![Miao Pan [left], associate professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, is co-PI for a collaborative research project with Tomoaki Ohtsuki [right], professor of Information and Computer Science at Keio University, Japan's most prestigious and first private institution of higher learning.](/sites/ccoe.egr.uh.edu/files/images/news/2024/miao-pan-and-prof-ohtsuki-01-crop-01.jpg "Miao Pan [left], associate professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, is co-PI for a collaborative research project with Tomoaki Ohtsuki [right], professor of Information and Computer Science at Keio University, Japan's most prestigious and first private institution of higher learning.")
The Cullen College of Engineering is now part of a research effort with faculty at Keio University, Japan's most prestigious and very first private institution of higher learning, that is also meant to encourage future collaboration and young researcher exchanges internationally.
The research proposal, “Research on sensing, actuation, communication, and intelligent signal processing infrastructure for ambient intelligence,” runs through March 2029. The lead PI for Cullen is Zhu Han, Moores Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department. Miao Pan, an Associate Professor, is the co-PI.
At Keio, the PI is Tomoaki Ohtsuki, Professor of Information and Computer Science. Other collaborating institutions include Charles Stuart University in Australia, Memorial University in Canada, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, and Queen's University Belfast in the United Kingdom.
“The goal of this project is not only to boost research collaboration among top research universities in different continents on wireless communications, sensing, networking and AI, but also promotes the exchange of young researchers between Keio University and collaborative institutions abroad, including Ph.D. students, post-doctorate scholars and early career faculty members,” Pan said.
The entire project is supported by a 500 million yen grant — roughly 3.3 million USD — from the Japan Science and Technology (JST) Agency's Adopting Sustainable Partnerships for Innovative Research Ecosystem (ASPIRE) program. A project kick-off meeting was held in Hiroshima the first week of March, and a second workshop was held at UH on March 22.