Special Grant Program for International Students (April 2022)

Special Grant Program for International Students / Research Assistant Program of Graduate School of Environmental Science (April 2022)

This program will select students, who can likely contribute internationally in their research field, from those students applying to doctoral courses of Graduate School of Environmental Science.

It is very meaningful to participate in research as a Research Assistant (RA) for the development of your research ability. Each Research Assistant must serve to achieve the objective of a research subject directed by a faculty member of the Graduate School of Environmental Science. The research subjects are listed below.

Period

Maximum 3 years since the first year although the achievement of the objective must be evaluated each year by the committee of the faculty.

Qualifications of application (Eligibility):

Students (mainly from developing countries) who are going to seek admission to the doctor courses of Graduate School of Environmental Science.

Payment Exemption / RA Allowance:

Payment Exemption: Total amount of school fees are entirely covered by Hokkaido University (i.e., entrance exam fee of 30,000 yen, admission fee of 282,000 yen, and annual tuition fee of 535,800 yen for each of three years). RA Allowance (depending on the actual working time): Total: 3 million yen (1 million yen for each of three years)
Travel expenses of entrance exam should be paid by applicant.

Application Period

Until December 13 Monday, 2021

Application for the program:

Applicants are required to submit the documents listed below. The documents should not be written in a language other than English.

1. Curriculum vitae with the applicant's photograph
2. Academic transcript
3. Graduation certificate
4. List of publications and presentations in scientific meetings
5. Research proposal
6. Direction and comments of potential supervisor and at least one co-supervisor, including proofs of communication between you and the potential supervisors
7. Master's thesis or other documents in proof of your research ability

Reference and address to apply

Kyoumu-Tantou
Graduate School of Environmental Science
Hokkaido University
Kita 10, Nishi 5, Kita-ku, Sapporo, 060-0810 Japan
E-mail: kyomu (at) ees.hokudai.ac.jp

List of possible research subjects (2022)

Title: Applications of InSAR and PolInSAR techniques to monitor forests biophysical parameters

Associate Professor: Ram Avtar

Forest cover almost one third of the earth’s surface and are recognized to have an impact on the global climate. Deforestation and forest degradation is one of the major causes of increase of greenhouse gases. Forests biophysical parameters (viz. height, structure, density and biomass) are essential for sustainable management. However, in-situ measurement of biophysical parameters are time and labour extensive. Therefore, the goal of the proposed research is to use advanced InSAR and PolInSAR techniques to monitor forests biophysical parameters. Successful candidate is required to have knowledge of geospatial data and tools to engage in relevant research.

 

Title: Impact of freshwater discharge along the Eurasian and North American continental margins on the ocean circulation in the North Pacific: present and past

Professor: Humio Mitsudera

This program deals with the meridional overturning in the North Pacific Ocean, which is controlled by Dense Shelf Water (DSW) formation in the Sea of Okhotsk. DSW entrains a lot of materials, such as dissolved oxygen, CO2 and iron, and carries them to the North Pacific through the intermediate layer of the ocean. The overturning intensity due to the DSW formation is determined by salinity along the northern coast of the Sea of Okhotsk. One of controlling factors is surface salinity anomaly originating in the North Pacific Ocean, which propagates into the Sea of Okhotsk via the Kuril Straits. Here, we propose to investigate the effects of freshwater discharges from the Eurasian and North American continents on the overturning circulation in the North Pacific. The riverine freshwater causes salinity anomaly along the continental margins, reaches the region of the DSW formation, and controls the overturning circulation efficiently. We pay attention not only to the effects of the freshwater discharge in the present days but also to those in the Last Glacier Maximum, during which rapid ice sheet discharge occurred around the Gulf of Alaska preceding the Heinrich events.

 

Title: Development of Photonic Superlattices of Semiconductor Quantum
Dots

Professor: Vasudevan Pillai Biju

Novel semiconductor materials are necessary for next-generation energy
efficient optoelectronic and photovoltaic applications. Such materials
should be environment friendly and cost-effective. Also, characteristics
such as efficient absorption of light, low exciton binding energy,
minimal nonradiative carrier recombination, and defect-free structures
are some of the pre-requisites of high quality semiconductors for
optical and photovoltaic applications. Superlattices of such quantum
dots offer many-fold opportunities to develop energy efficient photonic
and photovoltaic devices. The purpose of this research is to develop
novel non-toxic and low bandgap semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) and
preparation of their superlattices for efficient utilization and
harvesting of energy. A successful candidate is expected have a Masters
Degree in Chemistry at the time of joining and he/she is required to
have the knowledge of wet chemical reactions, and fundamentals of
electronic spectroscopy.