10th Salon of Excellence was held.
Reported by:
Hiekata Lab, Master course 1st year Mingrui Wang Seike Lab, Doctoral course 2nd year, Shotaro Yagi
Summary of the salon
The 10th Salon was held online, and it was consisted with two parts. First being research presentation of Mingrui, who had just joined the WINGS-PES. In the latter part, workshop entitled “Meta Workshop” was conducted with the present students and professors.
Date：17:30~19:00, 16th, July, 2020
Place：On Zoom
Presentation
Mingrui, “Optimization Modeling Design the Domestic Waste Storage/Sorting Node(s) of Reverse Logistics”
I concisely gave an brief introduction of what my research is, how my starting point is, what my consideration is, how I plan to solve the current problem, what the mathematical models I use are, and how I achieve them in stages. The main aim of my thesis is to propose a multi-waste mix integer lineal programming model for locating sorting facilities in a two-level (subdistrict and central) reverse logistic network. The objective of the model is to decide the location of the storage and sorting facilities across the network. And then, the model was applied in end of life domestic waste recycling network in a limited area as a case study.
“How the salon helped my research”
First of all, I had been very grateful to all the professors and colleagues for their suggestions to let me make progress about improving my performance, so that I have been able to focus more on what I need to consider in future research. What’s more, when I give an introduction about my work to others, which methods would be more acceptable to them. The mind storming with others here also made me more creative in multiple dimensions.
About the “Meta Workshop”
“Summary of the “Meta Workshop”
Students and professors were mixed and divided into 3 groups for the workshop. The workshop was conducted on Zoom using breakout sessions. It was called “Meta Workshop” because the purpose of this workshop was, “1. To come to a consensus and define future Salon Workshops”, and “2. To develop workshop “Templates” for students to develop their own Salon Workshops”. Therefore, each group was first asked to explain, if we were to conduct a workshop in the future salon, what would the goal of it would be. In the answers, all three groups referred to the term “interdisciplinary” and answered that the purpose of the workshop would be to obtain new point of view, especially in terms of “Methodology”. A group added that purpose would also be to have your own idea criticized.Then, the groups were asked to think of workshop idea to be conducted in the future salon. Grp 1 suggested a workshop in which participants relate topic to 3 pillars of WINGS Sustainability, Proactiveness, Environment, and topics are “conscious” or “real problems” that are current events or common knowledge. Grp2 suggested a workshop in which a theme (formula or problem) is decided, and each participant come up with a keywords or ideas from their own research regarding to the theme. Then create a cloud diagram with keywords or ideas. Grp 3 suggested a workshop in which a narrow theme “ex. best type of democracy, or some environmental issue” is set, and participants are divided into groups to discuss the issue.
“Reflection on the “Meta Workshop”
The “Meta Workshop” was a success, in terms of how the professors were involved, and how the communication was taken.
The past salon had all been about research presentation. Such salon is good for the presenters as explained in the past reports, but we always had a feeling that the communication among the participants are poor. For this reason, we wanted to do something different, a workshop with the present students and professors. Students got together months before salon to talk about what kind of workshop would be beneficial in the salon, but we were not sure what the professors expects us in the salon, and we did not want to waste their time. Thus, we came up with the idea of “Meta Workshop”, basically we decided to involve professors to talk about what kind of workshop would be beneficial in the salon.
In the “Meta Workshop”, for the answer to the second question, I proposed a workshop in which we imagine a future society which participants research results (or expected result) are integrated. The professors in our group commented that workshop talking about future vision tends to end up with a vague output, so maybe unworthy to do it in the salon. If we had not done the “Meta Workshop” with the professors, my idea may have been approved, conducted in the salon, and ended up with a vague output. I would say, it was a smart decision to involve professors to talk about future workshop in salon.
In the class or lab meeting, students are mostly lectured by the professors, which gives a one-way direction communication between students and professors. In the workshop, because we were facing same question, I felt I could communicate with the professors in two-way direction and could express my thoughts easily (and get feedbacks or criticism as well) than in a class or lab meeting. All said, I say the “Meta Workshop” was a success.