Implementing an IQP Project Center in Japan March 2, 2018
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Implementing an IQP Project Center in Japan March 2, 2018 Authors Advisor Alexandra Barber Jennifer deWinter Daniel Chao Albert Enyedy For the Daniela Fraga Alvarez Interdisciplinary Global Yosuke Nakamura and Student Division Felix Sanchez Holly Shumway Thomas Ward i Implementing an IQP Project Center in Japan An Interactive Qualifying Project Submitted to the Faculty of WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Science By: Alexandra Barber Dan Chao Albert Enyedy Daniela Fraga Yosuke Nakamura Felix Sanchez Holly Shumway Tom Ward Date: March 2, 2018 Report Submitted to: Professor Jennifer deWinter, Advisor Worcester Polytechnic Institute This report represents work of WPI undergraduate students submitted to the faculty as evidence of a degree requirement. WPI routinely publishes these reports on its website without editorial or peer review. For more information about the projects program at WPI, see http://www.wpi.edu/Academics/Projects. ii and helping us with any problems we Abstract Acknowledgments experienced in Yokai SOHO. In this report, we detail our recommendations First, we would like to thank Professor for establishing an IQP project center in deWinter for advising our project and We thank the members of Makers Garage Kyoto, Japan for our advisor, Jennifer enriching our IQP experience. We appreciate Kyoto, especially Sabrina Sasaki, for taking deWinter. We evaluated Kyoto, Hiroshima, her flying to Japan for three days to help us the time to speak with us about a potential and Tokyo as potential locations by assessing adjust to our new environment. Her feedback partnership and for graciously inviting us to sponsors and living logistics. We compared was invaluable to our progression throughout their Monozukuri Hub Meetup. We were these factors by developing standardized the project. Additionally, her guidance—in inspired by their mission to provide Japanese forms and scoring systems to determine how more than just the scope of our project—was students with the opportunity to explore and well options fit our criteria. We concluded invaluable and directly aided our success. pursue maker culture, and we made many that the best project center location is Kyoto connections at the event. Without the and made recommendations for sponsors, Next, we would like to thank Professor opportunities Ms. Sasaki provided us, we housing, PQP, the website, and the term of Zeugner for his help during our ID2050 would have never met Dr. Francis Otieno and the IQP. preparation course. His guidance provided us Dr. Kuroki Masaki of Ritsumeikan with a great foundation from which we University. established our project. He made the term prior to coming to Japan enjoyable and We would like to thank Dr.Francis Otieno for memorable for all of us. We were impressed taking the time to meet with us at the at how helpful and important his teachings Ritsumeikan Iwakura Campus in Osaka. His were when we reached Japan. enthusiasm for learning about WPI and willingness to establish a partnership were beyond what we expected. We would also like Furthermore, we would like to thank Benoit Jacquet for providing us with housing and to thank Dr. Kuroki Masaki for keeping many excellent contacts in Japan. He correspondence with us and showing his introduced us to Makers Boot Camp, Midori interest in learning more about WPI. Finally, Farms, and Kyoto VR, all of which have been we would like to thank Noma-Sensei and valuable potential sponsors for our Lopez-Sensei for dedicating time to meet recommendations for a project center. We with us and for their enthusiasm to establish also thank him for being a receptive housing a partnership with WPI. manager, answering our questions promptly For our potential sponsors in Kyoto, we thank Atticus Sims from Kyoto VR for taking iii the time to meet with us over Skype. We answer our questions about UNITAR. We Finally, we would like to thank all of the appreciate his enthusiasm for providing an are also grateful for the information that people that met with us, representing their educational opportunity for WPI students. Mihoko Kumamoto, head of the UNITAR respective institutions. We met with over 30 We also thank Chuck Kayser of Midori Farm Hiroshima office, provided us. shrines and temples, as well as many for meeting with us near Yokai SOHO. We museums, universities, and a few local enjoyed learning about how his organization For Tokyo, we thank Yoichi Tao and Itsuko government departments. We are grateful benefits the local farming community, and we Yano of Resurrection of Fukushima for that they took the time to answer any hope that working with WPI can help Midori meeting with us at their office. We were questions that we had. Farm achieve its goal of increasing Japan’s inspired by their mission to spread the truth sustainability. about nuclear disasters and the solutions for cleaning up their aftermath. We also thank For housing in Kyoto, we thank all of the Michiko Kyokan of Medecins Sans people