Three excellent third-year undergraduate students from TKM College of Engineering, Kollam, Kerala, India visited Tokyo Metropolitan University (TMU) in May 2023, and they underwent 3 weeks internship on hydrodynamic studies on estuaries at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering from May 9 to June 1, 2023. Although we have been conducting online internships for TKM students for the last three years, this was the first time the students from TKM visited TMU for an internship.The major activities of the 3 students during their stay at TMU has given below:
◆ They learned to operate different types of equipment such as conductivity temperature depth (CTD) probe with an optical backscatter sensor (AAQ Rinko, JFE Advantech, Japan), YSI ProDSS multiparameter digital water quality meter (Xylem, Japan), HOBO U20 water level logger (Onset, USA), light microscope (NIKON: ECLIPSE series, Ei, Japan), etc. to collect and analyze data.
◆ They visited a salt marsh (newly formed after the Great East Japan Earthquake), Moune River, and Kesennuma Bay in Kesennuma, Japan for 3 days. During the 3-day field survey, they conducted (i) the measurement of the vertical profile of salinity and turbidity at different locations (39 stations) of salt marsh, river, and bay, (ii) dissolved oxygen (DO) experiment in the salt marsh, (iii) water sampling for plankton analysis in the bay, and (iv) maintenance of salinity and water level sensors.
◆ They visited the entire TMU campus in Minami Osawa along with other members of the laboratory and understood the facilities in a Japanese university. rich culture of Japan.
◆ They analyzed the vertical and longitudinal distribution of salinity and suspended sediment concentration in the Ashtamudi estuary, India during a neap-spring tidal cycle and compared it with the characteristics of the Chikugo River estuary, Japan. their 3-week stay to the students and faculties of hydraulics and coastal laboratories on the last day of their internship.
The students (both Japanese and international) of the hydraulics laboratory supported the TKM students during their stay at TMU and they had very fruitful interactions and discussions about their individual research, cultural differences, and the education system in India and Japan. hold this kind of collaborative exchange program in the future.
Prepared by Dr. Gubash Azhikodan, Program Coordinator, Assistant Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Tokyo Metropolitan University.
A student from Kerala, India visited our university,
Internship on estuary fluid dynamics.
A student from TKM Institute of Technology in India visited our university and did an internship on the research of river mouth fluid dynamics.
Three third-year undergraduate students from TKM Institute of Technology in Kolam, Kerala, India, visited our university in May 3 and had a three-week internship to experience research on fluid dynamics in brackish waters of estuaries. I have been conducting online internships with TKM Institute of Technology for the past three years, but this will be my first time visiting our university in person.
Besides that, I was able to visit many places in Tokyo and experience Japanese culture.
Together with Professor Yokoyama and Assistant Professor Ajikodan, the three students learned how to operate equipment such as multi-item water quality meters used in field surveys. We visited and actually conducted a survey and collected various data in the brackish water area.On the last day of my stay, I presented my research results at a seminar, and had a question-and-answer session and exchanged opinions with faculty members and students.
We plan to continue such collaborative exchange programs in the future.
