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The Rigakubu News

Disclaimer: machine translated by DeepL which may contain errors.

 Aspiring Scientists

Entanglement of me and science

Kazuki Tsuoka(Second-year Master's student, Department of Chemistry)
Birthplace: Chiba Prefecture
Alma Mater: Ichikawa High School
Alma Mater: Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, The University of Tokyo


Q. What were you interested in when you were in junior high and high school ?
A. Research activities in chemistry
When I was in junior high school and high school, I was studying a reaction called "chemiluminescence oscillation reaction," in which the intensity of luminescence of a luminescent substance changes periodically during a reaction. I have good memories of going to the laboratory immediately after class to work on my research activities.

Q. What do you like about the Faculty of Science at the University of Tokyo?
A. The wide range of lecture selections
In the Faculty of Science, you can take a certain number of lectures from different Departments than the one you belong to, and since laboratories in various fields are gathered in the Faculty of Science, I think you can acquire a wide range of knowledge that is not limited to one field.

Q. What made you decide to enter the Faculty of Science?
A. The May Festival Exhibition Project "Physics Lab."
is a project conducted by students of the Department of Physics at the May Festival every year. I went to see the project with my father when I was a freshman in high school. I was impressed by the students' enthusiastic explanation of cutting-edge physics, and it inspired me to pursue a career in the Faculty of Science.

Q. What made you most happy in your research?
A. Acceptance of my thesis
I was very happy when my thesis, which summarized my research from junior and senior high school, was accepted. After graduating from high school, I continued to communicate with my high school advisor and other university professors who had helped me, and the paper was successfully adopted.

Q. What do you enjoy about research and study?
A. Being able to put myself in the research field of quantum technology, which is making remarkable progress.
I am currently doing research on quantum chemical calculations using quantum computers. The pace of technological innovation in this field is so fast that a paper published three years ago seems old enough. I am always excited to work on my research.

Q. What are your hobbies?
A. I collect CDs of my favorite vocaloidsNote 1.
Many of the songs themselves can be found on video sites, but after NicoNico's service was temporarily suspended in June of this year, I am concerned that what is on the Internet will not last forever, so I would like to continue to do so.

Note 1: Vocaloid P: A person who creates and releases music using Vocaloid software.

Q. Do you think you are lucky?
A. I have been blessed with many learning opportunities.
Since my high school was a designated SSH school, I was able to conduct some solid research activities, and I had the opportunity to receive support for my research activities from a university professor through participation in a program for high school students at another university. I would like to give back to society through my future research activities.

Q. What is your dream for the future?
A. To become a researcher who contributes to quantum technology in the world from the software side.
In addition to my research activities, I continue to regularly contribute to the development of open source software related to quantum computation. In the future, I would like to become a researcher who can propose new computational methods and implement them in society in a single step.

Q. Are you a morning person? Are you a night person? (Time of day when you are active)
A. I am a night person.
In my case, I tend to concentrate more when the sun goes down and it is dark. However, most conferences start in the morning, so whenever the day of a conference approaches, I feel that I must become a morning person .......

Q. What do you do for relaxation in your daily research and study?
A. I watch Vocaloid music videosNote 2
I love Hatsune Miku, one of the virtual singers, and I always watch her on days when I am tired or depressed. Miku's singing voice and dancing soothe my heart and make me feel that I should try harder! I feel like I can do my best.

Note 2: Vocaloid music video: A music video attached to a song using Vocaloids.

Structural formula of luminol (upper left) and L-012 (lower left), chemiluminescent substances that I was familiar with in my research activities when I was a junior high and high school student.
Although they share a similar structure, the intensity of luminescence varies between Luminol (upper right) and L-012 (lower right).

Message

Curiosity opens the door to the future of science!