Activity Report from a Visiting Researcher from ENSEIRB-MATMECA

From February to August 2012, Ms. Sonia Boumendjel, a graduate student of École Nationale Supérieure d’ Électronique, Informatique, Télécommunications, Mathématique et Mécanique de Bordeaux (ENSEIRB-MATMECA) in France, a Keio University SFC partner institution, conducted her internship at SFC with research advice from Associate Professor Jin Mitsugi, Faculty of Environment and Information Studies.
Please enjoy this report on Sonia’s experiences during her six month internship.

As a student in information and computer science, I always knew that Japan, one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world, would be a great place to learn more about my fields of studies. This, combined with the fact that my home university ENSEIRB-MATMECA has many partnerships with Japanese universities, led me to complete an internship in the Land of the Rising Sun, and particularly at Keio University.

I joined the Auto-ID laboratory at Keio SFC, in which I studied RFID technology. Radio-frequency identification (RFID) is the use of a wireless non-contact system that uses radio-frequency electromagnetic fields to transfer data from a tag attached to an object, for the purposes of automatic identification and tracking. RFID is one of the main themes of the laboratory so it was a great experience for me to join it. Not only did it make me learn more about the theories of this technology, but it also allowed me to work on various projects in order to precisely put my knowledge into practice. I had also opportunities to learn Japanese language at Keio SFC, which I am truly thankful for. This experience really helped me develop my social life and meet many new friends.

(With Associate Professor Mitsugi, some labmates, people from GS1 Japan and the owner of a farm, Mr. Kondo. On the occasion of a visit to Fukuroi, Shizuoka to do some experiments for the Melon project which I was working on during my internship.)

(My labmates and I were in Koriyama, Fukushima to help the staff of Mozilla Japan show children who were touched by last year’s catastrophe how to customize their own Mozilla homepage. We also interacted with them through games and activities.)

Moreover, being in a foreign country for six months, I was able to discover the very colorful Japanese culture. Keio SFC is located in a very green place, in the prefecture of Kanagawa, but is still easily connected to the huge cities of Tokyo and Yokohama. This location is perfect for students wanting to study in a peaceful and beautiful environment without being isolated from the major urban zones. Finally, the great transportation system of Japan makes it very easy to visit the country which I really enjoyed.

(In front of Matsumoto Castle in Nagano. A tea ceremony was being held in the garden of the castle and some people kindly invited me to watch their ceremony and taste tea.)

(This information is released by the International Affairs Office)

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