On Thursday, December 22, 2016, a graduation ceremony was held in the Administration Bureau Conference Room.
President Ogasawara presented degrees to each graduate and gave the congratulatory speech to the 6 graduates.

After the ceremony, the commemorative photograph was taken and the graduates enjoyed the graduation ceremony with the president, executive directors and their supervising professors.

*Number of Graduates in December

【Doctoral Graduates】
Information Science 2
Biological Sciences 3
Materials Science 3

【Graduates who completed the Doctoral program by submitting the dissertation】
Biological Sciences 1

Total 9

　

Congratulatory Remarks to Graduating Students

I would like to offer my heartfelt congratulations to the doctoral students who have been awarded degrees today.

（Congratulatory remarks for each individual graduate from the president are omitted for privacy..）

As President of NAIST I am very happy to see in this way that your doctoral research is opening up new possibilities in various fields, which is fitting to NAIST and its goals.

Currently science and technology is in a revolutionary era and changes are occurring around the world.

Especially developments in ICT technology are extremely rapid. We can see the prospects of a 'Super Smart Society' which integrates the 'cyber world' and the 'real world' through networks connecting everything around us to effectively and thoroughly respond to the various needs of society in offering the necessary materials or services to the necessary people at the necessary time in the necessary amount.

ICT is becoming a driving force for further advancement of science and technology. Data-driven science has become a new paradigm in the field of life sciences, and the principles of informatics are being applied to the field of materials science in materials informatics.

For example, using AI technology to rapidly achieve information concerning patients' medical conditions and treatment from immense amounts of data being collected concerning the diverse genome sequences related to human disease and health has become a realistic topic to pursue.

I hope you will be at the forefront of the creation and application of new areas of science and technology, responding flexibly to the developments in science and technology to be able to continually explore new developments and fields, as is NAIST's mission for human resource development.

So... let me ask all of you. What can you do to contribute to such social innovation? In this regard, I'd like to you all pay special attention to the following part of a report published by a committee of MEXT:

"In the current era of rapidly expanding frontiers of knowledge, it is of utmost importance for researchers to challenge themselves to cultivate new knowledge based on their own knowledge, creativity and research skills,and it is vital for researchers to keep in mind and clarify the significance of their own research subjects (spirit of challenge).To cultivate new knowledge, of course, it is necessary to place a high value on diversity and knowledge of traditional research fields. In addition, in the current era, you must maintain a broader, comprehensive view to avoid compartmentalized knowledge (well-roundedness).You are also faced with demands to produce new academic domains through cooperation and collaboration with researchers from various fields and a broad range of domestic and foreign counterparts (multi-disciplinary). Furthermore, through discussion and verification within the global science community, you must strive to obtain global recognition of your research excellence by proposing new research frameworks, thus contributing beyond national borders (global perspective).

During your years at NAIST, you have not only gained academic expertise but also, through your thesis research, developed the ability to identify problems, explore and implement solutions to these problems, evaluate the outcomes, and write academic papers on the outcomes though discussions with people having various viewpoints.

I am confident that such experiences at NAIST, along with the network you have establish here, assure you creative and fruitful lives.

NAIST's roles do not end with us sending you out into society. Rather, NAIST faculty considers building sustainable relationships with the alumni so that each and all of you will be able to continue your creative lives in an ever-changing community of science and technology as an important role.

In concluding my message, I would like to congratulate you all again. We look forward to your future success, and we will continue to support your future endeavors.

　

Naotake Ogasawara, President, Nara Institute of Science and Technology
December 22, 2016