Q&A

The Department of Information and Communication Engineering is mainly for those who are interested in information-related fields, while the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering is mainly for those who are interested in physical science and technology. Whichever you choose, you will be able to study both in depth, or you can concentrate on only one of them. In either case, please forget about any previous difficulties you may have had with the subject. You will be able to master the studies directly related to the goal of what is needed in society from the fundamentals all over again.

If you are interested in media information, contents, and people, or computers and networks, the Department of Information and Communication Engineering is recommended, and if you are interested in nano physics, light quantum, and biotechnology, or energy, environment, and space, the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering is recommended. In addition, the field of systems and electronics can be approached from either of these departments.

The first 2A semester has exactly the same timetable, and you can take all the courses in both departments if you are willing. It is up to the students to take a wide range of courses to leave room for future possibilities, or to concentrate their studies in the areas of their interest.

The 3S semester will continue to follow almost the same timetable, but in multiple periods, two courses will be offered in the same period, and students will choose one or the other. Apart from that, students from the Department of Information and Communication Engineering and the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering will study together, including experiments.

From the 3A semester, students will select one study plan from the five study plans mentioned in Q3, and will study more deeply. Multiple lectures will be offered in the same period most of the time during this time.

It is important to note that the required, limited elective, and standard elective courses are set up differently. For required courses, students will not be assigned to a thesis laboratory if they fail to earn credits. Limited elective courses are "recommended courses" that require students to choose several from among a large number of designated courses. Taking standard elective courses is voluntary. For example, in the 2A semester, there is a difference in Software II (required in IC, limited elective in EE) and Electromagnetism II (limited elective in IC, required in EE), as well as in Information Communication Theory and Basic Signal Analysis (limited elective in IC, standard elective in EE) and Fundamental Physics for Electronics and Energy Engineering (standard elective in IC, limited elective in EE).

In the 3A semester, students choose five different plans of studies to study in depth. Each plan is taught primarily by faculty from the following labs.

- Media Content Lab, Intelligent Interface Lab
- Network Lab, Computing Lab
- System and Electronics Lab, Photonics and Wireless Lab
- Quantum Photonics Lab, Nano Physics and Devices Lab
- Plasma and Energy Frontier Lab, Energy Systems and Control Lab

Each course offers limited elective courses, mainly courses taught by faculty members of the corresponding laboratory. However, there are a number of subjects that overlap with more than one lab. This plan of study defines how to obtain credits for graduation, and does not preclude students from taking other courses.

Those who have selected the Department of Information and Communication Engineering for their senior course selection may freely choose one of the following plans of study.

- Media information, content, and human
- Computers and networks
- Systems and electronics

Those who have selected the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering are free to choose one of the following study plans.

- Systems and electronics
- Nano physics, light quantum, and biotechnology
- Energy, environment, and space

Systems and electronics is a combined field of information systems and physics. There is no limit to the number of students who can enroll in each plan of study, as is the case with the senior course selection. All students may select any study plan they want.

Yes, you are free to choose. No matter which department you are enrolled in or in which study plan you have obtained the credit, you are free to choose a laboratory for your graduation thesis. Of course, to do so, it would be safer to study a wide range of courses other than the one you have chosen. However, it is only by bringing together people from different fields of expertise which can become the driving force behind the creation of new research fields. There is no need to hesitate.

However, there is a limit to the number of students who can be assigned to a thesis laboratory. This is to give first priority to providing detailed guidance in small groups of students. Therefore, if you request a laboratory that is over capacity, you may be assigned to your second or third choice.

No matter which laboratory you are assigned, you will be exposed to the world's most advanced research in each field. Another unique feature of our department is that many graduates publish their thesis results at the level of academic conference presentations.

They are not easy or boring, but they are hard enough to give you a sense of achievement. There are three student experiments per week in the 3rd year in electronics and information engineering, and most assignments are designed to be completed in three hours, from 1 pm-4 pm. They are systematically designed with the assumption that students have no experience at all, so there is nothing to worry about. In the second semester, students can challenge themselves with practical assignments that each faculty member has designed to contain the essence of their research theme. We do this intentionally because thinking independently is the first step to becoming a researcher. Eventually, you will enjoy it more without instructions.

However, the experimental content is designed on the assumption that students have done their preparatory study. It is not easy to complete the experiments on-time without any preparation. If you approach the experiments with curiosity and with a realization of what you have learned in class, they are all straightforward tasks that can be completed on-time, and there will be much to gain from them.

As 4th year students begin their thesis research, they will be able to conduct experiments using the most advanced equipment in each laboratory. You will probably be so fascinated with your research theme that you will even forget to eat and sleep as you work on your experiments.

The departments of electronics and information engineering bring together a group of appealing people who are positive-thinking, flexible, yet sharp. Even after the course registration, students do not lose contact with their peers in different courses through experiments and other activities. Peers with reasonably different areas of expertise will be an asset in your life, as they are at an appropriate distance to understand one another and can work together to accomplish things that you could not have done alone. This will affect your relationships with your friends in a very different way.

