Voice from International Students

Islam ABM Nazmul

Islam ABM Nazmul
Grade : (2023) D2
Home Country: Bangladesh
Lab. name: Fujigaya Lab

Thank you everyone! In October, 2021, I joined in Fujigaya Lab. as a doctoral student to pursue my dream passion for Chemistry at Kyushu University, which is one of the royal Universities in Japan.
As a MEXT scholar of the International Graduate Course on Chemistry for Molecular Systems, I am very much delighted and feeling so proud to be a member of global education. This course offers many learning tools with a distinctive curriculum on research, which enrich our skills, knowledge, and ideas for the new scientific findings at the molecular level. Even, I have continued my study online at the beginning due to the COVID-19 pandemic, special care by the professors and university authority allows me to go study ahead. In the Ito campus, there are many research resources with modern sophisticated equipment and genius professors in our department, surely these help us to be good researchers. In Fujigaya lab, I am trying to understand the adsorption behavior of polymers onto carbon materials, because the surface modification of carbon materials using polymer coating is a useful way to increase their dispersibility and wettability.
This journey brings me new research life to acquire experiment skills and interdisciplinary knowledge. So, future students in Kyushu university will enjoy a lot, and let’s unite with each other to make our excellent futures in the scientific and social world.

Catherine Helenna Mulyadi

Catherine Helenna Mulyadi
Grade : (2023)
Home Country  : Indonesia
Lab. Name : Yanai Laboratory
I was enrolled in the International Undergraduate Applied Chemistry Program in 2019 and started my undergraduate journey in the autumn semester. I find Ouka-bunshi course interesting because it exposes my perspective on chemistry in real life. Not only the lectures, but also the experimental classes in different laboratories offered in this course showed how important chemistry is in distinguished fields such as energy, medicine, daily goods, etc. Among these fields, I chose photochemistry (triplet-triplet annihilation-based upconversion, TTA-UC) as my research since it has many potentials such as energy harvesting, bioimaging, and photocatalysis. I believe that this interdisciplinary nature of my research will develop my abilities so that I can eventually contribute more to society. I am grateful to be part of the Yanai laboratory which introduces me to the fundamental concepts and methodologies to conduct my research well-rounded. Furthermore, I can also learn other research covered in my laboratory, about improving NMR and MRI performance and quantum sensing, which enrich my knowledge and expand my curiosity. Personally, being part of Yanai laboratory members is a rewarding experience since I can sgrow through the combination of both international and Japanese cultures. For prospective students, I recommend you join this program so you’ll find how fascinating chemistry can be.

Lin Yi Hsin

Lin Yi Hsin
Grade : (2023) B4
Home Country  : Taiwan
Lab. Name : Fujikawa Lab

I enrolled in Kyushu University from Oct. 2019, entering here as an international student in global course, taking all the lectures in English. Started from the second semester of my junior year, I joined Fujikawa lab, which belongs to Ouka-bunshi course.

Currently I am researching on Nano-scaled membranes which aims to separate carbon dioxide from the rest of the gas mixture. I mainly investigate polymer-based materials, trying to find the most efficient way to increase gas selectivity and permeability. By collecting greenhouse gases, the global warming issue can be tackled. This sense of contributing to the environment is what brings me to Fujikawa lab, so as to Ouka-bunshi.

Despite the fact that I am a foreigner, people here show great hospitality, perceiving me as part of them, teaching me not only experimental procedures step by step, but all the techniques of reading references, constructing slides, and analyzing data in need. The daily practices and weekly group meetings trained me as a critical thinker, being able to attend conferences even as a senior year undergraduate student. If it weren’t the unfailing support of my lab, I would not be able to see a different world. I bet you all will see another different world if you choose Ouka-bunshi.

Junzhe Zhu

Junzhe Zhu
Grade : (2023) Doctor 3
Home Country : China
Lab. name : Kimizuka Lab

I came to Kyushu University in Oct. 2022 as a joint Ph.D student for 1 year. My research is focus on light-driven 3D printing where I found Kyushu University is featured for photoluminescent materials. Long-wavelength lights, such as red light and near-infrared light, exhibit excellent penetration as well as low bio-toxicity, and could empower the polymeric 3D printing in more applications. Detailly, my projects are trying to apply the long-wavelength light into photopolymerization and 3D printing by employing up-conversion materials, and I learnt a lot about triplet-triplet annihilation up-conversion from photophysics to functional structure-design in Kimizuka lab. In the past 6 months, it offers me various treasured memories not only in experience of developing photopolymerization but also from kind people around. Besides, Fukuoka city is full of enthusiasm and owes wonderful weather while living in campus is convenient and comfortable in both lab life and daily life. So, it is worth coming and finding you passion in Kyushu University.

Saleh Md Abu

Saleh Md Abu
Grade : (2023) D1
Home Country : Bangladesh
Lab. name : Soft Materials Chemistry Lab (Tanaka Lab)

I am currently working as a Ph.D. student in the Department of Applied Chemistry at Kyushu University, Japan. My journey with Kyushu University started in October 2022 as I joined the Soft Materials Chemistry Lab (Tanaka Lab), led by distinguished Professor Masaru Tanaka Sensei. As a Biochemistry and Molecular Biology grad student, I always tended to correlate basic chemistry knowledge with biology. Besides serving as a chemist in the US-FDA approved quality control lab of a renowned pharmaceuticals company in Bangladesh, I sought opportunities to start my doctoral research in top-tier institutions. My previous research experience in computational chemistry and experimental skills were matched entirely with Soft Materials Chemistry Lab (Tanaka Lab) under the Department of Applied Chemistry.

I genuinely believe that the Department of Applied Chemistry is one of the leading departments with many international students from different disciplines under the faculty of Engineering. I feel proud to say that I got a lab where all my lab mates and professors are energetic, supportive, easily approachable and can deeply think to make innovative ideas. I have found my lab mates doing versatile research in different fields of applied chemistry such as designing new biocompatible polymers using the techniques of Polymer Synthesis, Surface Analysis and Cell Culture. The research environment of my lab is the best for nurturing students from various fields and implementing their innovative ideas. I am now working on designing new zwitterionic polymers to stabilize the protein structure and how water dynamics around the polymer is responsible for stabilizing the protein’s native structure. I am also working to understand the water dynamics of polymers by molecular dynamics (MD) simulation and to correlate the results with experimental findings. I believe the journey of doing a Ph.D. is difficult and stressful; however, having a supportive environment in the lab may make it a little smoother.

Ainul Maghfirah

Ainul Maghfirah
Grade : (2023) D3
Home Country : Indonesia
Lab. name : Goto-Kamiya Laboratory

I joined Kyushu University in April 2021. I was excited about this course (Ouka-bunshi) because it collaborates with many fields in chemistry to create solutions in life. I am working with green extraction of critical metals using advanced technologies. Briefly, we do molecular design to produce nontoxic materials as biocompatible extractants. Several sophisticated machines were applied to evaluate structural, physical properties, toxicity, and the extraction behaviors of resulting materials. It`s been a fascinating and pleasant experience, especially since the lab mates are supportive and friendly! Finally, I am so grateful that I feel significant growth in my skills (logical thinking, work ethic, writing, oral communication, and lab skills). One more special note from our lab is that the sensei and members are respectful to Muslim students like me. It is so convenient to study while being able to practice our religion peacefully.

 

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