[:en]Eria Imada
Hometown in Japan: Tokyo
University in Japan: Osaka University
Major & School Year: Physics, B2
Host Advisor: Prof. Emilia Morosan, Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
Host Lab: Morosan Research Group
Research Project (PDF): “Structural and electronic properties of single crystalline Sr(Ga1-xAlx)4″
Why TOMODACHI STEM @ Rice University?
The reason why I applied for this program is I have an interest in studying abroad. I have a dream that I want to work as a bridge between Japan and other countries in the future. Thus, I’m thinking of studying abroad in my master course. I’d like to study in the US for three reasons. First, it must be a precious experience for me to interact with the
American students who is conducting cutting-edge research. Second, contrary to Japan, there are so many kinds of ethnic groups in the US. I’d like to have an experience of living together in a multicultural society, and that is to say I want to interact with people from different ethnic backgrounds. Third, Americans are native speakers of English. I think the best way to improve my English skills is to communicate with English speakers. This program will support my future goals not only by letting me improve my English skills but also providing me an experience of conducting a research with top class researchers in the US. In order to improve my English, as one of my goals, I’d like to make an effort to communicate with Americans as much as I can and absorb many English expressions; especially in the field of science. Furthermore, I will work hard on my research at Rice University. I’ll try discussing with other researchers to deepen my understanding of the topic, and at the same time I can broaden my interests in science.
Goals
- To complete my research in the U.S. and make a good final presentation
- To learn as much English vocabulary related to physics as I can
- To find out any differences between the U.S. and Japan
- To enjoy the whole program and make it a valuable experience
While I was in the U.S….
- My favorite experience in the U.S. was Rodeo Houston.
- Before I left for the U.S. I wish I had read the research papers I was sent more carefully to understand the general topic/area of my research.
- While I was in the U.S. I wish I had tried to speak to my lab members more.
Excerpts from Eria’s Weekly Reports
- Week 01: Arrival in the U.S.
- Week 02: First Week at Research Host Lab
- Week 03: Interview With a Female Researcher
- Week 04: Research in the U.S. vs. Research in Japan
- Final Research Poster Presentation
- Week 05: Science & Technology Policy Study Tour
- Final Report & Tips for Future Participants
Week 01: Arrival in the U.S.
This is my first time to visit Houston. There are two things that surprised me about Houston. One thing is that people in the U.S. tend to wear very casual clothing. Walking around campus, I saw a number of people wearing Rice T-shirts and shorts. The other thing is that I see very few pedestrians. Instead, there is a wide street running in front of the hotel which is always busy with cars. In terms of personality, I realized that people in the U.S. like greeting whoever they meet. Since this is uncommon in Japan, I sometimes get upset when replying. Just a little chat after that makes me feel happy, as if I made a new friend.
This week, there was a seminar about the graduate student experience in the U.S.. I learned that Ph.D. students in the U.S. get paid from their professor in exchange for working as a research assistant which was fascinating for me. Unlike in Japan, Ph.D. students in science and engineering fields in the U.S. do not need to pay tuition and that means they are able to devote themselves to their studies and research. This system motivates students because it permits students to be a full-fledged researcher.
I took a conversation class on English Idioms and Slang. I learned several idioms related to the rodeo. During the class, my friends and I made a short skit and used some of the idioms we learned, but it was hard for us to make it in a second. I heard from my lab members that some of these idioms are used in casual conversation, so I would like to listen to their conversations carefully so that I can catch any of these idioms and slangs.
On Saturday, we went roller skating at Discovery Green Park in Downtown Houston. It was my first time to do it, so it took a long time to get used to skating. After we ran out of time my ankle got scratched and started to feel pain. Anyway, I enjoyed it a lot with my friends. On Sunday, we all visited NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston. We took the tram tour, which took about 90 minutes to run throughout the huge grounds. I got interested in the Mars and how we can get “water” from that planet. I am looking forward to seeing the progress of that research.
