On Saturday, November 16, 2024, the NPO STEM career path project for girls, in cooperation with Shinshu University, held an event where female junior and senior high school students who are considering a career in science and engineering talked about their dreams and career paths with scientists and engineers who are active in various fields of science and engineering. The event was held at the Shinshu University International Innovation Center (Shinshu University Engineering Campus).
The day’s programme started with the participation of 17 junior and senior high school girls and seven parents who live or attend school in Nagano Prefecture. During the ice-breaker after the opening ceremony, all participants took part in the ‘Marshmallow Challenge’. The Marshmallow Challenge is a team-building game in which participants use pasta, masking tape, string and marshmallows to build a self-supporting tower. With advice from the University student TAs, everyone had fun while worrying together. The students learnt the importance of communication through the experience of formulating a hypothesis, putting it into practice and reflecting on it.


In the “Career Lecture” session that followed, Prof. Mizue Kayama, who became the first female dean of the Faculty of Engineering at Shinshu University in April of this year, gave a passionate message to the participants.
The next speaker was Ms. Miharu Takeuchi of Kyodo Sokuryo Co. She graduated from the Department of Forest Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture, Shinshu University, and now works for the company in Nagano City, Nagano Prefecture, where she is mainly involved in surveying and analyzing the natural environment.
The last speaker was Ms. Misa Takahashi. She is currently engaged in designing lifestyle-related products. She gave a lecture on the attractiveness of a career in science and engineering, including her experiences as a student and her current work and daily life.
The participants listened to the seniors lecture very attentively. It was a valuable opportunity for them to deepen their understanding of what it means to study in the field of science and engineering, and what kind of career options are available to them when they think about their higher education and future.




In the first program of the afternoon after lunch, entitled “Science Adventure I: Let’s be mini-scientists,” participants were divided into four groups and engaged in scientific experiments in various fields, guided by faculty members and students from the Shinshu University Faculty of Engineering.
In the program called ”Let’s design and produce original stickers!(Instructor: Public Relations Office, Public Relations Student Group)”, participants learned about equipment such as 3D printers and cutting plotters, used graphic software, and actually operated the cutting plotters to create original stickers.
In the program called “Let’s make an original lotion!(Lecturer: Dr. Hidetaka Iwai)”, students created their own original skin care lotion by mixing the ingredients contained in the lotion according to their own preferences. In the program called “Let’s try a wireless transmission experiment!(Instructor: Prof. Fumihito Sasamori)”, participants experienced music transmission using radio waves and information transmission of radio clocks using antennas they made themselves, and assembled a transmitter/receiver that transmits music using visible light and challenged themselves to transmit music over a long distance.The students also had the chance to try their hand at building a transmitter that transmits music using visible light over a long distance.
And in the program called “let’s firm the soil to create strong ground and break it!”(Instructor: Prof. Takashi Kawamura)”, participants actually hardened soil by changing the voids and water content in the soil to learn about the ground that supports structures, and experienced the difference in strength of the soil. They also applied force to it to destroy it and observed how it was broken.
All the experiments were of a high level, but the participants took each experiment seriously under the enthusiastic guidance of the faculty and student TAs. In addition to simply working with their hands, they were able to deepen their understanding of the latest science and technology by discussing the results and their meaning together with the faculty members.

Next, the participants engaged in “Science Adventure II: ‘Let’s talk with engineers and seniors'” and “Science Adventure III: ‘Let’s tell everyone about your dream.'”
In the first half, “Let’s talk with engineers and seniors,” in addition to those who gave career lectures, graduate students from the Faculty of Engineering, Shinshu University, joined the participants to discuss their dreams, what they want to do in the future, and what they are interested in, as well as their daily questions and concerns about their career path in science and engineering,The participants exchanged opinions in a round-table discussion.
With receiving advice from the lecturers and the graduate students, they pondered about their future selves and their current and near future selves in pursuit of their dreams.
In the second half of the session, “Tell everyone about your dreams,” each participant created a timeline, a plan for their future, based on their own dreams and realizations that came to light through talking with various everyone in the first half of the program. Afterwards, they presented their timelines in front of the audience, including lecturers, administrators, and parents, and encouraged each other about the future vision they each aspire to.






At the closing ceremony, the last program of the day, the organizers handed certificates to the representatives of the participants, and Prof. Mikiko Terauchi, Director of the Public Relations Office, Faculty of Engineering, Shinshu University, gave her closing remarks, reviewing the day and offering words of encouragement to all the participants.


This will be the fourth time that NPO STEM Career Path Project for Girls has conducted a full-fledged project to support junior and senior high school students outside the Tokyo metropolitan area in choosing a career path in science and engineering, following Hamamatsu City, Shizuoka Prefecture in March 2022 and Kagoshima City, Kagoshima Prefecture in October 2023 and October 2024.
This time, as a new trial in Nagano city, we also prepared a program for parents during the time when we were working on Science Adventure II “Let’s Talk with Engineers and Seniors”.
First, Dr. Kohei Takano, a researcher at the Nagano Prefectural Institute for Environmental Conservation and a PhD in Earth and Environmental Science, gave a talk on “fly ecology” and other maniacal topics to let the audience know how interesting natural science is. Next, Dr. Noboru Ito, Associate Professor of the Department of Engineering Fundamentals, Faculty of Engineering, Shinshu University, spoke about the appeal of Shinshu University’s Faculty of Engineering and the current state of advancement in the field. In addition, Yumiko Nago, the representative director of GSTEM-CPP, talked about the Unconscious Bias, which is a barrier for women to advance in society in the field of science and engineering, and Ms. Eriko Ichiroka, a member of GSTEM-CPP, talked about the options when considering higher education or employment in science and engineering. The content of this session was designed to encourage parents to consider various aspects of career choices in science and engineering.

The participants were able to listen to a variety of people speak throughout the day’s program, think seriously about their future based on the information they heard, and then think even more deeply by presenting their ideas to each other. We are pleased to hear comments such as “I was able to broaden my world by listening to people from various occupations,” “I was able to sort out my future,” “I was able to determine the direction of my career path, which I had only vaguely considered,” and “I am now looking forward to my future.”
On the other hand, as an issue, the meeting started with a stiff impression from the beginning, especially in the morning, and it was regrettable that no hands were raised during the Q&A session during the career lecture. This may be because the event was targeted at female junior and senior high school students, and as a result, participants ranged in age from first-year junior high school students to third-year high school students.
This project was covered by a local newspaper and TV station, and was reported in the morning news the next day.We hope that this will lead to participation in similar projects next year and beyond. It is very important for junior high and high school students to think about and choose their own future, regardless of whether it is science or engineering, but it seems that in relatively rural areas, there is less information and motivation for this than in metropolitan areas.In order to realize an open society where everyone can freely choose their own career path based on their own will, no matter where they live, it is meaningful to continue the implementation of this project to support science and engineering career paths in regional cities.
Finally, we would like to thank the Agilent Technologies Foundation for its support in the implementation of this project.We would also like to thank the members of the Faculty of Engineering at Shinshu University for their cooperation in the overall planning and operation of this project.In closing this report, we would like to express our deepest gratitude once again to the many people who contributed to the realization of this project.
