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On Wednesday, June 10, 2015 the Ph.D. Program in Empowerment Informatics (EMP) held an information session for prospective students entering in the 2016 academic year. The information session, held at the Empowerment Studio that serves as the central base for the Program, was attended by 14 people, including students from the University of Tsukuba (from the School of Science and Engineering and other sections), graduate students (from the Graduate School of Systems and Information Engineering, the Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, and other graduate schools), and students from other universities with an interest in EMP.

With Associate Prof. Kenji Suzuki (Public Relations Committee Chair) serving as emcee, the orientation began with an explanation of the program by EMP Program Leader Prof. Hiroo Iwata, followed by an explanation of the admissions examination process by Admissions Committee Chair Specially Appointed Prof. Yuichi Ohta. Next, first-year students Yukino Hirai and Takeshi Ozu and third-year student Ryoichiro Shiraishi provided introductions to the program from their own perspectives: those of a woman, a transferee from another field, and a transferee starting in the third year.

Later, Assistant Prof. Masakazu Hirokawa, a member of the Admissions Committee, and Assistant Prof. Akitoshi Tomita, a member of the Curriculum Committee, led a tour of the Studio, explaining its features. This provided an opportunity for participants to learn not only about the Program in general but also about its attractive research environment, as they experienced the prize-winning work “CHILDHOOD” by second-year students Jun Nishida, Kosuke Sato, and Hikaru Takatori, and “Large Space,” the world’s largest virtual reality space, as well as viewing and experiencing other empowerment systems under development.