Initial Reflections on U.S. vs. Japanese Culture
One Core U.S. value I’ve found this week, is that people in the U.S. dislike “silence”. I have already experienced this in the U.S., especially in the elevator at the hotel. When I encounter somebody in the elevator, they typically greet me by saying “Hi, how are you?” or “Where are you going?”. Even though I might not meet them again, sometimes they ask me personal questions. And after the conversation, they say “Have a nice day”. This is quite different from Japan because Japanese people are usually quiet in an elevator even if they are with their friends. I feel that I will be able to have a happy day when I have heard someone say, “Have a nice day” in the morning.
On the other hand, I experienced a Core Japanese value when I was talking with my lab members. Since they speak English so fast, I can hardly understand what they are talking about. I really would like to ask them to speak each sentence more slowly, but I prefer keep in step with them because I do not want to interrupt them. When they are laughing, I smile at the same time although I do not know what they are laughing at. I guess this is what is called “wa” in Japanese which means that people tend to be always in the same situation with everyone else in the group. Personally, I should ask for help rather than accept the whole story without questioning.
Preparing for Research in the U.S.
Before I visited the U.S., I emailed my host professor. I felt more comfortable when she told me that I do not have to worry about my English. She told me that I should read a magnetism textbook in advance as well. Therefore, I borrowed a textbook from the library and read it so that I could learn more of the technical English words I had never seen before. Reading this textbook was helpful for me to understand my topic and to discuss it with my host professor because I have not learned that field in my university yet. On my first day in the lab, the professor and my mentor, who is a postdoc, and I talked about my research topic. They explained slowly in detail and always asked me if I could understand what they were saying. My research topic will be making materials (mixed two or three elements) and checking its behavior.
Question of the Week
Are there any taxis in Houston?
- Yes, there are but you have to call them. You may see some taxis waiting outside of the airport or some of the hotels in Downtown Houston but usually you have to call the taxi company and tell the dispatcher your address and they will then send a cab to you. This is why Uber and Lyft are so popular as you can just call for a ‘taxi’ like service directly from your phone using the app and pay via credit card.
- For more on this topic, see the section on Taxis under Public Transportation on our Life in the U.S. page.
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Week 02: First Week at Research Host Lab
I would like to tell you about my daily routine in my lab. In the morning, I usually arrive at 9:15. My postdoc comes around 9:30 and then we go ahead with my research. There are two steps to get results for my research project. The first step is to synthesize a crystal from some elements. To do this, I first measure the weight and calculate by the computer, using the balance. These elements are heated up in two ways; arc-melt or flux. The flux takes a lot of time because we need to put the sample into high temperature for a few hours, dwell it, and then cool it down for one or two days. In addition, this method needs quartz to work which is one of the things that I am not very experienced at. When the crystal comes out, the next step is to X-ray the sample. I grind just a little bit of the sample into powder in order to take a scan. The data from the X-ray can be matched with the theoretical value calculated by the computer. There are other machines we can use to check its behavior, heat capacity, and magnetism. Our lab meeting is held every Thursday. During the meeting, the professor confirms with each lab member what they have learned from their results and we discuss together. Therefore, the last meeting took over three hours.
All of the lab members are really kind to me. They always care about me and my next schedule so that I can always be with someone in the lab. They speak English so fast that I can only understand about 70% of what they say, but they will give me slow and clear explanations if I ask them what they said. Thus, what I’m doing is familiar for me even though I have not studied this field yet.
Last Friday, I also participated in a poster session held for students who major in physics. That same day, I also had a seminar on that day by Prof. George Hirasaki from the Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Enginering. In both presentations, I found that Americans prefer being asked questions during their speech rather than just listening quietly until the end. Although the poster session was hard for me to understand, I tried asking some questions to get better understanding.
On Saturday, I went to Whataburger for lunch. Its size was quite big, but it was really yummy. Especially toasts were good which sweet a little bit. I ate tacos for dinner. I enjoyed both of these American foods very much.
