A delegation from the University of Tsukuba in Japan visited Ohio State on November 3 to discuss future collaborations and the possibility of joint grant proposals. Led by Vice President Caroline Benton and joined by Ohneda Osamu and Maki Yokoyama, the delegation met with numerous academic units with whom both current and desired collaborations exist.
Spearheaded by the Department of Human Sciences and the efforts of Jackie Goodway and Sue Sutherland, the College of Education and Human Ecology has been in partnership with Tsukuba since 2012. Subsequent collaboration with the Departments of Teaching and Learning as well as Educational Studies have followed and the meeting with the college included faculty from all three divisions.
At lunch, the visitors from Tsukuba were able to meet with Giorgio Rizzoni, director of the Center for Automotive Research, and TJ Ronningen of the IIT-Bombay-Ohio State Frontier Center.
Afternoon meetings included discussions of possible COIL and virtual exchange projects with faculty and staff from the College of Engineering and the Office of International Affairs. Tanya Berger-Wolf, director of the Translational Data Analytics Institute and Andre Palmer, associate dean for research, led discussions on AI collaborations.
The day was capped by a meeting with the College of Arts and Sciences, one of Ohio State’s longest-standing partners with the University of Tsukuba. The Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures has had a robust student exchange agreement with Tsukuba for over twenty years. Additionally, faculty from the Departments of Comparative Studies, Computer Science, and Statistics also attended with the intention of developing sustainable cooperative projects.