6th ascent report by joshua collado

CONTENTS

6th ASCENT THE FUTURE IMAGE OF ENERGY

WHAT IS ASCENT? ASCENT stands for “Asian Students

Collaboration Encouragement Program in Technology”. It aims to further

establish international networks among students in Asian countries by studying

developments in the Asian Industry. The program contains company visits,

laboratory tours in Tokyo Tech and outside Tokyo Tech, special lectures,

group presentations, and a final presentation which is to be presented to

company representatives of the laboratories the students will visit.

It was first held in March 2010 by SAGE in TIT as a complement to TIT’s

AYSEAS (Asia Young Scientist and Engineer Advanced Study Program),

which is organized by TIT’s international Office, wherein TIT students were sent to other Asian

countries to learn more about science and engineering.

On March 13, 2015, Tokyo Institute of Technology (TIT) once again welcomed students from different Asian universities such as DLSU, TIT, Chulalongkorn University, and ITB. for 6th ASCENT, which is a 10-day program that focused on the theme of the future image of energy. There were a total of 19 delegates who attended the program, which was solely organized by students of TIT through their organization called S.A.G.E. (Student Association for Global Exchange).

DAYS 1-3 3/13-15/2015

DAYS 4-6 3/16-18/2015 Neo-Morgan Lab

Toshiba & Tokyo Gas

Presentation Lecture

DAYS 7-10 19-22 TIT Super Computer Tsubame, Suzukakedai Campus Visit

Presentations, Hiking

T . I . T . S A G E

Welcome Party

Pre-study Presentation

Special Lecture by

(NEDO)

JOSHUA COLLADO 11118555

6TH ASCENT: THE FUTURE IMAGE OF ENERGY MARCH 2015

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The first few days of the program were very

exciting as I met other foreign students who were also friendly and approachable. It was great to be

exposed to different customs and cultures, and learn from the different working habits of other students, especially the professionalism that the

Japanese student organizers have shown.

DAY 1 The first day was when the students arrived in Japan and gathered at the hotel’s lobby (Tokyo Central Youth Hostel, Iidabashi). After the orientation, the students gathered at a Japanese-Indian restaurant in Iidabashi

for the welcome party.

DAY 2

The pre-study presentation was held during the second day where each country

presented about the energy situation in their respective countries. Afterwards the students

went on a sight seeing trip to Tokyo Tower.

DAY 3

On the third day, the participants once again gathered at a classroom in TIT for a special lecture given by a NEDO representative who discussed about solving issues regarding energy. Afterwards the students had their cultural exchange party where the participants shared their own country’s unique culture. The students went to Odaiba afterwards, where they visited several places such as the Trick Art Museum at Diver City Tokyo Plaza.


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DAYS 4-6

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and Tokyo Gas. The students learned a lot from the lab tours such as the different processes and parts involved in a nuclear power plant, and the recent technological developments in Tokyo Gas. The participants went to Yokohama afterwards and enjoyed the scene and Chinese food at Chinatown. The sixth day was mellow as the participants listened to a lecture on how to deliver a presentation effectively, and the students went sightseeing at Asakusa to see the beautiful and famous Kaminarimon and shop around the beautiful market that led to the temple. On the way home, they visited another famous landmark - Sky Tree.

The laboratory tours really gave me a new

perspective on the future of energy as new methods of deriving energy from biomass has been presented to us. Despite the energy situation we have in the

Philippines as an impending energy crisis is looming near, I believe that if our country invests

on the development of biofuel, our energy situation can improve.

