Associate Professor
Kanazawa University

Japan Hub | ASIA

I am originally from Hiroshima, Japan.  I obtained a Ph.D. degree in environmental economics from Georgia State University in the US.  After obtaining the degree, I moved to Mexico and worked in a university to teach and research in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for 9 years.  Since I moved back to Japan 5 years ago, I have been heavily involved in designing environmental education programs based on cognitive sciences. 

I am currently working as an associate professor at Kanazawa University (KU), one of the leading public funded universities in Japan.  I belong to College of Transdisciplinary Sciences for Innovation at KU, which is the brand-new institution that was established in 2021 with educational emphasis to foster own values, obtain vision for future, and acquire interdisciplinary skills to solve social problems of local and global contexts.  My primary responsibilities at KU are teaching, research and community outreach.  As for teaching, I oversee developing curriculum and providing the courses of environmental studies for about 1000 freshmen across KU, which includes future educators at primary and secondary education, every year. In terms of research, I am working on designing environmental education programs for youth to have hope and future-oriented perspectives with strong interdisciplinary skills to tackle global environmental challenges such as Climate Change, marine plastic pollution, biodiversity loss etc. As for outreach activities, I am working on projects with local NPOs and local high schools to empower citizens to be more involved in sustainable community buildings.  Lastly but most importantly, I am a dog and people lover!