The 2017 Nakatani RIES Japanese Fellows concluded their research experience in the U.S. with the presentation of a research poster, in English, on the research project they had conducted at Rice University. This colloquium enabled the Japanese Fellows to present to a diverse and interdisciplinary audience comprised of faculty and students from a wide array of science and engineering departments at Rice University.

Held on Wednesday, September 20, 2017  as part of joint colloquium, the event was co-sponsored by the Nakatani RIES Fellowship and the Rice Center for Quantum Materials. Colleagues from the Georgia Institute of Technology, University of California, Davis, and Yale University also attended and served as judges. The three students selected as recipients of ‘Best Poster Presentation’ awards were:

1. Nina Yoshitake (Univ. of Tokyo) who conducted research in Prof. Junghae Sun’s lab in the Department of Bioengineering on “Applying Computational Models to Predict Capsid Protein Functions in AAV” 
2. Etsuko Ishii (Univ. of Tokyo) who conducted research in Prof. Devika Subramanian’s lab in the Department of Computer Science on “Analyzing Houston Flooding Using Unsupervised Machine Learning”
3. Miki Matsumoto (Univ. of Tokyo) who conducted research in Prof. Areyah Warmflash’s lab in the Deparment of Bioscience on “Effect of Cell Density on Wnt-induced Nodal Signaling in Human Embryonic Stem Cells”

A huge congratulations to all of our 2017 Japanese Fellows for the successful completion of their research projects and 6-week program in the U.S.!

To learn more about our student’s experiences living in Houston and doing research at Rice University, click their names below to review their website profiles and excerpts from their weekly reports.

Special thanks to Dr. Gayle Moran in the Rice Center for Engineering Leadership and Kyung-Hee Bae in the Center for Written, Oral, and Visual Communication for providing seminars on poster development and practice presentations coaching sessions for our 2017 Japanese Fellows. 

	Ayaka Hatano Tokyo Institute of Technology B3: Junior, Chemistry Research Host Lab: Prof. Jeffrey Hartgerink, Department of Chemistry Research Project Title: “Characterization of Multidomain Peptide with Mimetic Sequences” (PDF)
	Etsuko Ishii The University of Tokyo B3: Junior, Applied Mathematics Research Host Lab: Prof. Devika Subramanian, Department of Computer Science Research Project Title: “Analyzing Houston Flooding Using Unsupervised Machine Learning” (PDF) Award: Received 2nd place poster presentation award at final research colloquium
	Seiya Ishizawa Tohoku University B3: Junior, Agriculture and Chemical Biology Research Host Lab: Prof. Zach Ball, Department of Chemistry Research Project Title: “pGH Tag for Protein Purification” (PDF)
	Tomo Kinoshita Nagoya University B3: Junior, Medicine Research Host Lab: Prof. Gang Bao, Department of Bioengineering Resaerch Project Title: “Magnetic Nanoparticle-based Approaches for T cell Targeting and Tracking In Vivo”
	Miki Matsumoto The University of Tokyo B3: Junior, Applied Biological Chemistry and Biotechnology Research Host Lab: Prof. Aryeh Warmflash, Department of Biosciences Resaerch Project Title: “Effect of Cell Density on Wnt-induced Nodal signaling in Human Embryonic Stem Cells” (PDF) Award: Received 3rd place poster presentation award at final research colloquium
	Shohei Nishimura Tohoku University B2: Sophomore, Materials Science and Materials Processing Research Host Lab: Prof. P.M. Ajayan and Dr. Robert Vajtai, Department of Materials Science & NanoEngineering Research Project Title: “Hybrid Flexible Films with Tuned Properties for Multifunctional Applications” (PDF)
	Jumpei Nomura Hiroshima University B3: Junior, Vehicle and Environmental Systems Research Host Lab: Prof. Andrew Meade, Department of Mechanical Engineering Research Project Title: “Evaluating the accuracy of the computational fluid dynamics solver, FLUENT” (PDF)
	Ryota Sasaki Tohoku University B2: Sophomore, Electrical, Information and Physics Engineering Research Host Lab: Prof. Jane Grande-Allen, Department of Bioengineering Research Project Title: “Building a Meso-scale Mechanical Testing Device for analysis of Rodent Heart Valve Tissue” (PDF)
	Tomoyuki Sato Nagoya University B3: Junior, Mechanical Engineering and Aerospace Research Host Lab: Prof. Tayfun Tezduyar, Department of Mechanical Engineering Final Research Project Poster: “Structural Mechanics Analysis and Shape Determination of the Orion Spacecraft Drogue Parachute” (PDF)
	Rio Tsukimura The University of Tokyo B3: Junior, Chemistry and Biotechnology Research Host Lab: Prof. Michael S. Wong, Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering Research Project Title: “Nitrate reduction reaction using bimetallic alloy nanoparticles as catalysts” (PDF)
	Nina Yoshitake The University of Tokyo B3: Junior, Bioinformatics and Systems Biology Research Host Lab: Prof. Junghae Suh, Department of Bioengineering Resaerch Project: “Applying Computational Models to Predict Capsid Protein Functions in AAV” Award: Received 1st place poster presentation award at final research colloquium