The grant, Forging New Collaborations on Environment and Sustainability, has enabled Illinois College to provide a wide variety of experiences for students and faculty to strengthen the link between our Japanese Studies program and the natural and physical sciences. The grant activities take advantage of our 30-year relationship with Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, and also our more recent agreement with Kanazawa University in Kanazawa.

The grant activities include summer group research trips as well as language and cultural education for faculty so that the programs established will persist long after the grant period ends in 2019. The group research trips, in the summers of 2016 and 2018, provide an introduction to research on a broad range of environmental topics and also give students the opportunity to interact with Ritsumeikan and Kanazawa students directly in an academic setting. The students work together to prepare research posters describing their work, culminating in joint poster sessions during the research trip in Japan.

In March 2018, Illinois College will host our third International Symposium on Science, Sustainability, and Teaching. These symposia expose a broad cross-section of the IC community to cutting-edge research at our partner institutions in Japan and inspire our students to pursue the research and travel opportunities.

The grant also supports independent research and internship opportunities for students during the summer, which began in 2016 and continues through 2019. These experiences were designed with science majors in mind; the demands of coursework in the natural and physical sciences often make it difficult for students to schedule a study abroad experience during the semester. The opportunity to live and carry out research in an international setting is unusual for undergraduates and can be absolutely transformative. Ashley Sholmire ’18 and Brendhan Garland ’18 worked in the lab of Mikio Nishizawa in the College of Life Sciences at Ritsumeikan in the summer of 2016. Their work, which focused on the anti-inflammatory effects of compounds isolated from traditional Japanese medicines called Kampo, greatly expanded their skills in biochemistry and molecular biology. The opportunity to live and work at a Japanese university also provided great opportunities for them to expand their Japanese skills and also help lab members develop their English language writing and speaking skills.

“The Luce grant allowed me to merge my two passions into one experience. I was able to apply the lab skills I learned at IC to study biomedical science and see the field from a different country's perspective. I will apply that to how I want to run my medical practice in the future,” said Sholmire.

Sholmire was inspired to return to Ritsumeikan to complete coursework for a Japanese studies major, and to rejoin the Nishizawa lab to complete her work with the goal of publication.

These activities have opened the door to further interactions with students from Ritsumeikan and Kanazawa students and faculty. In September 2017, Illinois College will host a group of 20 students and faculty from the Ritsumeikan school of environmental engineering for several days to tour local engineering sites and to interact with IC science and Japanese Studies students. Additionally, a group of 14 students from Kanazawa University and Kochi Technical University will come to IC for two weeks of American culture and English classes with a special emphasis on science.