On 28th June 2024, a lecture was held for all 130 third-year junior high school students and 30 high school students, with a further 80 high school students who gathered on site for a direct dialogue with Dean Kato.
In the plenary remarks, he gave an enthusiastic lecture on the subject of manganese nodules, which Dean Kato had announced at a press conference a week earlier, with an NHK news film. The attending students, who had seen the slides introducing the Faculty of Engineering and the utilisation of seafloor mineral resources, expressed their various comments, such as "I was worried about how we would generate energy in the future due to the lack of resources, but Dean Kato’s great discovery gave me great hope" and "I really enjoyed Dean Kato's lecture, and although I was not originally interested in engineering, I now know that engineering is a very promising subject".
During the roundtable discussion in the second half of the session, questions were constantly asked and carefully answered, on topics ranging from concerns about their further education to the depth of engineering research. This lecture was really a special opportunity for the students who attended, and we received many gratifying comments such as "Attending Dean Kato's lecture made me realise what I am lacking. I want to learn from the 'always positive' attitude of Dean Kato and be serious about achieving my goals!"
Midori Aoki (Metaverse School of Engineering)