Industrial development has brought about economic growth and technological innovation, and production activities have increased the emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, causing global climate change such as global warming and torrential rains, and industrial waste from factories has destroyed the natural environment. The unplanned consumption of energy resources threatens the future survival of society. Greenhouse gases and industrial wastes are undesirable effects of human activities and are considered as environmental burdens that cause problems in environmental conservation, and it is the responsibility of mankind to manage them in a rational manner. In 2015, the United Nations Summit adopted the "2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development" and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Japan has also set a policy goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, and in the future, industrial technologies that reduce the environmental burden and form a sustainable society while maintaining economic growth will be emphasized. Industry can reduce its environmental impact through environmentally conscious design (life cycle design) that considers the environmental impact of products throughout their life cycle, from resource extraction to refining, transportation, manufacturing, use, and disposal (recycling and reuse), and by rationalizing energy use. In the future, it will be necessary to break away from the industrial technology that was suitable for the industrial revolution and the subsequent era of mass production and mass consumption, and to develop environmentally friendly design throughout the industrial world to enable a sustainable society. In particular, we will promote the electrification of power systems to break away from dependence on fossil fuels for mobile vehicles. The potential for renewable energy in the Akita region is high, and the development of the region will also require the advancement of technology to realize the rationalization of energy use. The study that aims to develop new industrial technology based on environmentally friendly design that promotes production activities while taking the environment into consideration, as well as breaking away from dependence on fossil fuels and the rational use of renewable energy, will be called Sustainable Engineering. The Cooperative Major in Sustainable Engineering has been established as a joint graduate school of Akita University and Akita Prefectural University based on such social needs, and aims to contribute to the sustainable development of the region through education and research in sustainable engineering, and to contribute to the reduction of environmental load and the promotion of industry in Japan and the region by acquiring advanced expertise in sustainable engineering.
Sustainable Engineering
The Cooperative Major in Sustainable Engineering aims to bring harmony between the environment and social systems by reducing the environmental load through education and research in the fields of electrification of power systems, environmentally friendly design, and renewable energy utilization in sustainable engineering, and to achieve sustainable development in Japan and the region. However, since the amount of knowledge to be acquired is enormous, specialization will be given to the main education and research fields of electrification of power systems in mobility and environmentally friendly design and use of renewable energy, with the former set as the Electromobility Course and the latter as the Social Environment Systems Course.
Divisions
| Division | Electromobility | ||
| Field of Instruction and Research | Quality | Faculty Member | Instruction Subject |
| Heat and Fluid Flow, Atomization, Two-phase flow, Heat Exchanger | Environmental Control System for electric aircraft, Fluid Dynamics and Heat Transfer | Akita University, Prof. Takahiro Adachi | Advanced Course for Energy of Heat and Fluid Flow |
| Electromagnetic Energy Conversion Engineering | Development of new machines and improvement of conventional machines for electromagnetic energy conversion | Akita University, Prof. Katsubumi Tajima | Electromagnetic Energy Conversion Engineering |
| Stability and transition in shear flows, Heat and mass transfer, Biofluid mechanics | Hybrid laminar flow control for airfoils, Seawater greenhouses for SDGs, Inertial migration in particle-laden flows | Akita University, Associate Prof. Takeshi Akinaga | Integrated modeling and simulation for design optimization |
| Control Engineering, System Engineering | Mathematical Model Construction and Development of Analysis Methods for Various Systems | Akita University, Associate Prof. Takeshi Miura | Advanced Control System Engineering I, II |
| Measurement Engineering | Development of surface analysis techniques for revealing quantitative surface nano-scale physical properties on advanced electronic/magnetic materials | Akita University, Lecturer Yukinori Kinoshita | Advanced mechanical measurement |
| Aerospace Engineering | Electric aircraft control, Aerospace dynamics, Spacecraft, Space exploration, Space debris | Akita University, Lecturer Hiroshi Hirayama | Aircraft system control |
