As a researcher and a mother in the study of the changing “35,000 kilometers.”
Associate Professor of the Course of Water and Environmental Studies, Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture, School of Engineering, Tohoku University
Associate Professor of Disaster Potential Study, Hazard and Risk Evaluation Research Division, International Research Institute of Disaster Science.
Associate Professor Keiko Udo
35,000 kilometers of world-class coastline is the subject of her research, and drives her desire to protect Japan’s coast.
The Great Eastern Japan Earthquake Tsunami reminded everyone that Japan is an island nation surrounded by the sea and the importance of countermeasures against disasters along the coast. The 35,000 km coastline that surrounds Japan is one of the longest coastlines in the world, and it has taught people in this country appreciation for both the beauty and the danger of the sea. Keiko Udo, an associate professor of the School of Engineering in Tohoku University, is one of the few researchers majoring in “coastal engineering,” a relatively unknown field even in Japan with its extensive coast. “Coastal engineering is the study and development of knowledge to prevent disasters on the coast and to protect people along the coast. We aim to make use of our studies to help prepare for natural disaster such as typhoons and tsunamis by predicting the most vulnerable spots along the coastline of Japan.” Such strong determination to pursue her research is a result of the valuable lessons taught by her professor while at university as well as her strong feelings as a parent to protect her own children. Coastal engineering was not something that she dreamed of in her childhood, but during the course of her life, she became aware of the necessity of this research and her mission in it.
While at university, unsure of what to do with her life, her professor in coastal engineering opened the way.
Professor Udo remembers herself as a child with an inquisitive mind and an instinct to investigate things down to the details. “I loved research. I even thought of heading to medical or science school when I was in high school. But an aptitude test done at school to determine the students’ aptitude for various fields of studies showed that I was better suited to engineering. So I followed that advice.” While many of her friends decided to take medical and science courses, she took a different path to discover herself. She was thinking of majoring in applied chemistry, but she just couldn’t find what she truly want to do for a very long time. That was when she met a professor who specialized in coastal engineering. “He said, ‘Even if differing methods are essentially the same, we have to think of a method that many can agree with.’ He also said that it was especially true in the field of civil engineering. The content of the lecture was rather extreme, but I felt that he spoke the truth, and that was what convinced me to major in coastal engineering. He was a very unique kind of person that I had never met. In retrospect, I think that of course he had a huge amount of knowledge, but he also had incredible devotion.”
Starting to work at the world’s top-level research institute, every day of repetitive observation proved invaluable.
She got a job at the research institute administered by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, which houses some of the world’s best data and research. Udo says that being able to participate daily in the observation in an environment where many requests are made both from within the country and abroad proved to be invaluable to her . “I made observations of sandy shores day after day, in rain, snow and storm, and I witnessed the power of nature first-hand. Looking back, those experiences helped me develop the ability to realistically imagine what happens to actual coasts at the time of natural disasters.” Her career at the institute continued for 3 years until she started work at Tohoku University as an assistant (currently assistant professor). Enjoying satisfying days of research and education, but further fulfilled by marriage and the birth of twin babies. She had been enjoying her life as a researcher and an expecting mother. But during her fifth month of pregnancy, the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake shattered Tohoku.
Associate Professor of the Course of Water and Environmental Studies, Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture, School of Engineering, Tohoku University
Associate Professor of Disaster Potential Study, Hazard and Risk Evaluation Research Division, International Research Institute of Disaster Science.
Associate Professor Keiko Udo
Graduated from the College of Engineering Sciences, Third Cluster of Colleges at the University of Tsukuba in 1998. Completed her Ph.D. in the Doctoral Program in Engineering Mechanics, Graduate School of Engineering at the University of Tsukuba in 2003. After working as a research officer at the Littoral Drift Division, Marine Environment and Engineering Department of the Independent Administrative Institution Port and Airport Research Institute (PARI), she joined the Disaster Control Research Center of the Graduate School of Tohoku University in 2006. Her current research subject is the “study of the coastal geomorphic change.” Received a distinction as Excellent Speaker at the 56th Japan Society of Civil Engineers Annual Meeting in 2001 and Construction Engineering Development Award in 2008.