Today we had the labo visiting day which is the opportunity for the students who wish to come to the graduate school. The event this year is something special because it is the first visiting event for the Department of Materials Physics which has been newly established this April.
As the department head, I was wondering if a sufficient number of students would come to the event or not. Indeed, I was afraid that the announcement for this event might not be circulated well. In particular, our website (http://www.mp.pse.nagoya-u.ac.jp/) did not appear in Google for a while due to unknown reasons. Meanwhile, I was also afraid that the event site may not be large enough, if a great number of students come there. This thought is for the undergrads in our school of engineering. Due to the modification in organization of our school, the students have to take a look at the other laboratories to submit their application to the entrance examination to the graduate school. They have to submit the list of preference for the laboratories and they need some info for the laboratories coming from the other departments.
Nevertheless, the number of students attending the event was just. There were around 100 students in the room including over 20 outsiders.
In the event, some explanations for the entrance examination were given followed by the short presentations from the PI’s who direct the laboratories in the Dept. of Applied Physics and the Dept. of Materials Physics. These talks were just in time, although I was afraid that some presentations might exceed the given time slot. It is not in the case. As the department head, I really appreciate the cooperation of the speakers.
After the presentations, the labo visiting tour took place. The students were offered the opportunities to visit two laboratories. The choice is not easy from 18 laboratories in which a large variety of research projects are being made. To our group, only 4 students came. In particular, only one student chose our group as the 1st preference. (The rest came to the group as their 2nd choice.) Hmmm, my presentation to introduce our group may not good enough to attract the students. And, I know well that my group is very much different from the other groups and the research topics may seem somewhat chemistry or biology like.
Nevertheless, I was impressed (and very much pleased) by the fact that, the student (for whom our group was the 1st choice) has read this blog(!!!!) Of course the blog-reading is nothing helpful for the entrance examination, but I felt rewarded…
Finally, I thank the help from the labo members for the event and thank again for the coming of the visitors.
If somebody missed the event and wish to visit our group, just write me to set an appropriate schedule for a private labo visit. Such a request is more than welcome.