| Electromechanical Energy Conversion | Analysis and design of magnetic devices in electric drive systems | Akita University, Associate Prof. Yukihiro Yoshida | Modelling and Analysis of Electrical Machinery I, II |
| Materials Engineering, Magnetic Materials, Physics of Magnetism | Development of novel nonequilibrium magnetic materials, Development of soft magnetic materials with high magnetization and low core losses, Material design methods for nonequilibrium magnetic materials | Akita Prefectural University, Prof. Teruo Bitoh | Nanomaterials Engineering |
| Robotics and Measurement of bridge health monitoring | Development of new sensors and improvement of conventional monitoring technology | Akita Prefectural University, Prof. Nobuhiro Shimoi | Measurement of structure displacement |
| Division | Social Environment Systems | ||
| Field of Instruction and Research | Quality | Faculty Member | Instruction Subject |
| Life Cycle Design Engineering (Design Engineering, Quality Engineering, Value Engineering) | Design methodology studies and eco-efficiency analysis of products or product service systems considering the life cycles | Akita University, Prof. Nozomu Mishima | Life Cycle Design Engineering Basics |
| Computation of Materials | Research and Education of Materials Computation Based on Molecular Orbital Method and Molecular Dynamics Method | Akita University, Associate Prof. Yoshiyuki Sato | Materials Computation for Molecules I, II |
| High-temperature physical properties of matter | Studies of fundamental properties of inorganic high-temperature materials, and their applications to high-level radioactive waste treatment and environmentally friendly glass production | Akita University, Associate Prof. Toru Sugawara | High-temperature physical properties of matter |
| Chemical Engineering (Unit operation, Separation engineering) | Development of novel chemical processes for resources and their systematization using IoT technology | Akita University, Associate Prof. Hiroshi Takahashi | Chemical Process Design |
| Earth Science (Petrology, Geochemistry, Isotope chemistry) | Research of mass transfer and chemical reaction in the earth Environmental system, Development of analytical techniques | Akita University, Associate Prof. Mayuko Fukuyama | Earth and Environmental Analytical Science |
| Energy systems analysis | Design and analysis of the regional energy systems consisting of resources, conversion technologies, and demand for a sustainable decarbonized society | Akita University, Associate Prof. Takaaki Furubayashi | Special Theory on Regional Energy Systems |
| Electric Discharge Engineering, Plasma Engineering | Education and research on fundamental processes and applications of arc discharge and its resultant plasmas in low vacuum and under atmospheric pressure, biological influences and applications of low temperature plasmas under low pressure and atmospheric pressure | Akita Prefectural University, Prof. Masaya Sugimoto | Plasma Engineering |
| Electromagnetic Compatibility, Communication Engineering | Estimation and suppression method of undesired electromagnetic radiation from printed circuit boards, Analysis of crosstalk between micro-strip lines on a printed circuit board, Estimation of equivalent radiation sources and measurement of near electromagnetic fields on a printed circuit board, Education and research of the electromagnetic compatibility of printed circuit boards in microwave frequency | Akita Prefectural University, Associate Prof. Teruo Tobana | Electromagnetic Compatibility |
| Built Environment, Geographic Information Systems | Evaluation of thermal environment in external built space. Collaboration method of architect and building engineer. Installation, management and cost-benefit-effectiveness of municipal geographic informationsystems in normal and disaster period. Development of building life-cycle assessment tool reflected family configuration change and repair work. |
Akita Prefectural University, Associate Prof. Koichi Asano | Advanced Course in Urban Environment |
| Environmental Engineering, Risk education | Research of regional resources in water environment and biomass, basic education on the concept of risk, research of environmental risk assessment and management. | Akita Prefectural University, Associate Prof. Nobuhiro Kanazawa | Basics in Life Cycle Design, Advanced Environmental Risk Managemen |
| Recycling Engineering, Life Cycle Assessment | Development of recycling technology to recover valuable metals, and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of products and services using Process Analysis and Input-Output Analysis | Akita Prefectural University, Associate Prof. Ruilu Liang | Life Cycle Assessment, Basics in Life Cycle Design |
Main Features of the Joint Graduate School
- You will be enrolled at Akita University and Akita Prefectural University.
- You can use the facilities of both Akita University and Akita Prefectural University.
- You can take lectures at joint graduate schools offered at both Akita University and Akita Prefectural University.
- A master's (engineering) degree is awarded jointly by Akita University and Akita Prefectural University.