On August 1, 2019, Global Environment Research Laboratories located in Toray’s Shiga Plant and Toray Research Center Inc. (TRC) nearby received seven female high school students who applied to and were selected for the “Riko-challe[1] of Summer 2019 Toray Research Experience Course: Let’s Protect Blue Earth with Power of Science.”
The seven students who participated in the event from Shiga, Osaka, and Kyoto prefectures listened to a lecture on “Toray’s Membranes Used throughout the World” and subsequently changed into a white lab coat, safety spectacles and mask and created separation membranes with the help of young researchers. After that, the students evaluated the performance of the membranes using colored water and reviewed their experiment.
At noon, the participants had lunch with female researchers and interacted with them deeply, asking them about their job, their reasons for choosing a science major, as well as about their college days and future career paths. Initially the students appeared to be tensed but they soon opened up and had a sociable time.
In the latter half of the event, the students moved to TRC and listened to a lecture on TRC’s analysis work and introduction of the work being done by female researchers, after which they analyzed filtrates using spectrometer and observed the morphology of the membranes using a scanning electron microscope.
“I was able to learn in detail the technologies that are helpful around us,” “It was a precious experience to operate a scanning electron microscope,” and “I became more interested in a research job than before after talking with the female researchers,” were some of the comments from the participating students, speaking favorably of the event.
[1] Riko-challe in Summer: "Riko-challe"is a coinage combining Japanese word "riko" (science and technology) and challenge. It is an event organized by companies and colleges, jointly sponsored by the Cabinet Office, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, and the KEIDANREN (Japan Business Federation), primarily targeting female students during the summer holidays. The aim is to improve the interest and understanding of science and technology courses by offering them experience in science- and technology-related work and thereby nurture next generation of female science and technology personnel. Behind the move is the fact that the ratio of female researchers in Japan is lower than that in other countries and that the number of female students proceeding to science and technology courses is fewer.
