March 13, 2017

The UEC Nanotribology Research Center was established at University of Electro-Communications, Tokyo, on 1 March 2017, and this symposium was held on 8 March 2017 to commemorate its launch.

The morning’s proceedings were an international session titled, ‘Toward control and in-situ observation of Nanotribology’, with three distinguished speakers describing their latest findings on state-of-the-art of measurement methodology of nanotribology.

After an opening address by UEC President Takashi Fukuda, the director of the Center Naruo Sasaki from UEC, Tokyo, gave an introductory talk about the new center, highlighting its aims and capabilities.

Next, the audience of approximately 100 students and faculty listened to talks by three invited speakers: Robert W. Carpick, University of Pennsylvania, USA, on ‘Nanotribology in MEMS and NEMS devices’; Hiroyuki Fujita, University of Tokyo, on ‘Real-time observation of single nano-asperity’; and Shinya Sasaki, Tokyo University of Science on ‘Architecture of tribology’. The talks were followed by lively discussion sessions.

The afternoon session was a domestic research meeting held in collaboration with Tokyo University of Science, consisting of five invited talks and 34 poster presentations. This collaborative meeting covered not only nanotribology but also solid state physics of nanostructures from the perspective of nanotribology.

In the evening, the participants gathered for a party, where four students received certificates for ‘excellent poster awards’.