Aaron Pedigo - Tohoku, Japan - Spring 2004

In the Beginning

Before I left for Japan, I had to write an essay about why I wanted to go to Japan. When I sat down to write the essay, it turned out to be a lot harder than I thought. I had wanted to go since I was in high school. I had taken some Japanese language classes, and from what I had learned about the culture from those classes fascinated me. But as I started writing the essay, I quickly found out that "I just have wanted to go for a long time," didn't pan out to be a two page essay, much less a good essay. I started looking for outside sources for some inspiration. I mainly consulted the websites of the Purdue and Tohoku Universities' study abroad program. From those websites, I found one idea that really appealed to me, the idea of becoming a "global engineer." Little did I know, but that term would stick with me for my entire trip and have a completely different meaning when I returned home.

Off to a Foreign Country

  The essay turned out pretty good and before long, I was in Japan. For four months, I studied at Tohoku University, lived in an international dorm, and roamed the streets of Sendai. At first I thought the studying side of Japan would be the main influence on my global engineer goal. In the morning, I took classes on science and technology in Japan, physical chemistry, and Japanese language classes. In the afternoon, I went to lab. There I studied tribilogy through experimental research. Japanese people taught all of these classes, and the students from the classes led to an enjoyable international community. This sounds like a perfect time to really become a global engineer, but as I found out quickly, the best time was after class and on the weekends.

Experiencing Another Culture

When I wasn't at class, I spent my time socializing with my newfound friends from lab, class, and the international dorm. During these times, I learned more about the world than I could have from any four-month class. With all the examples I could provide, the one that had the most profound effect on me came from a person from Senegal. When I asked him why he came to Tohoku University to study engineering, he told me that houses in Senegal fall over and kill people. I asked him if it was due to severe storms or earthquakes, and his reply was "no." As it turns out, there are a lot of houses in Senegal are poorly made and will randomly just fall over and kill people. He wanted to learn the correct way to build affordable housing so that people would have a place to live and not have to worry about dieing at any moment.

Research in Japan

That conversation happened within a two weeks of me arriving in Japan, but I never forgot it throughout my stay in Japan. It came to mind when I was talking to the physical chemist from Belgium who was researching effective ways to remove water pollution. It surfaced again when learning about how Japanese researchers were researching into hybrid cars, research that was done while American companies were making larger, less efficient vehicles. It would even come to my mind from time to time while I was doing my own research. The laboratory I was in was interested in using ceramic on ceramic systems lubricated by water. This type of system may be able to decrease the size of and last longer than typical oil based pumps. The main reason for the research, however, was to create a more environmentally friendly system that wouldn't produce waste oil. I, of course, did other things. I went sightseeing with my new friends. Together, we saw Kyoto, Tokyo, and tried to climb Mt. Fuji. I would get lost on regular occasions and try and use my freshly learned Japanese language skills to correct the situation. I tried new foods like sushi and cow tongue. But of all these things led to the real goal, and that is to have a better understanding of the term "global engineer."

Conclusion

For me, a global engineer is more than an engineer who has been outside of their home country. A global engineer is an engineer that not only recognizes that there is an entire world out there, but makes decisions to try and better it.