century.
Cutting-edge of natural science and its applications are playing an increasingly important role in the world with drastic change and increasing uncertainty. The Faculty of Advanced Science and Technology, Kumamoto University, was established in April 2016 as an organization to which all faculty members from the science and engineering departments work together to promote research activities. Since then, we are carrying out a wide range of research activities including original and innovative basic science and pioneering applied research to respond rapidly changing social demands by close collaboration with researchers and organizations of all over the world. Currently, the Faculty of Advanced Science and Technology has 26 research fields in 6 divisions, “Natural Science”, “Materials Science and Chemistry”, “Industrial Fundamentals”, “Information and Energy”, “Civil Engineering and Architecture” and “Biomedical Engineering”. Each division is actively promoting industry-academia collaboration including two joint research fields. In addition, the Innovative Research and Education Center for Engineers, the International Research Center for Agricultural and Environmental Biology, and the Forefront Research and Education Center for Semiconductors have been established. For details on each division and the research activities of faculty members, please refer to the pages introducing each division in this website.

The research organization of the Faculty of Advanced Science and
Technology forms the core of educational course and program of the
Graduate School of Science and Technology. In the education of graduate students, it is extremely important to be involved in the cutting-edge research activities. The research activities conducted by faculty members and researchers of the Faculty of Advanced Science and Technology support cutting-edge research in their respective fields, and include interdisciplinary research, the development of new academic fields, and practical applications from exploratory research covering a wide range of fields. Experiencing research in this way is an essential element not only for training the next generation of researchers, but also for producing highly skilled practical personnel.

The Faculty of Advanced Science and Technology also plays a central role in internationalization promoted by our university. Many international joint research projects are being conducted, and we have concluded numerous exchange agreements with overseas institutions. In addition, we are promoting initiatives that take advantage of Kumamoto’s unique location, such as not only collaboration between science and engineering, but also interdisciplinary research that integrates different fields, including collaboration between science, engineering, and medicine, and strengthening the semiconductor and digital fields. Furthermore, we are actively promoting industry-academia-government collaboration, and our affiliated faculty members are working to strengthen collaboration with domestic and international research institutes and companies, and play important roles in policy-making by serving on various national and local government committees.

To contribute to the realization of a sustainable society through such initiatives, the Faculty of Advanced Science and Technology is working to create an advanced academic research center that spans all areas of natural science, from cutting-edge basic science to applied technology.