Research Project Update
My research is to make a crystal and find out its behavior. There are two ways to synthesize a crystal through what is called arc-melt or flux. Arc-melt uses a strong current to melt the powder of elements. On the other hand, flux needs more time to melt at high temperature, dwell the sample, and cool it down. The sample is spun after that to separate extra liquid (flux) from crystal. We then look though the microscope first to see the shape of the crystal first and then X-ray it to find out what was made. Last week, I made a sample and checked its heat capacity.
I practiced quartz work and putting leads onto a sample as training. Quartz work is melting the glass and making a tiny hole before it separates. You have to do this quickly so the glass does not get hot. Putting leads onto the sample also requires concentration because the sample is very small that I have to do it through the microscope.
Question of the Week
What are the merits of “summer time”?
- Do you mean the long summer vacation that we have in the U.S. from mid-May to mid-August? If yes, one of the merits is that students can use this time to pursue other opportunities outside of normal classes and clubs.
- For example, some students may spend this time working full-time to save money so they can pay their undergraduate tuition or living costs during the academic year. Other students may find an internship where they work full-time in a company during the summer break. Still other students pursue summer Research Experience for Undergraduate (REU) programs where they go to a different university in the U.S. (or abroad) and spend 10 – 12 weeks doing research. Some students may also use this time to participate in a 2 to 3-month study abroad program.
- So, while it may seem like a long time to have ‘off’ from school most U.S. undergraduate students do end up doing something during the summer that relates to their future career or academic goals. If you are a graduate student, you usually spend the summer break working in your research lab full-time as then you don’t have to juggle research time and graduate school classes.
- However, some students at both the undergraduate and graduate level may also enroll in ‘summer session’ classes either at their home university or a university near their hometown if they plan to live at home during the summer. For examples of summer classes, you can search the Rice University Course Schedule for Summer 2018 term classes.
- For more on the various types of things U.S. undergraduate students can do during the summer see the Other Related Programs for U.S. Students page on the Nakatani RIES Fellowship website.
Week 03: Interview With a Female Researchers
I interviewed two women in my lab; Alannah Hallas, a postdoc, and Vanessa Espinoza, a graduate student.
Alannah is a postdoc in physics. She received a PhD in condensed matter physics. The reason why she chose her degree is she wanted to see the whole thing, which means not just play a small role in the lab but to do a lot of research by herself. She chose her university in terms of its location and the professor. Her hope is to be a professor who leads her own group.
What is attractive about the Morosan Lab for her is that it is a well-equipped, modern lab. In addition, there are offices that are separate from lab and can be shared with few people was another attractive point of Rice University. Furthermore, people in the lab have very diverse majors, such as physics, chemistry, applied physics, and electrical engineering.
Alannah also has some international experience. She went to Tsukuba University for three months to do research about high pressure synthesis. For neutron scattering, she visited Australia, France, the U.S., and Germany for one to two weeks each during her Ph.D. She believes the merits of international experience are that she got to meet different scientists and be taught things that can only be learned from people there. It also means that we can see different communities in each country.
I asked her what advice she had for women in STEM, and I got the answer from her that we should apply for everything that you can apply for now, such as scholarships, programs, or universities. She also said there are better chances for women than men in getting a job.
In the end, she asked me, “how is Rice different from your university in Osaka?” My answer to this question was diversity and salary. In my university, students are usually not mixed with other majors. It makes us to tend only work with researchers in one major when we do any research. Also, we do not get any salary/stipend as graduate students in contrast to the U.S., which means we have to also earn money to live while pursuing our degrees.
Vanessa is a Ph.D. student who majors in chemistry. She chose this degree because she wanted to be an engineer before. When she was in university, she noticed that good professors can be significant for their view of science. Now her hope is to be a professor, maybe teaching at a small college or university because she is interested in fundamental things in academia.
The reason why she chose Rice University was because of the diverse connections and focus interdisciplinary research. The difference between her undergrad university and Rice is equipment. Her former school reused some old instruments but at Rice is everything new.
