On Tuesday, September 25, 2018, a graduation ceremony was held in the Kenshu Hall on the 1st floor of Interdisciplinary Frontier Research Complex No.2.
President Yokoya presented degrees to each graduate and gave the congratulatory speech to the 46 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 September
【Master's Graduates】
Information Science 12
Biological Sciences 7
Materials Science 5

【Doctoral Graduates】
Information Science 5
Biological Sciences 13
Materials Science 5

【Graduates who completed the Doctoral program by submitting the dissertation】
Biological Sciences 2

Total 49

【Congratulatory Remarks to Graduating Students】

I would like to offer my heartfelt congratulations to the 24 master's and 25 doctoral students who have been awarded degrees today and their families.

I am very pleased that there are 49 master's and doctoral students receiving their degrees today, many more than in September of previous years. Most of you, 45 in total, are international students who left their home countries to study here at NAIST.

Including the graduates here today, NAIST has conferred a total of 7,625 master's degrees and 1,591 doctoral degrees, with 304 master's and 289 doctoral graduates being international students.

While there are 16 master's graduates who will continue their studies in the doctoral program to become researchers, a majority of you will receive your master's and doctoral degrees and start your new lives in society as professional researchers and engineers.

Currently, science and technology is in an era of revolutionary change, and society itself is seeing changes along with these developments.

Recent keywords in science and technology are the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Data Science.

The influence of these ICT technological innovations throughout science and technology fields outside of information science cannot be ignored. For example, in the field of biological sciences the research area called bio-informatics has been established, and the term materials informatics is emerging in the field of materials science.

It can be said that, in pursuit of a 'Super Smart Society' in which a myriad of things are connected to the internet fusing the 'cyber world' and the 'real world' and which is based upon analysis of huge amounts of real time-collected data that may be accessed from around the world through networks, a new research paradigm is developing called 'data-driven science' or 'AI-driven science.

As you know, in April of this year NAIST merged our previous 3 graduate schools to establish the Graduate School of Science and Technology and created 4 new interdisciplinary area Education Programs to respond to these science and technology trends and societal demands.

You have explored the depths of your individual areas of research in the different fields of information, biological and materials sciences of your respective graduate schools and I believe that you have not had the chance to perform research together spanning different research areas and fields at NAIST.

However, in the near future there is a strong possibility of you working on the same team working towards the same goal. Also, some future NAIST graduates from the interdisciplinary programs will enter society and the workforce.

It is currently thought that computer ability will surpass our human ability in the mid-2040's and technical singularity will be achieved, and, at that time, the majority of the jobs existing today will disappear and it is predicted that new jobs will appear.

In the 2040's you will be the central part of society. I hope that you will be active at the center of new science and technology creation and application as researchers and engineers that respond flexibly to developments in science and technology through a broad understanding of various areas and fields to continually pursue the opening of new frontiers for exploration, and effectively overcome what singularity may bring.

At NAIST you have not only gained academic expertise in your respective fields, but, more than this, I am confident that the experience of identifying problems, exploring and implementing solutions to these problems, evaluating the outcomes, and writing academic papers on the outcomes through your thesis research, along with the network you have created here at NAIST will be a key factor in your future as researchers and engineers.

NAIST's role does not end with us sending you out into society. Rather, the NAIST faculty and staff considers our role as facilitating the building of strong relationships with 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.

This year on Sunday Nov. 11 we will again hold our Homecoming Day and this kind of event will continue to be held. We hope that you will come and visit at that time.

As I mentioned in the beginning today, of the graduates today, 45 of you are international students, and it is our wish that you expand your network here at NAIST with other graduates that are working around the globe, and make use of our overseas offices, etc., to approach the issues that face society and our future.

In concluding my message, I would like to congratulate all of you again. We look forward to your continued success.

　

Naokazu Yokoya, President, Nara Institute of Science and Technology
September 25, 2018