Teaching activites

2020-06-15

I am currently an Affiliate Researcher and a member of the Graduate Faculty at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, with a doctorate degree in Life and Environmental Science from the University of Toyama, Japan.  While up till now my career has mostly been devoted to research, I have always been eager to develop my teaching skills.  I have taken several opportunities in various countries to involve myself in teaching students (Japan, China, and the USA) in order to build a foundation for my teaching philosophy.

My main teaching goal is to enhance students’ transferable skills (i.e. analytical, presentation, writing) and to help students to learn how to solve problems, especially related to the multidisciplinary nature of chemical oceanography.  Biogeochemical processes in the ocean are fairly complex.  Understanding these processes requires knowledge of both chemistry and a comprehensive understanding of the physical and biological disciplines. 

I think that those skills can only be developed through the active student participation in class.  I would like to implement this philosophy by including a hands-on type class (such as a fieldwork and activities), where students can highlight and discuss their own experience to seek improvements.  I believe that this will help them to develop their initiative as well as to maintain their motivation.  Based on my own decade of field experience as a researcher and as a collaborator with multidisciplinary experts to students, I can share with the students how we connect the various physical and biological factors with our chemical data.