“I want to eliminate disparities in the world through the power of engineering.”
Inomata Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University
Suiri Takizawa
She confirmed her conviction in Denmark, a leading nation in education. “I want to be part of engineering research that contributes to society.”
“Higher welfare benefits, higher tax burden” is a unique social system created in Scandinavia, a world-class region with high citizen satisfaction rates not only in terms of welfare for the elderly and child welfare, but also in the fields of medicine and education. Notably in Denmark, public school education is provided for free from elementary school up to graduate school. It is a country that places a high value on education as an essential element for enriching lives where children are not required to go to school even if they are of a compulsory education age, and parents are free to choose how their children are educated.
After finishing a one-year exchange program in Denmark, Suiri Takizawa returned as a graduate school student to Tohoku University in June 2015. She says, “Education is precisely the foundation of a person. I want to eliminate disparities in the world through the power of engineering.” Now a second-year engineering student, she is majoring in chemical engineering with a focus on supercritical fluids, and is part of the Inomata Laboratory. She is aiming for practical research, taking the position that “Engineering research is not meant for satisfying intellectual curiosity but for contributing to society.” Behind this motivation of hers, there are various encounters that she has had with others and her courage to move forward without fearing change.
“I want to be involved in sports that I love through the development of materials for sportswear.” She has had this desire ever since her high school years.
Drawn to the appeal of chemistry and math since junior high school, she applied to a high school with a science and mathematics course. After her admission, she immediately joined the tennis club and became fascinated by sports. “I was in a softball team up until junior high school, but there was no softball club in my high school so I took the plunge and joined the tennis club. I had no reservations to start something new; I just loved sports,” she says. Ms. Takizawa also mentions that she only started being serious about her studies after she quit the club. Wanting to be involved with sports not as an athlete but by being engaged in the development of materials for sportswear, she aimed for the path of materials engineering. Her first choice of university was Tohoku University's School of Engineering which conducts advanced research and possesses large-scale research facilities. She took a tour of its research labs during an open campus event and felt that she could see her future there, so she decided to study for its entrance examinations. However, because she was heavily involved in the tennis club for two and a half years, she painfully realized that she did not have the minimum basic academic skills. She explains, “I took a number of mock exams and all were graded D. But I did not want to give up, so I studied so hard to improve in the subjects I wasn't good at and I thoroughly reviewed my mock exams.”
She chose Tohoku University's School of Engineering with a system for selecting courses with a view to broaden possibilities for the future.
At Tohoku University's School of Engineering, she would be able to choose her own course after admission. Because the options for the future are endless, she wanted to get into Tohoku University where she would be able to study all kinds of fields. With strong determination, Ms. Takizawa passed the entrance exams. However, she felt a gap in between her dream of being involved in the development of materials and the barrage of foundation subjects classes. Despite this, she recalled her high school self, and began to acquire knowledge steadily and surely. The turning point occurred during the “Creative Engineering Training Study Presentation” which she participated in during her second year. “This was research sponsored by the School of Engineering that almost anyone could participate in and the research results were to be presented in Beijing. It was my first time overseas, and the speeches were in English. I was very nervous, but because I practiced my presentation a number of times beforehand, it was not that difficult. The difficult part was the question and answer portion,” she explains. When she was asked a question in English, she could basically understand it but she simply couldn’t express herself well enough to give an answer. She couldn't convey what she wanted even though she wanted to convey it. It was at that moment when she came face to face with language barriers. “I was mortified. It may not have seemed that way to the audience but I was really frustrated. So I decided to try again and succeed the next time,” she says.
Inomata Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University
Suiri Takizawa
Studied science and mathematics at Yashiro High School in Nagano Prefecture, and graduated in 2010. Admitted into the School of Engineering, Tohoku University in the same year. Participated in “Creative Engineering Training” sponsored by the School of Engineering in 2011. It was her first time to present her research overseas, and she began to aim for success overseas. Decided to study overseas after touring engineering schools in Poland and the Czech Republic and a steelworks which was part of her “International Engineering Training” in 2012. After continuing her studies at the Graduate School of Engineering of Tohoku University, she participated in a one-year overseas exchange program. Returned to Japan where she is currently staying in June 2015.