[:en]Kana Yoshida
Hometown in Japan: Osaka
University in Japan: Tottori University
Major & School Year: Mechanical Engineering, B4
Host Advisor: Prof. Tayfun Tezduyar, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering
Host Lab: TAFSM – Team for Advanced Flow Simulation & Modeling

Why TOMODACHI STEM @ Rice University?

I would like to describe four reasons that I applied for this program. First, it is my big dream to go abroad to conduct the research. Second, I am excited to conduct cutting-edge research on aerospace in the “Space City” Houston. Third, I am eager to create a new network among various researchers in U.S. Fourth, through communication with various researchers from different cultural diversities, I would like to acquire problem-solving skills and learn about the education programs in the U.S. and other countries.

Next, I would like to mention how this program relates to my overall undergraduate education. From freshman to junior, I have studied physics, mathematics and mechanical engineering at my university in Japan, and now I am conducting research as the first step as a researcher. In Japan, there are very few female researchers especially in the field of mechanical engineering and aerospace engineering. Through participating in this program, I would like to meet with female researchers in the U.S. and engage in the cutting-edge research in aerospace engineering with them. From that experience, I am eager to learn how to be a successful female researcher in the world. I am sure that this experience makes my career better.

Goals

• Learn how to conduct research, be able to solve the problems when I encounter some difficulties
• Brush up my English skills on daily conversations and learn technical terms
• Communicate with various people from different cultural background
• Seek the laboratory for my Ph.D. course
• Create a new network among the researchers
• Learn cross-cultural understanding and cultural diversities

Excerpts from Kana’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

Week 01: Arrival in the U.S.

My initial reactions to the U.S. is that everything is bigger than in Japan. People, cars, road, supermarket, university…everything is big. Surprisingly in Texas, many people speak in Spanish and most signs have both English and Spanish. I can feel I am in a diverse environment because I can meet people from other countries and hear multiple languages every day. And I was also surprised that Rice University is so beautiful. The buildings look wonderful and the facilities are great to study in. So now, I would like to study more here in the future. At the same time, I look forward to returning to Rice this September to study for another year as I have received a Tobitate Scholarship.

During the TOMODACHI STEM Program, I already experienced many culture shocks. Sarah, who is Educational Director of this program,  gave a lecture about cross cultural understanding. Then, we discussed how to solve some communication problems between me and other people who have different cultures, religions, backgrounds, specializations and so on. We gained several solutions. First, we have to have opinion and say clearly what I believe with some reasons. Second, we have to talk more loudly to let other people know who I am. Third, we have to be interested in other people if we cannot speak very well. After the lecture, I keep trying to use these three tips to help me overcome communication issues in a diverse environment.

Also this program gives us great experience for our future careers. Especially, Ms. Donna Cole who is CEO of her own company Cole Chemistry gave us her hospitality and supports everything for us to have a lot of precious opportunities in U.S.. She hosted several parties and meetings to enable us to meet many distinguished women in U.S.. These experience was so impressive and encouraged me. “Plan your long-term career. Never give up your dream. “ I would like to keep these tips in mind even in the future.

Through the experience in U.S. for one week, I also could learn about the advantages and disadvantages to study abroad, especially in U.S.. First, I would like to mention the advantage. Professor Kono, who is Research Director of this program, showed us the overview of graduate school in U.S. and how to apply for it. And also some Japanese Ph.D. students at Rice told us about theh many advantages to pursue our Ph.D. in the U.S.. Furthermore, we had a lot of chances to meet many distinguished women who have Ph.D.s and work in the U.S. Then, I started to think about pursuing the Ph.D. in U.S.. On the other hand, I also learned about disadvantage to study abroad. But I changed my mind to believe that I can overcome it and be successful.

Research Internship Update
I would like to talk about how I prepared for my research experience in Japan before arriving in the U.S. and how my research experience has gone so far. When I was in Japan, my host Prof. Tayfun Tezduyar in the Dept. of Mechanical Engineering gave me a chance to meet him at Waseda University. He gave me a lecture about my research directly and let me know what to keep in my mind and the goals during this program for a half day. Also after that, I kept in touch with him and he always cared about me so much. Now, I am conducting research on the parachute structure at Rice University. This is the first time to use Linux. So, it is difficult for me to use the computer but I am excited at addressing this theme because I love aerospace engineering and I have been interested in it since before I applied for this program. So, I am going to manage to understand how to calculate the Parachute structure. And I also look forward to conducting the research at the same laboratory for one year when I return to Rice as a Tobitate Scholarship recipient next fall. Now, I need to solidify the foundation of this field for next chance to come here.

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Week 02: First Week at Research Host Lab
During the first week when I started my research at Rice, it was so difficult for me to talk about research with my mentors in English. I could not ask any questions because I am not very good at speaking in English and I did not know the technical terms of my research. However, I realized this was a good chance for me to practice to speak in English and I needed to understand what to do now about my research. Then, I started to try to ask questions and mention my opinions to mentors little by little. Now, my speaking skill is still terrible but the barrier of my heart to speak in English was broken. But the more helpful thing than English is to understand each opinion in the laboratory im my specialization and the knowledge which I have studied during my undergraduate degree in Japan. I realized again the importance of studying hard.

