—Why did you choose to pursue platform studies?
Data science will gain importance in the years ahead. Having the opportunity to study this field within an interdisciplinary, holistic context appealed to me. My research has to do with disaster prevention measures for agricultural irrigation facilities. In recent years, Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries has been striving to create a safer, more secure environment for agricultural communities through disaster prevention and mitigation measures driven by digital technologies. Given that backdrop, I felt that being able to study the fundamentals in this field would benefit my own research going forward.
—What research themes are you currently working on?
I am working on the development of a novel simulation method to help overcome unexpected disasters. By “unexpected,” I mean unprecedented disasters that, from a design standpoint, are considered unlikely to ever affect facilities like irrigation ponds or agricultural dams. The Great East Japan Earthquake and the increasingly common torrential rains of recent years are examples of actual events that caused river embankments and dams to collapse, with catastrophic consequences. To accurately predict the behavior of such disaster events when they occur, I am pursuing research aimed at developing methods capable of holistically analyzing multidimensional sets of physical phenomena.
—What have you gained through the School of Platforms program?
I have gained knowledge of how to foster the penetration and use of things I create. I want to develop novel methods of numerical analysis (predictive disaster simulation) and see those methods find applications across society. In connection with this, I am learning about open-sourcing and what is needed to ensure that a novel method is able to successfully compete and survive as a platform.
—What is the platform to you (ideal situations, desirable future, etc.)?
Although my ideas on this still lack substance, I am interested in building a platform that places weight on simplicity. Many methods of numerical analysis related to disaster prevention have already been devised, and each has its own strengths and weaknesses. Also, as many have been designed exclusively for the investigation of specific physical phenomena, the reality is that they cannot be easily adapted to comprehensive simulations. Moreover, different methods can sometimes yield different results for the same physical phenomenon. To resolve difficulties of this nature, I think it would be better to build a platform that can integrate multiple methods and allow a variety of simulations using a simple set of procedures.
—If the goal is to improve the world just a little from where it stands today, what do you think is needed, or what would you like to do?
I believe we should be a bit more tolerant of failures. Although publishing papers is an important aspect of research, papers only present the findings of our work. I think we should put more emphasis on the things we learn from the many failures we endure in the course of experimentation leading to the findings we present in finished paper form. Rather than succumbing to the results-only mantra, I would like to see society support the entire process, including the failures that lay hidden in the shadows of success. The failures and small achievements that are part of that process likely hold future opportunities and the potential for advancement in different contexts.
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