She had a discouraging experience in science. Since science departments are male-dominated, her male peers always thought they were smarter than her, which made her uncomfortable. However, she is now enjoying studying because her friends supported and encouraged her. Her advice to women in STEM is “Don’t letting people discourage you.”
Lastly, she asked me about the ratio between male and female students of my major. It is about 9:1 in physics at Osaka University which is common in Japan. To my surprise, Morosan Lab has a 4:3 now. Including being led by a female professor, I think this lab is well-balanced and agreeable.
Through this interview, I learned I have to be positive and active at all times as a woman in STEM. The female population in the STEM is still low, so I would like to tell young female students why science is interesting and what benefits you will have if you pursue study in these fields.
At the same time, I learned how attractive Rice University is. Especially in terms of diversity, I was impressed with this lab. I feel I would like to consider the diversity of my potential lab group members’ background when choosing a graduate school in the future.
Research Project Update
I made some new growth and checked some behavior by x-ray and resistivity. One of the growth, In90(Ir3Si5)10 was not successful, there were Si left in the pack. My mentor suggested what caused this is the temperature, so we remade the sample changed the ratio of the elements. We can see how it works next week.
Week 04: Research in the U.S. vs. Research in Japan
I would like to tell you about my lab this week. The most characteristic thing about my lab is that all lab members get along very well. I heard some of the students say they have their own lunch while they are working and this comes from the culture that most of the American do not waste their time. However, in the Morosan Lab we get together around one table out of each office and have lunch talking with lab members every day. There was a day we played a card game called “bridge” during lunch time. The other thing I was surprised by is that lab members call the professor just “Emilia”. She cares about everyone asking how they are doing at that time and it is as if she is a real mother of the lab. In Japan, I have never heard students address their professor by first name, we always use “professor” with family name. That is the one difference I found during this last week in Houston.
On Wednesday, my lab members and the professor took me to the tacos shop during lunch time. Although some of the members could not come because they were too busy with work, I was happy to have lunch together. The tacos I had there were the best tacos I had in Houston.
On Thursday, we had our final poster presentation. I was working in my lab right up until Thursday morning, so I had less time practice my presentation. I felt I should have practiced more when I saw the face of the audience gets confused. There were some questions that I could not answer clearly, but my lab members and the professor cheered me up that no one can answer all of the question perfectly. Throughout the whole presentation, I was honored to be able to explain my research to anyone who was interested in my research topic.
What I will miss the most about Houston is my lab. They were all so kind to me and welcomed me generously. I was worried about my English at first, but they explained to me gently using body language when needed. This helped me a lot, and I learned a lot by them. I gave them a brief letter on Friday to say thank you to everyone. They hugged me and saw me off downstairs. I would like to keep in touch with them, and hopefully, see them again someday.
Final Research Poster Presentation
Host Advisor: Prof. Emilia Morosan, Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
Host Lab: Morosan Research Group
Research Project (PDF): “Structural and electronic properties of single crystalline Sr(Ga1-xAlx)4″
My research title is “Structural and electronic properties of single crystalline Sr(Ga1-xAlx)4”. I did my research in Morosan Lab, with Prof. Emilia Morosan, Dr. Alannah Hallas. There is a previous research with Eu(Ga1-xAlx)4 found that there is unusual behavior in one of the lattice parameters. I tried to find out if it is connected to magnetic by replacing magnetic Eu with non-magnetic Sr. To make a crystal of Eu(Ga1-xAlx)4, I used flux crystal growth method, which melts elements and spin off to separate crystals. We got three crystals: x=0, 0.5, 1. By x-ray diffraction, we found the unusual behavior in the lattice parameter again. In conclusion, we would like to say this behavior is not caused by the magnetism of Eu. My future work would be clarifying the effect caused by Al and Ga.
Week 05: Science & Technology Policy Study Tour
In the last week of the program, we left Houston and traveled to Philadelphia by plane and then Washington D.C. by bus. Among the many activities we did this final week, there are three that I would like to talk about.
First, we visited Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Contrary to Houston, it was cold there; about 15℃ colder than Houston. The snow still remained on both sides of the road. What I found at Lehigh University as a difference from Rice University, is that Lehigh is located on slope. Therefore, all the buildings seemed taller than those at Rice.