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For the fourth day, the students went on a laboratory tour to Neo-Morgan Laboratory, which is a genetics laboratory that is also developing biofuel derived from algae that they cultivate. The technology is promising as it is sustainable and helps address issues on carbon dioxide emissions as the algae consume the gas. The students went to Kamakura afterwards despite the rain. At Kamakura, they posed next to the Giant Buddha for memorable photos, explored the traditional streets, and of course tried the fish delicacy of the place. The fifth day was a busy day for the participants as they visited Toshiba’s power plant assembly plant


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DAY 7 For the seventh day, the students gathered at TIT and visited Tsubame, TIT’s super computer, and then the students visited TIT’s Suzukakedai campus and listened to lab tours and presentations given by professors and lab researchers. The participants went to Jiyugaoka, which was a classy beautiful neighborhood to eat some unlimited designer pancakes and took wacky Purikura photos for souvenirs in an arcade. DAY 8

As the final day is drawing near, the students prepared for the interim presentation, which practiced them for the final presentation, wherein they talked about their plans for the future of energy as they integrated all the information they have learned from the lab tours. Stressed in preparing for the final presentation they only ate at an Okonomiyaki house near TIT for dinner and headed home

DAY 9 The students gathered at an auditorium in Tokyo Tech to present their ideas on the future sources of energy in front of company representatives from Tokyo Gas, Toshiba, and Neo-Morgan. The closing ceremony was held afterwards. During the night they went to sing at a karaoke and went to Shibuya to pose with Hachiko.

DAY 10 For the final day, everyone went on a hike to climb the spiritual and famous Mt. Takao. Everyone enjoyed climbing as food stalls scattered on the way to the top. Dango and other snacks were everywhere. Shrines, gates and temples were also along the way to the top. On the summit, the students had a picnic and enjoyed the mountain-view, and afterwards, the students had a farewell party at an Izakaya where people became emotional as they said their goodbyes


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THE 6TH ASCENT EXPERIENCE

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energy system they operate is a hybrid of biofuel and fossil fuel. The last lab tour was at TIT Suzukakedai campus where we toured the laboratory for biofuel.

The discussions, lab tours, and presentations challenged me since I did not have a good background regarding the field of energy since I major in Civil Engineering – Structural Design, and most foreign students major in chemistry, nano-engineering and other energy related courses, but I did not let that hinder me from learning as I further researched into the recent energy developments.

ASCENT was truly a special experience for me and should be a program that future Lasallians should also experience. It was one of a kind and professionally organized as everything ran so smoothly and on time. I still could not believe the professionalism that TIT students have shown as they organized, facilitated, and ran the whole program. I believe that if we work hard and discipline ourselves, we as Filipino and Lasallian students can also be as hardworking and professional like them. TIT was also kind to give us a scholarship of a total of ¥26,000.

Next year, 7th ASCENT will be held, and I hope more Lasallians can apply and join the program, and I am willing to interview them, as SAGE has suggested, for screening purposes. I am blessed to be part of the Lasallian community with a lot of international opportunities, and I know that in the future more international programs will be available for every Lasallian.

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6th Ascent has truly been a fruitful and wonderful experience on my part as I was exposed to different Asian cultures such as Japanese, Indonesian, and Thai. Besides the exchange of cultures and norms, I was exposed to recent developments in the field of bio-energy as we were toured in high-profile companies and laboratories, and the people there were so accommodating and informative.

The lab tours, discussions, and presentations we had broadened my perspective regarding the field of sustainable energy as we have seen the latest developments in biomass such as the photosynthetic algae which is being developed and cultivated together with another algae that does not need light, and instead relies on organic matter for sustenance, and both algae are good for the production of large amounts of oil. In Tokyo Gas, we were shown the polyethylene pipes they use for gas lines and demonstrated it on a universal testing machine and had the pipes reach its plastic limit. They also are developing biofuel derived from food wastes although it still has a long way to go as the energy it produces is less than the energy used to operate the whole system. They are also marketing, Ene-farm, a joint project with Panasonic, which is an energy generator that is based on fuel cell for the household. At TokyoTech, we were toured inside their EEI building, which is covered with solar panels as it derives energy from the sun to power the whole building and produce energy for other buildings in the university. Of course the solar panels could not produce substantial amounts of energy to run the whole structure so the

TOKYO DISNEYSEA Since we were already in Tokyo, we rode the train to Chiba and stayed from morning to midnight in Tokyo DisneySea! Our friends from TIT who toured us since day 1 knew very well how the Fastpass works and got us quick access to the best rides!


6th ascent report by joshua collado

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