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1. What prompted you decide to participate in the "JSPS Science Dialogue" program?
I had always enjoyed talking to the future scientists and engineers and encouraging the children to consider science and engineering as enjoyable career choices. I had presented numerous presentations in Australia to both high school students and undergraduates in engineering on the joys of research and what is rewarding in the choice of research as a career choice. This was an opportunity to do something similar but a significantly more challenging task due to the language and the cultural barriers had to be overcome.
When I was young I was prompted to think about science as a possible career choice by a very enthusiastic presenter who talked about science at my high school. I believe that similar opportunities should be provided to all students and take great pride in being able to talk about what I do and why I find it very interesting to a group of people who may be interested in what I do but are by no means has any expertise in the field
2. To what did you give greatest attention in preparing and giving the lecture?
I my case it was very important to simplify all the scientific concepts as it was very unlikely that any of the students had come across these in every day life. It was also very important to relate my research to things they would come across like aeroplanes where high strength magnesium and aluminium alloys used.
One of the most important things and what I and my colleague spent a lot of attention to was figuring out where he should summarise things and how much time he should spend on each summary.
3. Did you find it difficult to give a lecture in English to Japanese students? Could you give some advice to future lecturers on how to facilitate communication with Japanese students?
It was not very difficult but one thing I found difficult was the ability to judge whether they were interested or not. Once I introduced my research some students looked like they were discussing something I was not sure what was going on but later on I was told that they found it very interesting and was talking about what I was presenting.
Few of the most important things I learnt includes speaking very slowly and clearly and asking my colleague to let me know if I was speaking softly or too fast. Also it was important to practice the presentation with your colleague so that you both were familiar with the presentation.
4. Could you give your impression with regard to participating in this program?
This was a very valuable part of my experience here. It was very worth while as we get a chance to contribute to a wider community
5. Was it meaningful in terms of your fellowship activities?
I thought this was very meaningful as the students asked some very interesting questions that started me on few interesting thought processes which may result in me discovering new possibilities in alloy development.
6. In what ways do you think the students benefited from the program?
It is good for students to get an understanding on what kind of things scientists do and see whether it is interesting. It also gave students who were interested in science a chance to talk with a researcher to find out what goes on in science as a part of a group and as individuals after the presentation.
7. Could you give some overall advice or comments to future participants in the program?
Practice your presentation with your colleague and start writing the presentation early. I found this presentation to be more interesting but also more challenging to write than a conference presentation. One of the main take home messages was keep it very simple
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