Second, we visited the JAXA Washington D.C. office. A researcher from NASA Goddard Research Center said he used x-ray to recognize a planet. I was interested in his research because I also used x-ray in my research at Rice. Although the way we use x-ray was different; he uses x-ray from the planet while we x-rayed the sample, I found that x-rays can be used to look at structures on the micro level to also looking at planets on the macro level.
Third, some of my friends and I went to few museums along National Mall in Washington, DC. In fact, I am not familiar with art, such as pictures and sculptures. We walked around slowly and I found myself interested in touch of the brush in the paintings. Watching one painting from both up close and far away, I could guess how the artist painted that picture. It reminded me of the way to use brush in calligraphy, which was my club activity during my high school. The best thing for me was all these museums I visited were free! I would like to visit all of the museums next time.
Throughout this program, I learned that I should study abroad if I really want to learn English, especially in programs were there are few Japanese speakers. After we left Houston, we always acted together as a group. That makes me feel confident that I do not need to speak up because I counted on someone else to ask questions instead of me. Therefore, I felt like my English skills did not improve in the last week as much as when I was in Houston where I had to struggle to communicate with lab members. My aim now is to keep studying English every day, such as by listening news and reading books. I would like to keep in touch with English.
What I missed about Japan when I was in Houston was the food, particularly sushi. The dinner I had on the day I arrived was sushi. I had my favorite tuna but my mother had a “California roll” next me. 🙂
Final Report
I would like to sum up my stay in the U.S. in this report. There are three things I learned through this program.
The first thing is the importance of asking questions. I could only ask someone what I do because it was the field of study that I have not studied yet, and also my first time to do research by myself. After asking my mentor and other lab members questions one by one, I found that everything gradually became more clear. That made my research more interesting to me, pushed me to make more new crystals and to find some interesting result.
The second thing is interdisciplinary collaboration between the labs in the U.S. For example, in the Morosan lab, there are people in the chemistry field, physics field, applied physics field and so on. That makes it possible for the lab to discuss the results from many different views. I saw one of the lab members teaching the other members about the physics of the crystal structure. Through these conversations, they must be able to broaden their view toward their research.
The third thing is flexibility of time in daily life. As there is the word “ish” which means a period of excusable time, they are usually flexible about time. I was surprised that one of the lab meetings I attended took three and a half hours. Everyone in my lab comes in at a different time every morning, or sometimes it can be in the afternoon. I think it is effective for them because they are working on their own research. They should have flexibility to manage their time.
This five-week experience lead me to think seriously about studying abroad. I was so inspired by some of the interviews I did where they talked about how studying abroad changed their view of science. I hope I can visit many countries while I am in college.
Also, in the future, I will always remember to talk to many people to get as much information as possible. We could listen to many speeches by different people and I found that everyone has different opinions. I believe a different talk gives me different points of view and widens the room of discussion.
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Tips for Future Participants
Before the departure, you should read some papers of your field. My mentor sent me a paper before going to the U.S., but it was difficult for me and I could not understand the contents. However, the words I checked in that paper appeared in talking with her and helped me a little. When you are in the lab, I recommend you ask questions about whatever you feel unsure about, no matter how slight it is. It not only resolves the question, but also opens up the conversation with that person. One of the things you can do to improve your English skills is talking to somebody as much as you can. You should remember that all the American are native English speakers and the speaking skill is hard to polish in Japan.
The humidity in Houston is high. I think you do not need to care about dry skin. You should go to the rodeo because I had a lot of fun there. I recommend you to eat funnel cake with some friends.
It is a nice idea to bring a Boston bag or an extra suitcase. I struggled with the weight limit of my one suitcase at the airport. And the portable scale my friend had was really helpful for everyone.
I loved Whataburger in Houston. I recommend you to eat there once.
As a souvenir, I bought mainly food; brownie mix and pecan nuts for example. And I brought candies.
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