Faculty 2020

Faculty 2020 1919-1 TANCHA, ONNA-SON, KUNIGAMI-GUN, OKINAWA, JAPAN 904-0495 TEL 81-98-966-8711 (INTERNATIONAL) 098-966-8711 (WITHIN JAPAN) WWW.OIST.JP APRIL 1, 2020 OIST President OIST is one of the most interesting initiatives in world scientific research and education. It has very high ambitions to become established as one of the great research universities. The Introduction Japanese government has a clear vision for setting up an international, interdisciplinary university that will produce the to the future leaders for the rapidly changing needs of global research and business. Graduate I fully support the concept of OIST and am convinced that we University can succeed if we constantly strive for excellence in all our activities: excellence in research, excellence in education, and excellence in management, and excellence in industrial collaboration and development. Faculty My experience at the Max Planck Society, backed by research studies on the nature of creativity, show that certain factors are essential for success in research organizations and universities. We must hire the best people in the world. Ultimately the reputation of a university is created by the excellence of its faculty, its students, and its staff and management. These professors must form research units that are reasonably small but that work in a larger context of support from the whole university. The research units must be helped to start independent research as soon as possible. Professors, researchers, and students must have the opportunity and encouragement to establish multidisciplinary contacts and subsequently collaborations. Clearly sufficient core and flexible external funding are a foundation for success, as is periodic peer review by world-class experts. Measured by these criteria OIST has all the ingredients needed to make it into the top league of universities worldwide. This brochure shows that OIST has succeeded in attracting the very best professors from all around the world to carry out top-level research in Okinawa. There is strong evidence that the interdisciplinary ambition is now a reality with many units working on common projects. We have recently hired several new faculty, and we intend to have their units up and running in a very short time. This is the fertile ground that I have inherited as OIST’s second president. I am honored to be given the opportunity to lead OIST, and I look forward to the future with great excitement. Peter Gruss 1 Brain Mechanisms for Nonlinear and Evolutionary Genomics Unit Quantum Systems Unit Fluid Mechanics Unit Femtosecond Behaviour Unit Non-equilibrium Physics Unit Spectroscopy Unit Professor Associate Professor Assistant Professor Professor Professor Associate Professor Gordon Arbuthnott Mahesh Bandi Tom Bourguignon Thomas Busch Pinaki Chakraborty Keshav Dani BSc, PhD, The University of Aberdeen BEng, University of Madras Master in Biological Sciences and PhD, The University of Innsbruck BEng, The National Institute of BS, California Institute of Technology Formerly at The Karolinska Institute, MSc, PhD, The University of Pittsburgh Master of Advanced Studies in Sciences, Formerly at Konstanz University, Technology, Surat MA, PhD, The University of The University of Aberdeen, The University Formerly at The Los Alamos National PhD, Free University of Brussels The University of Innsbruck MS, PhD, The University of Illinois California, Berkeley of Edinburgh, and The University of Otago Laboratory, Harvard University, and Formerly at Hokkaido University, Aarhus University, Dublin Institute of Formerly at The University of Illinois Formerly at The Los Alamos National Brown University National University of Singapore Technology, and University College Cork Laboratory and The Lawrence Berkeley Currently at The University of Sydney National Laboratory The Brain Mechanisms for Behaviour and OIST The Fluid Mechanics Unit studies how Unit studies the over- or underpro- The Nonlinear and Non-equilibrium The Quantum Systems Unit investi- substances flow, be it the turbulent duction of dopamine, a reward chemical Physics Unit is an experimental group gates theoretical concepts of the churning of typhoons or oil streaming Using intense, ultrafast laser pulses, produced by certain neurons in the with broad interests in soft matter The Evolutionary Genomics Unit uses quantum world. Drawing from ultra- through a pipeline. The unit meticu- the Femtosecond Spectroscopy Unit brain. Using techniques in physiology, physics, applied mathematics, next generation sequencing cold atomic gases and other natural lously analyzes motion through soap explores the optical properties of molecular genetics, and anatomy to mechanics, and their application to technologies to answer fundamental and synthetic quantum systems, their