During this program, many mentors helped me so much because the duration is too short to do research and I am not familiar with this field and Linux. But next time, when I return to stay here for one year, I will have to do more on my own, including setting some short-term goals consistent with the research goals set for me by my advisors. In my laboratory, most of the communication takes place by Google Hangout or email. So, it is so quiet and comfortable in the laboratory and I can concentrate on my research all day.

Specifically, as the goal of my research project, I want to clarify how the pressure and the time-steps change affects the parachute structure. This research is expected to contribute to success the Orion Mission. Preliminary preparations include Linux usage, programming, study of compressible fluids, and so on. I have four mentors, Reha, Aaron, Takafumi and Taro, and they gave me a thorough instruction based on their respective specialties.

On Wednesday, we had the opportunity to attend a reception at Counsul-General of Japan’s Residence in Houston. At this event, I was able to meet a lot of distinguished people from the U.S. and Japan. Especially, I talked with Ms. Keiko Kato who is a Japanese Ph.D. student at Rice University. She told me about graduate school in U.S. as a Ph.D. student and plan of her life after completing her Ph.D. in the future.

On Saturday, we went to NASA Johnson Space Center. It was such a happy moment because I have studied aerospace engineering at Tottori Univerisity in Japan and now at Rice University the U.S.. I got to see the Space Shuttle, Saturn, which is the name of a rocket, the return capsule of spacecraft, transition of space suit, humanoid robot, robber, mission control and so on. The most impressible exhibit was the spacecraft Orion’s parachute because I am conducting research on this parachute for its return mission. I learned that this parachute has an important role to return safely. This increased my motivation to do research at Rice.

Question of the Week: Through staying in U.S., I have one question why they leave to use the air conditioner and electricity on everywhere even if it is so cold or there is no people in the room. Because of them, the night view is so beautiful in Houston. But we should save the limited energy to create the sustainable world.

In most office buildings in the U.S., there is one centralized heating and a/c system that is often controlled by the facilities management.  Sometimes you may have a thermostat in your office/lab but not always.  Therefore, most office workers in the U.S. must bring an extra sweater to wear in the building if they think the A/C is too cold. Many people in the U.S. dislike and complain about. For more see this article and this article. In people’s homes however, you have more control of the temperature and it is most common to turn turn off the A/C or turn it way up when you leave as this helps reduce the cost of your electricity bill.

Building office lights may also be kept on in hallways, lobbies, and outdoors for safety/security and in the Medical Center remember that many buildings are hospitals where people are working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. So many of the most well-lit buildings in your photo may be hospitals where people are still working even late at night. Some office buildings have installed motion sensitive lights, so if there is no movement for a period of time they automatically turn off, but these are not as common in the U.S. yet as they are in Japan. Again, in private homes, people usually shut off lights when they leave a room or leave home as this way you can save on the cost of your electricity bill.

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Week 03: Interview With a Female Researcher

This week, I met two Ph.D. students at Rice University. So, I would like to introduce them in this report first and then I would like to mention my research update at Rice.

Ms. Ying Zhang is an exchange student of mechanical engineering from China. I met her at the OISS Ladies Luncheon for the first time. We got along well because both of us major in mechanical engineering. Last fall, she came to the U.S. and started her life at Rice University for two years because her professor offered her to come to Rice as an exchange student. She is working on gear mechanics. This is a very cool field because any machines have gears and gear has important role on machine performance. In her lab, there are many Chinese students. So, she can discuss in Chinese with her lab at Rice as well as she is in China. On the other hand, compared with in China, she feels free to conduct her research and live in U.S. because she can make a plan of her research and take a free time after hour in U.S. Actually, she sometimes has to be a “working dog” which is a metaphor of working hard in China. But she likes this life in U.S. and if possible, she hopes she would like to stay and do research in U.S. for a longer time. After she pursues a doctoral degree in China, she has not decided yet what to do in the future. As a realistic option of her life, she also has a plan to work in some company as a researcher.

The second person who I have interviewed is Ms. Lauren McCarthy. Several years ago, she had experience to have participated in Nano Japan and traveled around Japan. So, she can speak Japanese a little and we enjoyed talking in English and Japanese. She completed a bachelor’s degree in chemistry at the University of Florida and currently is a first year Ph.D. student who majors in chemistry under the guidance of Professor Emilie Ringe at Rice University. In her research group, there are many female researchers and only a few male researchers. I envy her environment because in my field there are very few female students.

