About

The UW-TU Academic Open Space (AOS) is a framework to facilitate collaboration in education and research jointly operated by the University of Washington (UW) in the United States and Tohoku University (TU) in Japan.

The two universities have supported research collaborations in the fields of Materials Science, Aerospace and Robotics, Disaster Science, and Nursing, and have also run student exchange programs. In the four years since the AOS was established, over 30 co-authored papers have been published. In addition, over 400 people have taken part in joint workshops in the fields in which the two universities are collaborating.

Professor Fumio Ohuchi, Material Science and Engineering, University of Washington, organizes the matching of researchers in various fields and coordinates research collaborations. Professor Ohuchi and Professors Tomonaga Okabe and Yoshitaka Kasukabe of Tohoku University are organizing the AOS research and educational exchange programs.

Roles of the AOS

Education roles:

• A new paradigm for internal exchange and education through mutual study abroad programs.
• Develop coordinated courses to cover complementary areas of subjects between UW and TU

Research roles:

• Academic platform to build advance research collaborations between academic, industrial and governmental communities.
• Workshops for research matching for junior faculty
• International joint research publications as “outcomes”.

International administrative infrastructure:

• Develop a mechanism for the administrative staffs to promote transnational understanding in research, education and exchange between UW and TU.

Concept of Establishment

• As the gateway to Pacific trade in the U.S. and home to global high-tech industries, such as Boeing, Microsoft, Amazon, Google, as well as Japan based industries, such as Toray Composites America and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Seattle is an ideal location to establish a space to promote educational and research connections between Japan and the U.S.
• With AOS as its base, the University of Washington and Tohoku University will serve as a gateway to promote research and education collaboration between universities, industry, research institutes and governments in the United States and Japan, in various research field.
• AOS also function as a venue to support research workshops and new matchmaking with researchers and companies in various fields.
• AOS also support the development of the next generation of human resources by developing and implementing student exchange programs based on research exchange.