films and pipes to learn crucial details matter. Its members study graphene investigate dopamine’s role in neural biologically inspired problems. Unit questions in ecology and evolution. The aim is to devise models that explain of how energy disperses in two and and other two-dimensional materials systems, the unit studies the basic researchers work in the general area unit’s main research themes focus on quantum phenomena—such as a three dimensions. Modeling these for their potential in transparent, mechanisms of how animals, that concerns macroscopic, the evolution of symbiosis between particle being in two places at the phenomena can help predict motion, flexible electronics; research semi- including humans, interact with the non-relativistic matter and its insects and bacteria, the origin of same time—and develop methods to enhance our response to adverse conductors for photocatalytic and solar world. The results are relevant to interactions. Current interests include organism geographical distribution, and quantify, control, and engineer them. weather conditions, and improve the energy applications; and investigate diseases ranging from addiction to problems related to interfacial fluid the molecular evolution of insect management of oil-pipeline networks. applications of ultrafast laser pulses to Parkinson’s. dynamics, granular solids, and the defensive mechanisms. These research biology and medicine. biomechanics of the human foot. topics are investigated using a combination of molecular phylogenetics, genomics, and transcriptomics. 2 3 Computational Neural Computation Unit Biodiversity and Applied Topology Unit Electronic and Quantum Mathematics, Mechanics, and Neuroscience Unit Biocomplexity Unit Magnetism Unit Materials Unit Professor Professor Assistant Professor Professor (Adjunct) Associate Professor Professor Erik De Schutter Kenji Doya Evan Economo Dmitry Yejun Feng Eliot Fried Feichtner-Kozlov BMed, DMed, HabMed, The University BS, MS, and PhD, The University of Tokyo BSc, The University of Arizona MSc, Lund University BSc, Fudan University BA, University of California, Berkeley of Antwerp Formerly at The University of California, San PhD, The University of Texas PhD, Royal Institute of Technology, MA, The City College of New York MS, PhD, California Institute of Technology Formerly at The University of Antwerp Diego, The Salk Institute, and The ATR Formerly at The University of Michigan Stockholm MSc, PhD, The University of Washington Formerly at The University of Illinois Computational Neuroscience Laboratories Formerly at The Institute for Advanced Formerly at The University of Chicago Urbana-Champaign, McGill University, and Study, Princeton, The Royal Institute of Argonne National Laboratory, and The University of Washington The Computational Neuroscience Unit The Biodiversity and Biocomplexity Technology, and The Institute for Algebra, California Institute of Technology studies how neurons and microcircuits The Neural Computation Unit develops Unit explores how ecological and Geometry, Topology and their Applications, in the brain operate. Unit researchers algorithms that elucidate the brain’s evolutionary processes generate and The University of Bremen Research in the Mathematics, explore the influences of neuronal mor- mechanisms for robust and flexible sustain biodiversity across levels of The Electronic and Quantum Mechanics, and Materials Unit is phology and excitability on common learning. The unit focuses on how the biological organization. The unit’s Magnetism Unit explores fundamental focused on the formulation and neural functions such as synaptic brain processes reinforcement research on biodiversity integrates Applied Topology is an emerging field issues of correlations in electrons, analysis of mathematical models for plasticity and learning and determine learning, in which a biological or emerging theoretical, computational, in modern mathematics, which brings covering interest of both condensed novel systems in the mechanical and how molecular mechanisms enable artificial agent learns novel behaviors imaging, and informatics-based the classical techniques of algebraic matter physics and materials science. materials sciences. To derive these functions. Their studies focus in uncertain environments by approaches with field surveys and topology to applications in other fields This includes topics such as physically sound models, we rely on on the cerebellum as it has a relatively exploration and reward feedback. natural history collections. Current of mathematics, exact sciences as competition and evolution of charge the principles of statistical and simple anatomy, and the physiology Top-down computational approaches projects include the dynamics of ant well

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