International Student Workshop 2007 - Report -
UC DAVIS CBSOverall, this workshop was a very valuable experience. It provided a unique atmosphere for scientific and cultural exchange among graduate students from the United States, Japan, and China. Because English was the primary language spoken during the workshop, communication between all the students was very high. There was a lot of discussion after each presentation, which often included new ideas, helpful suggestions and strong scientific thinking. The small size of the group was another positive aspect of the workshop.
The location was very scenic and peaceful, and it was nice to be kind of sequestered away from the world – it gave the workshop the feeling of a scientific retreat. I think this was a key component to the success of this event, as it facilitated interactions among the students and kept the participants focused.
The research topics that were presented ranged widely, which created a stimulating atmosphere of ideas and approaches. I think most participants left with some fresh new ideas about not only their own work but also about what other graduate students are working on as well.
The International Symposium that followed our workshop was also very productive. Again, because all the presentations were in English the level of communication was very high between speakers and the audience. We also had a very productive poster session. Throughout our entire trip we found our accommodations and meals to be wonderful! We felt very well taken care of, and it was fun to experience a new culture and country. Our student hosts were also a lot of fun and provided wonderful tours of Japan! Altogether, I very much enjoyed my trip and feel very honored to have been able to participate in an event like this.
CAS IGDBThe NAIST International Student Workshop 2007 is a very successful and fruitful academic exchange event, which set up a platform for scientific and cultural communication among students from Japan, USA, and China. We’re honored to participate in and highly appreciate the great efforts of Japanese colleagues in organization. In the workshop, we shared advanced scientific information as well as detailed experimental experiences. It extended our knowledge in various fields. We also practiced our communication skill in the free and creative academic discussion and had more confidence in future communication and cooperation. Moreover, we made friends with Japanese and American students. We’re impressed by Japanese people. They’re very friendly, warm-hearted and diligent. At last, we’d like to sum up with the corn concept of Beijing Olympic Game, ‘One world one dream’, one world with a big family, one dream wishing for mutual understanding and improvement of ourselves.
NAIST BSThis was the first International Student Workshop, and these 3 days were a really fruitful time for us. Discussing our research with students from UCD and CAS was great training for us, in both scientific and linguistic aspects. Furthermore, this student workshop was a very rare opportunity to hear about the daily research life and career perspective of US and Chinese students. These conversations were really useful for me to think about our attitudes to research. In addition, I think we built good relationships with each other through the workshop and I hope these can be maintained in the future. Finally, I hope the participants from UCD and CAS also felt this workshop was meaningful as well as us.
NAIST BS
By bringing together graduate students from three geographically scattered institutions, this wonderful workshop provided its participants with exceptional opportunities: not only to present their research to their peers, but also to understand each other’s cultural backgrounds, to make personal contacts and develop new friendships, and to appreciate the common challenges faced by young scientists in communicating their work effectively to a diverse audience.
From a linguistic perspective, one might think that the students from Davis had a great advantage over their counterparts from Beijing and Nara. Of course, that is true in the sense that they were speaking in their native language. In another sense, however, they faced the same fundamental challenge as everyone else. Effective communication requires that what we say is understood by our audience, and I hope that the participants from California will have developed a lasting appreciation of just how difficult it is for students whose native language is not English to cope with the demands of their professional world, in which the need to communicate in English is often taken for granted by native speakers.
The way we communicate with each other, whether in our native language or in a foreign language, reflects our own personalities, and in turn our personalities can develop and be shaped by our communications with others. Scientific presentations involve an interplay between oral and visual elements, and I was very impressed by the quality and the diversity of the students’ slides at this workshop. As a teacher, I like to emphasize ‘freedom’ as much as ‘conformity’: we need to follow certain linguistic rules or guidelines to communicate well, of course; but we can also display our own uniqueness, for example in the way we create our visual aids. For some, the beauty of nature lies in its complexity; for me, the beauty of an effective presentation lies in its clarity, which often means in its simplicity. I hope that all of the students were able to reflect on the visual aspects of the workshop presentations, and perhaps to think about ways in which to adapt and enhance this aesthetic component for their future presentations.
As a forum in which to practise and refine their overall presentation skills, a student workshop like this one represents a rare chance to rehearse for ‘the real thing’: giving an oral presentation in English at an international scientific conference. In particular, it provides an opportunity to practise asking and answering questions. I would encourage all of the students to think about this aspect carefully. From the audience, native English speakers should formulate their questions clearly and simply, and non-native speakers should be brave enough to ask questions. From the platform, all speakers should answer questions respectfully, for the benefit of the whole audience, and of course clearly; and non-native speakers should do their best to provide prompt and appropriate responses.
I sincerely hope that everyone who was present at the workshop enjoyed it as much as I did. We saw an impressive array of research, and we heard an impressive array of communication skills. I would like to congratulate every one of the students for their great efforts, and I hope that they all left the meeting feeling excited, positive, and stimulated - ready, and eager, to face the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.
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