OHIO welcomed Dr. Hironobu Fujiyoshi to campus as Glidden Visiting Professor from Chubu University

Professor Hironobu Fujiyoshi spent six weeks, from Aug. 3 to Sept. 14, 2022, in Athens as the Robert Glidden Visiting Professor from Chubu University. Following his participation in a 2019 Chubu University research delegation visit to OHIO, the Bobcat community was thrilled to welcome him back to campus.

As a professor in the Department of Robotics and Science at Chubu University, Fujiyoshi’s research is focused on deep learning for image recognition and its impact on artificial intelligence pedagogy and application. His faculty host at OHIO was Jundong Liu, associate professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) in the Russ College of Engineering and Technology. Liu shares research interests in machine learning, deep learning and reinforcement learning.

While visiting OHIO, Fujiyoshi worked on his research, engaged with EECS graduate students in numerous forums, presented his research in two guest lectures and explored future connections between Chubu and OHIO through meetings with leadership in the Russ College of Engineering and Technology, the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and the Research Division. 

“Professor Fujiyoshi is an exceptionally creative and productive researcher in the areas of computer vision and deep learning. We are very fortunate and honored to have him visit the School of EECS and explore the possibilities of future collaborations. The interactions between Professor Fujiyoshi and EECS faculty and students have really been an inspiration for us," Liu said.

Fujiyoshi presented his research during two public talks. On Aug. 12, he presented his guest lecture "Deep Collaborative Learning  by Knowledge Transfer Graph," and on Aug. 26 he presented, “Beyond Explainable AI: Co-evolution of AI and Human."

Fujiyoshi also engaged in many meetings with faculty and staff from across campus, including Elizabeth Sayrs, Executive Vice President and Provost; David Koonce, Interim Vice President for Research and interim Dean of Graduate College; Maj Mirmirani, Interim Dean of the Russ College of Engineering and Technology; Avinash Karanth, Chair of the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science; Chris Thompson and Takaaki Suzuki, members of the Chubu Relations Committee; and Yeong Kim and Jacob Hiler, Miura Visiting Professors. 

Accompanied by his wife, Satoko, and two young adult sons, Sora and Rei, Fujiyoshi participated in several social and informal language and culture exchanges with Chubu University students studying at OHIO. The family toured OHIO’s Athens campus and enjoyed a curated tour of Alden Library’s International Collections with Jeff Ferrier and Jeff Shane. Fujiyoshi and his wife toured the electronic music studio of Robert McClure, assistant professor of composition in the School of Music, and discussed their mutual interest in electronic music and modular synthesizers. Sora Fujiyoshi attended a Japanese language class as a guest conversation expert, invited by Chris Thompson, professor of linguistics in the College of Arts and Sciences. 

Fujiyoshi guest-adjudicated three research presentations of EECS graduate students, including Sirui Song’s “Smooth Trajectory Collision Avoidance through Deep Reinforcement Learning,” Tao Sun’s (presented by Jundong Liu) “Time-domain Deep Neural Networks for Speech Separation,” and Zhongen Li’s “Vulnerability of 3D Face Recognition Systems to Deep Morphing: Realistic and Controllable Generation of Point Cloud Face Morphs.” He will continue to engage with OHIO students through delivering an additional guest lecture virtually later this fall. Fujiyoshi also hopes to send a graduate student researcher to OHIO as early as next spring to engage with Liu’s lab.

“My stay at OHIO was only six weeks, but it was enough for us to get to know each other as artificial intelligence researchers. I'm convinced that the time has come to build new and deep relationships for the next 50 years,” Fujiyoshi said.

Fujiyoshi is the 18th Chubu University faculty member to serve as a Robert Glidden Visiting Professor and he is proud to represent his university. OHIO and Chubu University’s partnership started in 1973 and has continued to foster global engagement amongst the university communities.

“Dr. Fujiyoshi engaged with many aspects of the OHIO and Athens community during his short time here this Fall. He made lasting impacts on students who he taught or guest adjudicated, faculty with whom he strengthened his research ties, and staff who had the pleasure of working with him and his family to make his trip memorable. We look forward to continuing to support our almost 50-year relationship with our Chubu partners and to creating new legacies as we begin the next chapter of this partnership,” Diane Cahill, interim director for Global Affairs, said.

The Glidden Visiting Professorship is the inbound faculty mobility program with Chubu University. Recent past participants include Tomohiro Yanagi, Yutaka Hirata, Takashi Tanaka and Akiko Noda. Learn more about the outbound Miura Visiting Professorship by reading reports of engagement of recent participants Benjamin Bates and Yeong-Hyun Kim. Jacob Lee Hiler, associate professor of marketing, will serve as the next Miura Visiting Professor, visiting Chubu University in 2023. 

For additional information about Fujiyoshi’s work, or for additional information on the Robert Glidden or Kohei Miura Visiting Professorships between OHIO and Chubu, please contact the Office of Global Affairs at globalaffairs@ohio.edu.