Tokyo Tech-MIT Student Exchange Program, a joint student exchange program between the School of Engineering, School of Materials and Chemistry, and School of Environment and Society at Institute of Science Tokyo (Science Tokyo) and the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), has been completed successfully in academic year 2024.
This program is a fruit of the department-level agreement of tuition-free student exchange with a credit transfer, which was executed in February 2017 by MIT's Center for Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems and the former Tokyo Tech's Institute of Innovative Research. This is one of the six student exchange programs at MIT with the selected top universities in the world. After two years of pilot period started in AY2019, the student exchange program has been implemented officially since AY2021.
Ayumi Kanamoto (4th-year, Engineering) and Fahim Shahriar Ahmad (4th-year, Environment and Society) selected from Science Tokyo have joined in this year’s program at MIT from September to December 2024.
Kanamoto and Ahmad were the sixth generation students in this program.
The debriefing from the students who participated in this program this year to the committee of Tokyo Tech-MIT Student Exchange Program was held on 5th, March, 2025, and their experiences were shared with Noriyuki Wakabayashi, executive vice president for education and Jun-ichi Imura, executive vice president for institute strategy. Both students reported their high quality academic experiences at MIT with the executives and showed their solid confidence of equivalent capability in their academic and research skills with MIT students. The committee chair remarked the results of evaluations from MIT faculty to the two participant students, which ensured that both students have demonstrated high academic capability and positive attitude through the program.
Two executive vice presidents expressed their appreciations that this program does contribute to the enhancement of international reputation in education and research at Science Tokyo.
Comments from the students
Ayumi Kanamoto
Through my study abroad experience at MIT, I was able to gain many valuable experiences. Classes consisted of Lectures, Recitations, Labs, and Problem Sets (Psets). The Labs were particularly memorable, as they provided hands-on learning opportunities, such as visiting a nuclear reactor and building robots. The Psets required not only solving problems but also conducting experiments, writing reports, and researching references, giving me many opportunities to think deeply.
In terms of research, while my work in Japan was more experiment-oriented, at MIT, I engaged in theory-based research, which gave me a new perspective. One of the biggest challenges was presenting in English. At first, I was so nervous that I could only read from my script, but as I gained more experience, I gradually built confidence. By the time I gave presentations after returning to Japan, I was able to speak more calmly and clearly.
Beyond academics, I had many opportunities to interact with others, such as traveling with fellow exchange students and celebrating Halloween and Christmas with local friends. I also joined the figure skating club, attended weekly lessons, and enjoyed watching sports games and ballet performances, making my time abroad even more fulfilling.
What I gained from this experience goes beyond academic knowledge. It gave me confidence, the courage to take on new challenges, and a deep sense of gratitude toward the people who supported me. If you are considering studying abroad, I highly encourage you to go for it. You may feel uncertain at first, but the rewards are immense, and I am sure you will never regret.
Fahim Shahriar Ahmad
I have taken introductory nuclear science courses (22.01) and machine learning courses, such as Advanced NLP (6.8610). 22.01 course gave me the clearest idea of nuclear physics, then slowly built upon it to form an understanding of nuclear engineering. I cannot recommend a better course than this who want to shape the world with nuclear energy. In the NLP class, I learned very deeply the theory behind large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT. This course had a final research project in a group, where I collaborated with other MIT students. I still remember the sleepless nights with my groupmates at an online meeting where we coded our proposed model architecture from scratch. We presented our research in the final class (poster presentation session). This experience transformed my programming skills and the courage to take on an ambitious research goal. Apart from coursework, one research I did was at the MIT Senseable City Lab, where I mainly worked under a Postdoc student to study people’s mobility under different social events. Regarding social life, I deeply cherish the relationships I have made with MIT classmates, other exchange students (from ETH Zurich, University of Oxford, Imperial College London, and so on) as well as some professors.
I studied at MIT for one semester (Fall 2024) and I appreciate every moment of learning from it. Sometimes, I would just enter a class in any nearby lecture room, hear the passionate professor, and be amazed seeing the curiosity among the students. I would like to conclude by thanking Science Tokyo and MIT for facilitating this amazing experience that will remain ever-fresh in my memory.
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Contact
International exchange team for School of Materials and Chemical Technology
Email ko.intl@jim.titech.ac.jp