Greetings from the Dean

 

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic at the end of 2019, our world has undergone dramatic changes. Even today, many issues that threaten sustainability remain unsolved: ongoing international conflicts, the increasing frequency of disasters caused by global warming, widening disparity between the rich and the poor, shortages of drinking water and food, and the spread of information through social media that is often difficult to verify, leaving people divided in their views. These challenges cannot be solved by any single body of knowledge or system that humanity has developed thus far. Addressing them requires observing issues from multiple perspectives and combining the right technologies and ideas.
At our College of Sustainable System Sciences, faculty members from diverse fields including, natural sciences, humanities and social sciences, human sciences, and informatics, come together under the shared theme of building a sustainable society. When I first joined this college, meeting colleagues from such different disciplines felt almost like arriving in a country with an entirely different language and culture. Yet as we began exchanging our research ideas with one another, I found myself genuinely thrilled, thinking, “I had never considered this perspective before,” or “This method could be applied to my own research.” The excitement of watching my own viewpoints multiply is something I still remember vividly.
After enrolling, you too will meet faculty from many different fields through lectures and seminars, and gradually learn to view the world from multiple angles. I hope you will experience that same excitement I felt, the joy of expanding your perspectives one by one. At the same time, because there are so many possible paths to explore, you might sometimes feel lost. I encourage you to hold onto the vision of the person you want to become, and let it guides you as you explore different perspectives.
We, the faculty and staff, are fully committed to supporting you as you develop the ability to learn across multiple disciplines and tackle the complex challenges of today’s global society. We look forward to the day when you will play a leading role, together with us, in building a sustainable society.