In addition, each student will be given a laptop computer for experiments and lectures, and will study in a classroom with a wireless LAN environment. From the 3rd year, students will have many contacts with society, such as company visits on Friday afternoons, field trips during the summer and spring holidays, and corporate training during the summer holidays of the 4th year. There will be fresh surprises in many situations.

Furthermore, the relationship with faculty members will no longer be that of "teacher and student," but that of like-minded people who will pioneer the future together. You will feel much closer to them. In particular, the department has a system of contact groups, where one or two faculty members act as advisers for every four or five students. Each study plan also has its own academic advisor. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask them for advice.

None of the graduates have any trouble finding a job. Having acquired a comprehensive knowledge of modern basic technologies, they are needed by society as ready-to-work personnel who can respond flexibly to the various changes that may occur in the future. In addition, our department has a history dating back to 1873, and our alumni are active throughout society. This overwhelming network of contacts will surely be beneficial to graduates after they are employed.

Employment opportunities are not limited to electrical manufacturers and telecommunications companies, but also include government offices, automobiles, railways, energy, finance, mass media, consultants and trading companies.

Most graduates go on to master's programs (School of Engineering, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies). There are no restrictions based on the senior course selection or study plan, so students can take on the challenge of a new field of study of their choice. In addition to the Hongo Campus, graduate students can also expand their studies to new locations such as the Institute of Industrial Science (IIS), the Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology (RCAST), the National Institute of Informatics (NII) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). Many graduates of master's programs go on to doctoral programs and become world-class researchers.

The Department of Information and Communication Engineering offers a curriculum that covers the following areas:

1) Mechanisms of computers and information processing (computing)
2) Mechanisms of communication and networks
3) Media and content technology

This curriculum allows students to learn all three aspects of information technology. In particular, the specialization in networks is a feature of IC.

The era when innovation can be achieved only by improving elemental technologies is over. The Department of Information and Communication Engineering offers a curriculum that covers a very wide range of technical fields, from hardware such as the electronic circuits that make up computers, to operating systems, algorithms, and media content technology, allowing you to become either a specialist or a generalist, depending on your choice.

As we have these two departments, students can learn about information technology in depth, including hardware as well as software. This is another feature that is not found in other information-related departments. For example, in computers and information processing, you can choose to study not only software mechanisms, but also processors, VLSI design and devices, depending on your needs and interests.
The same applies to network technology and media technology.

Programming is one of the most basic skills in information processing. It is rare for students to graduate without writing a program. But in practice, most of the students in our department have no programming experience at the 2A semester stage.

Therefore, a total of three lectures and exercises on software and programming are provided in the 2A semester. Programming has an aspect that is acquired through familiarization, so you will have ample opportunity to learn it after entering the department. It is not necessary to be good at programming at this point.

Systems and electronics refer to a technology that uses physics (physical properties, devices, electromagnetism, etc.) as "tricks" and information and mathematics (circuits, architecture, software, etc.) as a "mechanism" to realize functions that are useful to humans just like "magic tricks." From home appliances, mobile phones, automobiles, and optical communications to artificial satellites, the results of systems and electronics have already spread to every corner of society.

The computer microchip, which is the heart of almost all electronic devices, is a system consisting of more than one billion elements while controlling atom-by-atom, which can now be considered true nanotechnology. In mobile phones and game devices, direction, acceleration, and other sensors are installed and constitute the five senses of the system. Optical fiber is planned to be utilized as a sensor that can detect pain. These are just a few examples of the "magic tricks" of systems and electronics.

To begin with, electronics and information engineering are fields that are deeply rooted in the physical aspect (= "trick") and the informational aspect (= "mechanism"), and have opened up new fields of application (= "magic trick"). If you are good at both, it would be ideal, but what is really required in this field is to apply your basic academic skills in physics and information to cultivate your own unique "magic tricks." These applications will deepen your understanding of the fundamentals, and what you learn in this integrated course will be the source of your future development in a wide range of fields.

Over the past 40 years, semiconductor integrated circuits have achieved a rapid miniaturization and performance improvement that can be considered a fourfold increase in three years, and no other field has achieved such growth in the history of mankind. The most advanced LSI have already reached a minimum size of tens of nanometers (about 100 atoms), and their manufacturing techniques utilize the most sophisticated nanotechnology, using ultraviolet light to draw dimensions much shorter than the wavelength of the light. In the future, research and development will continue to advance toward even more miniaturization and the ultimate technology to control atoms and electrons one by one. In addition to manufacturing technology, LSI design technology will become increasingly important. In electronics and information engineering, our creative design techniques have led to the creation of completely new systems, such as right-brain computers and intelligent image sensors.

LSI is the fruit of electronics and information engineering, the keystone of all information and communication equipment, and also the driving force behind the growth of IT technology. Nothing will be possible without further development of LSI in order to realize K computer and green IT in the future. You can learn about LSI thoroughly only in the electronics and information engineering departments. It is our desire that along with all of you, we can create true breakthroughs with an abundance of rich ideas.

The Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering has a number of laboratories that pursue research themes that integrate physics and advanced electronics. For example, the advanced MOS devices, nanophotonics, and spintronics laboratories are exploring new physical properties and device physics based on electromagnetism, quantum mechanics, quantum optics, and condensed matter physics, and their research results have been published in many well-known academic conferences and journals in the physics field. (In other words, in terms of research, the department is not so different from physics-related departments). We value fundamental research based on pure intellectual curiosity, which often leads to new inventions and technological breakthroughs. In such cases, the knowledge of circuit theory, energy, information, etc., that you learn in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering will surely come in handy. There is no such experiment in physics that does not involve the use of computers and electronic devices. A good researcher must also be a good scientist and engineer.
While physics-related departments focus on the "exploration of physics," the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering is unique in that it pursues advanced technology while also exploring basic science. Needless to say, our department is strong in terms of job placement. If you are interested in physics and other science fields and also want to learn about technology that is useful in the real world, this is the place for you.

Material science and chemistry are very closely related to electronics and information engineering. For example, semiconductor integrated circuits, which are used in all kinds of electronic and information devices, are actively being explored for new semiconductors, dielectrics, metallic materials, etc., in order to improve performance beyond the limits of miniaturization. Research on devices based on completely new principles is also becoming increasingly important.
It also requires an understanding of crystal growth and chemical processes for fabricating and microfabricating materials. In fact, the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering is actively engaged in joint research with material and chemical laboratories. As with the above, it is fair to say that the boundaries between the departments are disappearing in terms of research. However, the electronics and information engineering departments are not only exploring new materials, but also aiming to create attractive new devices (functional elements) that utilize these materials. We also aim to conduct research that takes into account the systems in which they will be used and their social implications. In other words, the distinctive feature of education and research in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering is that it enables students to develop a panoramic and comprehensive view of everything from the fundamentals of physical properties to devices, systems, and society. This is a necessary quality for future leaders.

In the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, we are pioneering a new field of bioelectronics as research that fuses electronic devices with the field of biotechnology. Specifically, we are forming nanostructures using self-assembly and cloning of DNA molecules, and using semiconductor technology to make biochips for studying genes and pharmacological effects. Furthermore, with "fluctuation" as a keyword, which is a function unique to biotechnology, we are exploring novel physical properties, such as spin fluctuation, that enable flexible and supple information processing. In a nutshell, we are exploring new electronics by “looking at bio, learning from bio, and imitating and utilizing bio-functions." For more information, please visit the website of nano physics and device lab.

In the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, in order to solve energy and environmental problems drastically, we systematically study everything from material physics and hardware to systems, as well as energy planning and policy theory, starting from energy generation and new energy development that are in harmony with the environment to efficient energy conversion, transportation, storage, and energy consumption forms such as environmentally friendly transportation systems. In other words, the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering is the only department where students can receive a complete and comprehensive education to solve energy and environmental problems.

There are a wide variety of space-related majors, and eight majors in the graduate school of science and engineering are working with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to elucidate the universe and develop space technology. In this process, the opportunities for electrical and electronic information engineering are becoming more and more widespread. Roughly speaking, the approach from electrical and electronic engineering is indispensable for the satellite part that is carried on a rocket and taken to space.

Specifically, we are leading the way in a number of promising fields, such as solving the mysteries of the universe through solar and astronomical observations and experiments, and applying them to space weather forecasting, launching satellites on rockets to control their orbits, and designing robots and automobiles for lunar exploration.

As the recent trend of hybrid and plug-in hybrid cars shows, cars in the near future will definitely be connected to the electric power grid, and the era in which cars are considered as part of a larger energy system is just around the corner. As the prime motors themselves will be replaced by electric motors instead of engines, controlling the electric motors in new ways will become more important.

Nowadays, domestic and foreign automobile manufacturers are eagerly awaiting personnel with electrical backgrounds. The Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering is home to laboratories that play a central role in the development of electric vehicles and related transportation systems, and there is no shortage of research topics using real vehicle experiments. You will have a wonderful sense of accomplishment.

Certainly, at first glance, an electric machine that is a piece of iron and copper may seem classical and boring. But isn't it strange that that piece of iron and copper is used in every aspect of our lives as a quiet, clean, and high-performance source of power? Not only electric cars, but also today's automobiles incorporate more than 100 motors, and all precision machines such as robots, satellites, and high-speed rails are powered by electric motors, so the real industrial world is in great need of personnel who understand the physics of the internal phenomenon of motors and can manipulate them accurately. It is very important to learn about new technological developments from the perspective of the entire advanced system, such as power electronics and control that surrounds iron and copper.

On the other hand, motors themselves also continue to make progress toward higher performance by utilizing rare earth permanent magnets, superconductors, and other advanced materials, and in the micro and nano-order world known as MEMS, research is also being conducted on electrical-mechanical energy conversion technology based on electrostatic forces and other force generation principles that are completely different from those used in conventional motors.

It is a world where advanced technological development is always required, and where researchers and engineers have a wide range of activities and business opportunities.

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