Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures’ Japanese majors Logan Conrad and Trevor Strahler, Department of Materials Science and Engineering’s welding engineering students Simran Singh and Jake Stickle, and four Osaka University students (two humanities students—Miharu Kawata and Ayane Shinohara—and two engineering students—Taishi Nishizaka and Reita Anan) participated in a week-long internship program, August 12-19, 2024, at Tipp City, OH’s OTC Daihen, a world leader in robotic arc welding technology. The group, led by Dr. Mihoko Katsumata of Osaka University’s Joining and Welding Institute (JWI), developed recommendations for OTC Daihen on the topic of “Obtaining and developing good human resources during labor scarcity.” The group, breaking into two teams, gave their final presentations at the OSU Welding Engineering Laboratory. The program, the 52nd among those Osaka University’s JWI has hosted around the world, seeks to develop global leaders through the emphasis on cross-cultural communication. 

At Ohio State, the program was sponsored by the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures, the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, the Institute for Japanese Studies, and the Office of International Affair’s International Partnerships.