In this interview, I asked her why she came to Rice as a Ph.D. student. She described several reasons. First, the relationship between professors and students at Rice is very frank and close and because Rice University is a relatively small university in the U.S.. I would like to come back to Rice as a Ph.D. student because of this reason. Second, her advisor at Rice is a great and respected researcher. Third, it is common to go to a different university in Ph.D. course from undergraduate in U.S. Her life as a Ph.D. student at Rice University is very busy but this is great to her because she can always make a plan. She teaches with her major as a TA, conducts her research at least for 30 hours per week, and studies very hard for her classes to graduate. So she always organizes her weekly schedule and restructures it as needed. After she graduates from her Ph.D. course, she has two options. First, she hopes to be a professor because she loves her research and she would like to focus on only science. However, she guesses it is too stressful to be a female professor. So, as a second option of her life in the future, she has a plan to work in company.

Also in this interview, I asked her if she had a plan to come to Japan as a Ph.D. student before entering to Rice because she seemed she enjoyed her life in Japan as a participant of Nano Japan and she can speak Japanese a little. Actually, she tried to study in Japan but gave it up because she had to pay for tuition and everything to live in Japan if she wanted to be a graduate student in Japan. Currently, she won the scholarship from NSF (National Science Foundation) and studies at Rice in U.S. with full funding.

We also discussed some difficulties for a female researcher in STEM fields. She had some discrimination from male researchers in her life. I also have experience to be discriminated by male researchers and colleagues. Then, I have never revenged and I always manage to change the anger to positive energy to study. This is the most important tips to live as a female researcher in STEM field and I would like to keep it in my mind also in the future.

On Wednesday, I went to watch a movie which name is “Hidden Figures”. In this film, some female African American researchers were discriminated but they have never revenged and they focused on their job and contributed to the success of the Apollo Missions in NASA. The movie was very impressive because I know current our lives as a female researcher or student in STEM field were built by the patience and efforts of all of female researchers before us. I swore I will be a Japanese new role model as a female researcher in mechanical and aerospace engineering field.

For the last part of this report, I would like to describe my current research in my team at Rice. I have obtained most of the results to make a poster. I made a draft of my poster and discussed it with my mentors in U.S. and Japan via face to face, email and google hangouts. Next week, I am going to finish my poster and practice to do presentation.

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Week 04: Research in the U.S. vs. Research in Japan

Finally, I have finished my research internship at Rice University in this week. My final research project title is “Structural Mechanics Computation of the Orion Spacecraft Drogue Parachute in Compressible-Flow Regime”. My host team is TAFSM (Team for Advanced Flow Simulation and Modeling). I was conducting research on parachute during this internship under the guidance of Professor Tezduyar, Professor Takizawa and Mentors. Professor Tezduyar gave me his guidance to do presentation on email and Skype. And he handled the problem which I conflict just before I submitted my poster to directors of TOMODACHI Program. Professor Takizawa solved some problems on calculation of my research and he waited for me to finish my poster until very late night. It was advantage for me to have four mentors. Actually, I was sometimes confused by their individual different opinions but they all always helped me so much. Because of their all help, I have successfully done my poster presentation at the end of my research internship. Most of the other participants were not familiar with aerospace engineering and even physics. However, many people were curious about my research and gave me comments and questions. I was happy to participate in the poster session though this was my first poster presentation on research.

I would like to mention my research from the introduction to future work in this paragraph. The next-generation spacecraft will return and land on earth with parachutes. Because the capsule weight is much higher than Apollo capsule, the parachute design has to be fully 　proven and modified as needed for safe landing. When we design a parachute, we think about doing experiment. But Drop tests are very expensive. Computational analysis can reduce the number of tests required, but accurate analysis is very difficult because there are two reasons. First, there is a mutual and very sensitive dependence between the parachute shape and airflow. Second, parachute shape is very complex with hundreds of gaps that flow goes through. My host team is developing unique methods to address these difficulties. They have already done it very successfully for low parachute speeds at landing. Now they are doing it for higher speeds at higher altitudes, and I worked on that during my internship. The analysis process starts with determining an initial parachute shape for a given air pressure corresponding to the descent speed tested. I studied how the initial shape and the solution process vary with different physical and computational conditions. Next time I come back to Rice in this fall, I will study mesh resolution effect and fluid computations with the deformed shape which I obtained during this internship. I look forward to conducting research on parachute for another year as well.

I would like to compare with my home laboratory in Japan and my host team in U.S.. In my home laboratory at Tottori University, most of the members are Japanese and we speak only in Japanese. But in my host team at Rice University, there were six people including me; two Chinese, one Turkish, one Japanese, one American and me. So, it was diverse situation and most of us are non–native English speakers. However, everyone was very good at speaking in English. So, I got a kick out of their effort and I tried to do my best to speak in English every day during this internship. Fortunately, I had many friends not only in the team but also outside of the lab through this program. I have a farewell lunch with my friend and dinner with my mentors at the very last day at Rice. I will miss Rice and Houston because many friends of mine are here…

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Final Research Poster Presentation

Structural Mechanics Computation of the Orion Spacecraft Drogue Parachute in Compressible-Flow Regime (PDF)

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Week 05: Science & Technology Policy Study Tour

No Report Submitted

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Final Report

No Report Submitted

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