During the week of June 8, Hokkaido University (HU) conducted the second round of its Two-way Professional (Technical) Staff Development Program with its strategic international partner, the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMA).
This visit served as the reciprocal program for the FY 2025 training in Sapporo, where three UMA professional staff members visited HU under the Japanese Ministry of Education's Program for Forming Japan's Peak Research Universities (J-REAKS). This time, HU dispatched four staff members who had led the 2025 program in Hokkaido: Technical Specialists Satoko Ishigaki, Keita Suzuki, and Hiroki Masumo, and Senior Academic Specialist Taena Uemura.
The delegation began their visit by paying their respects at the grave of Dr. William Smith Clark, the first Vice Principal of the Sapporo Agricultural College and the third President of the Massachusetts Agricultural College, the predecessor of UMA. They were then welcomed by Vice Chancellor for Research and Engagement Mike Malone; Founding Director Peter Reinhart of the Institute for Applied Life Sciences (IALS); Dean Michael Fox and Professor Jaime Pinero of the College of Natural Sciences; and several professional staff members, including James Chambers (Director of Light Microscopy and Animal Imaging), David Follette (Director of Advanced Digital Design & Fabrication and Device Characterization), Elizabeth Galofaro (Extension Fruit Educator), and Eric Wirth (Director of Global Partnership).
While many of UMA's core facilities are centralized within IALS, highly specialized instruments remain distributed across individual departments. Some departments actively pursue external funding to upgrade equipment, in collaboration with CAMECA, a long-standing partner in materials analysis. Passing technical expertise to the next generation of staff emerged as a shared challenge across the campus. Differences between the campus-wide Maker's Space and departmental Maker's Spaces-particularly in equipment renewal cycles and staffing-highlighted how professional staff autonomy and opportunities for growth vary depending on local working environments. These themes also surfaced during a cross-unit roundtable discussion, which also welcomed student interns.
Clockwise from top left: Dr. Clark's Grave / Maker's Space / Geology lecture at the Summit of Mt. Holyoke by Prof. John Woodruff / Engineering student interns explaining 3D printed formula parts
The week-long program included visits to several field facilities of the Stockbridge School of Agriculture, such as the Agriculture Learning Center, Cold Spring Orchard, Joseph Troll Turf Research Center, Crop and Animal Research and Education Farm, and the Engineering Student Teams (Formula SAE and Supermileage Vehicle). Across STEM, life sciences, and field-oriented disciplines, UMA's research and educational facilities consistently offer undergraduate internships, assigning students meaningful responsibilities. The management of these facilities incorporates learning through failure, which not only helps alleviate staffing shortages during extended holidays but also contributes to the development of future researchers and research support professionals.
Over the past two years, this reciprocal staff development initiative has successfully identified shared priorities: improving laboratory operational efficiency, developing specimen and user training systems, establishing decision-making frameworks for equipment renewal and capital planning, collaboration through public webinars, designing models for external partnerships, and exploring inter-unit coordination and sustainable collaboration. In October 2026, HU will welcome professional staff from another strategic international partner, the University of Melbourne in Australia.
(Text provided by Office for International Collaborations, Office for Integrated Technical Core Hub, and Research Support Division)
