, abbreviated as NAIST, is a

Japanese national university As of 2013, there were 86 , 90 public universities and 606 private universities in Japan. National universities tend to be held in higher regard in higher education in Japan than private or public universities. As of the 2019 fiscal year, the num ...

located in

Ikoma, Nara is a Cities of Japan, city in the northwestern end of Nara Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan. It was founded on November 1, 1971. As of September 1, 2023, the city has an estimated population of 117,259, with 51,478 households. It has a p ...

Kansai Science City is an unincorporated city located in the , a border region between Kyoto, Osaka, and Nara Prefectures in Kansai region, Japan. The name is commonly shortened to or . The name Keihanna is constructed by extracting a representative kanji from Kyot ...

. It was founded in 1991 with a focus on research and consists solely of

graduate school Postgraduate education, graduate education, or graduate school consists of academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications usually pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate (bachel ...

s in three integrated areas: Biological Sciences, Information Sciences, and Material Sciences. In the "Evaluation of Achievements Related to the 2nd Medium-term Goals and Plans" (2010–2015) conducted by the Japanese government for national universities, NAIST was evaluated as exceedingly superior especially concerning research levels (one of five institutions from the 86 national universities). In 2010, NAIST ranked first overall among the 86 Japanese national universities by the Japanese government in its first-ever six-year (2005–2010) assessment of national university standards and achievements. The university has a total of about 1,000 Master's and Doctoral students in its three graduate schools (2010), among which more than 20% are international students (2017). There are about 200 faculty members and 170 staff (2010). In 2018, NAIST underwent an organizational transformation to continue research in these areas while promoting interdisciplinary research and education across traditional fields.

History

NAIST was founded in 1991 with the establishment of the Graduate School of Information Science and the University Library, followed by the Graduate School of Biological Sciences the next year. The first master's students were admitted in 1993, and doctoral students were first admitted in 1996, which is also the year the Graduate School of Materials Science was established. The establishment of the Venture Business Laboratory and the Intellectual Property Division in 2003 furthered the university's drive to utilize research results to secure patents and licenses, and form new businesses. In 2004, along with all of Japan's national universities, NAIST became an independent

National University Corporation A is a corporate body (legal entity) established under the provisions of the ''National University Corporation Act'' (2003) for the purpose of establishing a national university in Japan. History As part of promoting the reform of Japanese univ ...

. * 1991: Establishment of the Nara Institute of Science and Technology, including the Graduate School of Information Science and University Library * 1992: Establishment of the Graduate School of Biological Sciences * 1993: Establishment of the Research and Education Center for Genetic Information * 1994: Establishment of the Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology * 1996: Establishment of the Graduate School of Materials Science * 1998: Establishment of the Research and Education Center for Materials Science * 2003: Establishment of the Venture Business laboratory * April 2011: Establishment of Department of Information Science, Graduate School of Information Science , Establishment of Department of Biological Sciences, Graduate School of Biological Sciences * April 2013: Establishment of Career Services Office * April 2015: Establishment of Center for Strategy and Planning established , Establishment of Institute for Educational Initiatives , Establishment of Institute for Research Initiatives, Closing of Center for International Relations , Closing of Institute of Research Initiatives * April 2017: Establishment of Data Science Center * April 2018: Department of Science and Technology, Graduate School of Science and Technology established and students accepted (The merging of the Graduate School of Information Science, Graduate School of Biological Sciences and the Graduate School of Materials Science)

Organization

Graduate schools (after 2018)

From April 2018, the past three graduate schools (Graduate School of Information Sciences, Graduate School of Biological Sciences, Graduate School of Materials Science) were integrated into one research department, Graduate School of Science and Technology.

Graduate schools (before 2017)

* Graduate School of Biological Sciences ** Division of Plant Biology ** Division of Biomedical Science ** Division of Systems Biology ** Plant Global Education Project ** Global COE Program Special Research Group * Graduate School of Information Science ** Division of Computer Science ** Division of Media Informatics ** Division of Applied Informatics * Graduate School of Materials Science

Centers and facilities

* Life Science Collaboration Center * Center for Material Research Platform * Information Initiative Center * Center for Frontier Science and Technology * Center for Industry-Government-Academia Collaboration * Center for International Relations

Notable research

* ARToolKit * ChaSen * DyNet *

Induced pluripotent stem cell Induced pluripotent stem cells (also known as iPS cells or iPSCs) are a type of pluripotent stem cell that can be generated directly from a somatic cell. The iPSC technology was pioneered by Shinya Yamanaka and Kazutoshi Takahashi in Kyoto, Jap ...

* MeCab *

Natural language processing Natural language processing (NLP) is a subfield of computer science and especially artificial intelligence. It is primarily concerned with providing computers with the ability to process data encoded in natural language and is thus closely related ...

Notable researchers

Shinya Yamanaka is a Japanese stem cell researcher and a Nobel Prize laureate. He is a professor and the director emeritus of Center for iPS Cell (induced Pluripotent Stem Cell) Research and Application, Kyoto University; as a senior investigator at the U ...

– Former professor, 2012 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine winner * Kimito Funatsu – Research director of the Data Science Center, 2019 Herman Skolnik Award winner

Gallery

NAIST gate.jpg, NAIST gate Student dormitory NAIST.jpg, NAIST Student dormitory NAIST Gate.jpg, Gate of NAIST Sentan guest house.jpg, Sentan guest house NAIST library.jpg, NAIST library Plant lab.jpg, Plant lab NAIST information science building.jpg, Information science building Kombini.jpg, Convenience store in NAIST NAIST in spring.jpg, NAIST in spring

Notes and references

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nara Institute of Science and Technology Educational institutions established in 1991 Japanese national universities Nara Institute of Science and Technology Engineering universities and colleges in Japan 1991 establishments in Japan Kansai Science City