Message from the Chair
Message from the Chair
I have been appointed the committee chairman to succeed Committee Chairman Masao Kuwahara for the Committee of Infrastructure Planning and Management beginning in June 2016. I would like to say a few remarks on the occasion of this appointment.
The Committee of Infrastructure Planning and Management has continued its vigorous activity since it was established in 1966 and a 50-year anniversary has been advanced based on the plan from the executive committee (and Committee Chairman Kuwahara) for this milestone year. A four part series plan was constructed with a special spring session during the Spring Conference in June (in Sapporo), a research forum during JSCE Annual Meeting in September (in Sendai), a 50-year anniversary symposium on September 26th (in Tokyo), and a special session during the Autumn Conference in November (in Nagasaki) and this series was successfully concluded.
I believe that we have been able to convey the breadth of social contributions and technological development of this Committee that it has achieved over the 50 years of its existence through the opportunity to hold this series without leaving anything out, but we have also showcased troubling problems for the infrastructure planning and management field, which is closely tied to society, such as the harsh research environment for young researchers and the difficulty of social contributions demanded in this environment. We have achieved broad development in the study of infrastructure planning and management while broadening the scope from theoretical to practical research while maintaining a relationship with society and expanding the research field as a tender collective of people with achievements in infrastructure planning and management studies for research fields important to the Japan Society of Civil Engineers.
2017 will be over 50 years since the founding of the committee and will also be the start of a new year where I believe we will continue activity aimed at further development with new experiences for the committee. The committee has so far developed activity chiefly through the board of governors, but I believe it is desirable to establish a framework to achieve a much greater concentration of youth abilities and connect this to contributions to the Japan Society of Civil Engineers or society or connect this to international contributions in a natural way.
Therefore, in light of the 100-year anniversary vision and declaration of the Japan Society of Civil Engineers, which had its 100-year anniversary in 2014, it is thought that this committee should reconfirm matters where a significant contribution can be made, set an orientation for medium term efforts, and handle these things in an effective manner. Furthermore, I believe it is worthwhile to examine the development of common educational resources that can be used in Asian countries while also using the framework from the East Asian Society for Transportation Studies (EASTS) which has been formed by contributions from many committee members.
The Autumn Conference this year commemorated the 50-year anniversary and was held in Nagasaki at Nagasaki University, a first for the committee. Here I would like to say thanks to all those at Nagasaki University who happily received the event and would like to ask the convention administration subcommittee to examine new places for conventions in the future as well. It would be wonderful if the holding of events in neighboring countries no more distant than domestic events could be examined.
I would like to express my gratitude especially to everyone on the youth mission team and the members of the committee for the previous year, in particular the previous committee chairman, Masao Kuwahara and previous committee vice chairman Hisashi Kubota who put so much effort into the 50-year anniversary. Furthermore, we also received cooperation in operations from youth members at Tokyo University for the September anniversary symposium. I would like to express my thanks to them here.
I would like to conclude my remarks by asking for your continued efforts and cooperation going forward for the activity of the committee. I look forward to your continued support.
Tetsuo YAI, Chair
The Committee of Infrastructure Planning and Management has continued its vigorous activity since it was established in 1966 and a 50-year anniversary has been advanced based on the plan from the executive committee (and Committee Chairman Kuwahara) for this milestone year. A four part series plan was constructed with a special spring session during the Spring Conference in June (in Sapporo), a research forum during JSCE Annual Meeting in September (in Sendai), a 50-year anniversary symposium on September 26th (in Tokyo), and a special session during the Autumn Conference in November (in Nagasaki) and this series was successfully concluded.
I believe that we have been able to convey the breadth of social contributions and technological development of this Committee that it has achieved over the 50 years of its existence through the opportunity to hold this series without leaving anything out, but we have also showcased troubling problems for the infrastructure planning and management field, which is closely tied to society, such as the harsh research environment for young researchers and the difficulty of social contributions demanded in this environment. We have achieved broad development in the study of infrastructure planning and management while broadening the scope from theoretical to practical research while maintaining a relationship with society and expanding the research field as a tender collective of people with achievements in infrastructure planning and management studies for research fields important to the Japan Society of Civil Engineers.
2017 will be over 50 years since the founding of the committee and will also be the start of a new year where I believe we will continue activity aimed at further development with new experiences for the committee. The committee has so far developed activity chiefly through the board of governors, but I believe it is desirable to establish a framework to achieve a much greater concentration of youth abilities and connect this to contributions to the Japan Society of Civil Engineers or society or connect this to international contributions in a natural way.
Therefore, in light of the 100-year anniversary vision and declaration of the Japan Society of Civil Engineers, which had its 100-year anniversary in 2014, it is thought that this committee should reconfirm matters where a significant contribution can be made, set an orientation for medium term efforts, and handle these things in an effective manner. Furthermore, I believe it is worthwhile to examine the development of common educational resources that can be used in Asian countries while also using the framework from the East Asian Society for Transportation Studies (EASTS) which has been formed by contributions from many committee members.
The Autumn Conference this year commemorated the 50-year anniversary and was held in Nagasaki at Nagasaki University, a first for the committee. Here I would like to say thanks to all those at Nagasaki University who happily received the event and would like to ask the convention administration subcommittee to examine new places for conventions in the future as well. It would be wonderful if the holding of events in neighboring countries no more distant than domestic events could be examined.
I would like to express my gratitude especially to everyone on the youth mission team and the members of the committee for the previous year, in particular the previous committee chairman, Masao Kuwahara and previous committee vice chairman Hisashi Kubota who put so much effort into the 50-year anniversary. Furthermore, we also received cooperation in operations from youth members at Tokyo University for the September anniversary symposium. I would like to express my thanks to them here.
I would like to conclude my remarks by asking for your continued efforts and cooperation going forward for the activity of the committee. I look forward to your continued support.
Tetsuo YAI, Chair