2023/11/12-15
This year, the International Symposium on Applied Electromagnetics and Mechanics (ISEM2023) was held in Hachioji, Tokyo from November 12th to 15th, and this article is a short report about it.
Yusa laboratory attended ISEM2023 with an oral presentation by professor Noritaka Yusa, and four poster presentations by Takuma Tomizawa (D3), Fanwei Yu (D2), Mohammadjavad Faridafshin (D2), and Shuya Fujita (M1). The symposium started with a warm opening ceremony on Saturday 12th at 17:00.
The food and drinks were delicious and after casual meeting with professors and students from Japan and around the world, everyone was ready to start the conference on the next day. The conference was opened the next morning with talks given by people from the academic as well as the industrial sector.
According to the program, professor Yusa’s oral presentation was supposed to be given in the first day of the conference. Also, the poster presentations of student members were spread in different days throughout the conference. The posters gave us the chance to share our research with so many researchers and receive their comments for possible improvement of our work.
Lunch was prepared in bento boxes by the organizers. It tasted nice and the amount was high enough to satisfy everyone.
Various sessions covering a wide range of scientific areas were organized, and the schedule was quite busy. After listening to several presentations after the poster session, the day ended with a special session dedicated to appreciate the contributions of professor Toshiyuki Takagi to the field of non-destructive inspection and ISEM. In the beginning of this session, professor Takagi explained the journey of ISEM over the years from its start. Then, delightful presentations were given by professor Zhenmao Chen, professor Tetsuya Uchimoto, and professor Satish Udpa, all as a tribute and to honor their long-time friendship and collaboration with professor Takagi.
The second day started and ended with two special events: the “Keynote and Tutorial” session in the morning, and the banquet in the evening. For the “Keynote and Tutorial” session, two presentations were given, one by someone from the industry, and another one by a renowned professor. The rest of the day was planned somehow similar to the first day, but it lasted a little longer because the banquet was supposed to start at 19:00. The banquet was held at a luxurious hall on top of one of the buildings in the Tokyo University of Technology. Several buses were made available to take the attendees from the conference venue to the hall and everything was very organized and on time. As the buses arrived one after the other, the hall gradually got more crowded, tables full of different types of drinks and foods got full.
After the opening speech by the organizer of the ceremony, Professor Soichiro Ikuno, a unique traditional Japanese performance started by women wearing traditional costumes and singing and dancing very gently. In the end, people enthusiastically formed a long line in front of them to take photos.
In the end of the banquet, the organizers of the next ISEM which will be held in 2025 in East Lansing, Michigan, United States were introduced by Professor Yiming Deng from Michigan State University. The organizers of ISEM2025 were introduced one by one and some explanations were also given about the ISEM2025 venue, the city, where to go and what to do.
On the last day, ISEM2023 ended with sentimental closing speeches by professor Ikuno and professor Tamburrino. ISEM2023 was the first conference I attended in-person after COVID19. One of the most important lessons I learned during this conference was that such events are great opportunities to meet new people and make new friends that would help us grow and improve ourselves in the future. Thankfully, I could also meet so many amazing people, some of whom I will meet again in Japan soon, and the rest, I hope I can get the chance to meet in the future.
Faridafshin (D2)