FrontierLab@OsakaU ---Scientific Empowerment Program for International Students---

"FrontierLab@OsakaU" is a program designed to nurture creative competencies in students by offering a wide range of potential research directions and emphasizing hands-on laboratory experience. It is specifically created for international students seeking a challenging, short-term upgrading of vital research and analytical skills. Applications from both undergraduate and graduate science and engineering majors/minors are welcome.
Each participant in the FrontierLab Program will be assigned to a particular research group in one of Osaka University's internationally renowned science and technology fields. Thematic studies will be conducted under the close supervision of the faculty, through experiments, peer consulting, group work and interactive discussions.

A Blend of Tradition and Innovation
The FrontierLab Program reflects the tradition of Osaka University, which has long been recognized for its world-class research output and quality training for up-and-coming researchers. This is achieved in myriad ways but most recognizably in a sustained commitment to the integration of basic science with applied fields of study and the early introduction of laboratory experience so as to nurture the spirit of invention and breakthrough. The Japanese tradition of `mono zukuri' or the `spirit of creation' is still very much alive in the frontier research laboratories.

Learning in the Communities of Research Practice
  - Up to one-year research experience
  - Offered by four schools on the frontiers of science & technology at Osaka University
  - Participants select a topic from basic to applied to the most challenging and cutting edge
  - Emphasizes proficiency in laboratory skills
  - Combining individual and group work approaches to problem-solving and analyses
  - Interactive, experiential learning, not rote learning even at the basic levels
  - Opportunities to interact with local students

Section1: Program Outline
FrontierLab@OsakaU offers students an opportunity to study with scientists who are top in their field and with them push the frontier of scientific advancement in the following research areas within the Schools of Science, Engineering Science and Engineering, and Graduate School of Information Science and Technology.

1. Research Areas
Participants select two research areas from the following:
   a. Nanotechnology & Molecular Science
   b. Life Science & Biotechnology
   c. Systems & Robotics
   d. Computing & Information Science
   e. Advanced Material Science
   f. Photon Science
   g. Other Emerging Fields
Final selection and the laboratory affiliation will be decided by Osaka University. It will be communicated to the home institution with the information of the laboratory.

2. Study Plans
We offer two plans of enrollment as below:

   a. Plan 1:
    i. Applicable for either undergraduate student or graduate student
    ii. Fixed period (semester based)
     1) 1 semester (15 weeks): From April to August, or from October to February
     2) 2 semesters (30 weeks): From April to February, or from October to August
    iii. Applicant will participate in credited supervised research, and have an option to take other credited courses
   b. Plan 2:
    i. Applicable only for graduate student
    ii. Flexible period
    iii. Study period commences between April and September, for November applicant, between October and March, for March applicant.
    iv. The duration should be more than 3 months and less than 12 months
    v. Applicant will participate in supervised research but not in courseworks that will grant credits
    vi. Research work will be evaluated by supervisor and reported to your home institution

3. Languages of Instruction
  English or Japanese

4. Academic Calendar

NOTE: Schedule for the academic year is subject to change.

5. Contact
e-mail address: frontierlab(at)hpc.cmc.osaka-u.ac.jp (please change "(at)" to @)
This e-mail address is for inquiries from international and relevant offices of overseas universities, NOT for inquiries from individual students.
Prospective participants are advised to contact at your home university's international office in charge of student exchange with partner universities.