that graciously met with us during our Frontieres’ Tokyo branch for meeting with us impromptu arrivals. We especially would like on Skype. We thank Bryan Hartzheim from to thank Aya Murakami and Mizuki Waseda University as well for taking the time Yamamoto of The Millennials Kyoto for to meet with us, despite the school being busy taking the time to meet with us without an with entrance exams. We appreciate the appointment. They provided us with efforts he made towards establishing a project recommendations for housing in Kyoto as with Waseda University as a whole. well as Tokyo. We thank professors Seth Tuler and Richard We are truly grateful for the kindness that Vaz of the Thailand project center, Steven Tomoko Watanabe, executive director of Taylor of the Denmark project center, and ANT Hiroshima, showed us on our first day Ingrid Shockey of the India project center for in Hiroshima. Once he heard that we had answering our email interview questions to contacted UNITAR, she personally made an provide information about PQPs. We would appointment for us to speak with them and especially like to thank Professor Taylor for led us to their office to introduce us. offering a Skype interview. In addition to thanking these professors, we would also like We thank the members of UNITAR for to thank IGSD for providing us with kindly welcoming us the day that Ms. information about the structure of a project Watanabe introduced us. We especially thank center. Annalise Giseburt for taking the time to iv Temples; Universities; and Local The data from these interviews and surveys Executive Summary Governments. After attempting to establish allowed us to make our final recommendation The purpose of this project was to provide contact with potential sponsors belonging to regarding whether the PQP should be one- or Worcester Polytechnic Institute with a study these categories, we further analyzed the two- terms. analyzing all the parameters that involve sponsors that could communicate in English establishing a successful IQP project center in and satisfied the most criteria using metrics Website Japan. The project required evaluating three created by the team. cities in Japan: Kyoto, Tokyo, and Hiroshima. Living Logistics Our final recommendations outline the We evaluated each city with regards to the sitemap and the data that the website should sponsor availability and living logistics of the We determined the most viable living logistics contain, since the scope of our project does area. Based on these two elements, we for each city. We highlighted these living not involve creating a website. We decided that the optimal city would be Kyoto, logistics in our report including housing determined the website features by and that the optimal term for the IQP would options, medical resources, transportation researching all the available IQP websites and be A-term. Finally, we recommended a two- options, and food costs. The team located summarizing their common themes. We term pre-qualifying project (PQP) structure housing options for 24 students as well as for recommended the design to answer sponsors’ and website features based on data collected two faculty members and their families for a and students’ questions about the Japan IQP from other IQP center’s structures and period of seven weeks. We researched and center. websites. described the relevant transportation methods in each city to serve as a guide for We considered the factors seen in Figure 1 to students participating in the Japan IQP set up a project center. These factors would project center. To estimate the cost of food determine the sustainability, cost, and for the project center, the team recorded their attractiveness of the Japan IQP project expenses and extrapolated on the data. center. Pre-Qualifying Project Sponsors We recommend a two-term PQP as it would We recommended four main sponsors in best prepare students for their experiences in Kyoto, however the other cities also have Japan. To determine the structure and similarly viable sponsors. The team chose to content of this PQP, we interviewed site focus on six types of sponsors: NGOs and directors and former Japan MQP students, NPOs; Technology, Social, and surveyed first-year students’ preferences, and Sustainability; Museums; Shrines and evaluated our experiences in PQP and Japan. v Criteria Sponsors Living Logistics PQP Website Site Director Project Center NGOs and NPOs Housing Food Cost Transportation Interviews Website Technology, Social, and Faculty Student Survey Potential Sustainability Sponsors' Recurring Questions Museums Student Experiences Shrines and Temples Universities Local Goverments Figure 1. Analysis criteria for the implementation of a project center in Japan vi Dan contributed to this report by drafting reviews of their living spaces. Finally, he Authorship each of the University and Government served as one of the two main editors of the sections, including the methodology and entire paper, making heavy edits to sections Alexandra Barber, Daniel Chao, Albert reviews of sponsors for all of the cities.