ブックタイトルGSIS_2019

概要

GSIS_2019

The Graduate School of Information Sciences (GSIS) was established in 1993, guided by the principle of “creating newinformation science to contribute to the realization of an affluent and harmonious society”. GSIS initially comprised threedepartments: the Computer and Mathematical Sciences, the System Information Sciences, and the Human-Social InformationSciences. In 2003, the Applied Information Sciences Department was established with the aim of developing interdisciplinaryresearch techniques to solve the diverse range of social issues. Our aim has been to create a new information science, which isextensive in scope.Supported by the illustrious history and achievements in information and communications research at Tohoku University,GSIS has diverse and wide-ranging research fields, from fundamentals to applied areas in the natural sciences, engineering,humanities and social sciences. We have achieved international success in each field, and developed many promising talentscontributing to the society. These include 3,369 graduates with master’s degrees, and 801 with PhDs (as of FY2018).We are living in the information era in which information technology features largely in our lives as naturally known from theIoT, AI, Internet, to mobile devices around us. Therefore, advancement of information technology affects not only the structureof the human society, but also our ways of living and thinking. Accordingly, our role in the development of modern society isto contribute to advance information technologies, and simultaneously to promote a human-oriented information society. Weare fostering human resources who can develop interdisciplinary information science founding an affluent human-orientedinformation society, and pioneer innovation and new industries in the global information era.To support such activities, in 2005, we began priority research projects, and have created research centers and research unitsin our efforts to achieve our goals. Our priority research projects have produced significant results. In the “InterdisciplinaryInformation Science toward a Secure and Safe Society” project, we conducted research which aimed to reduce the damage oflarge-scale disasters. The achievements led to the practical solutions of social issues such as the development of the Quincerobot which contributes to explorations at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, and ImPACT project “Tough Robotics”, Japan’s disaster prevention robotics. Another priority research project “Bioinformatics―Analysis of Big Biological Information” isan essential element at Tohoku Medical Megabank in the development of a next-generation medical information system.The project “Nowcast and Forecast of Road Traffic Flow Based on Multi-Modal Sensor Fusion and Simulation” has become apioneering initiative in application of big data, and contributed to the traffic analysis after the Great East Japan earthquake.In the “Software/Hardware Foundations of Custom Supercomputing to Develop Big-Data Applications” project, we havedeveloped high performance computational technology specialized to the characteristics of the data under processing. Thisresearch suggests the direction of the high performance computing supporting data science. We are currently executingthe following priority research projects: “Development of Interdisciplinary and Integrated New Domain Research throughCooperation between Mathematics and Other Fields” and “Construction of Social Infrastructure Based on Quantum Annealingand Data Science”. We are advancing researches at the frontier of mathematics and high-performance computing in this era ofbig data. These achievements have led to the institutional organization “Tough Cyber Physical AI Research Center” (Director:Prof. Tadokoro), which has been just established in FY2019. This center promotes investigations of AI which can robustly workin an unlimited real world by making use of its own cyber physical “body”, and development of the related human resource.Regarding our educational activities, we established a promotion office for collaborative education between industry andacademia. With the cooperation of IT companies in the Sendai area, we collaborate with neighboring universities and collegesof technology to conduct practical IT education which includes lectures and PBL (Project Based Learning) taught by theindustry engineers.The industry-academia collaborative education for the students who have diverse in their skill level and expertise is calledthe “Sendai Scheme”, and has been inherited by the Education Network for Practical Information Technology (enPiT) (MEXT).Through collaborations with other Japanese universities in addition to the neighboring schools, we foster human resourcewho acquires practical skill of cyber security field. At present, the undergraduate program enPiT2 is also conducted under ourleadership over the consortium of Japanese universities, which is now developed into enPiT-Pro for the reeducation of industryengineers.In FY2017, we started the Graduate Program in Data Science as a part of Top Global University Program conducted in TohokuUniversity. In this initiative, collaborating with various graduate schools, we provide opportunities for learning various aspectsof data science, training camps, and study abroad under the joint supervision of mentors in a partner and home universities.In addition, we run a range of initiatives to foster highly specialized human resources. These include the MEXT scholarshipprogram for foreign students focused on data science, a course curriculum taught in English, various types of financial supportfor PhD students, and a matching support for JASSO scholar for short-term study abroad. By making use of our educationalresource of the humanity, we have also established Literacy for Information Technology, New Education and KnowledgeSociety Program (LItNEX) for learning educational skills of information technology in association with information ethics andmorals.Now, data science and AI have become literacy to be acquired in any field. As a leading graduate school which studiesand educates data science and AI, we have just started “the common education platform of data literacy" since FY2019, andpromotes data science and AI education in the general education.Utilizing such initiatives, our faculty and students get together on creating an affluent and secure society which can enjoythe benefits of information technology. We believe that our developing information sciences could serve for solving the issueswhich our modern society is facing.Mitsuyuki NakaoDean of the Graduate School of Information SciencesThe Establishment and Evolution of ‘New Information Sciences’Message from the DeanIII