Activities

2026.5.14

WPI-AIMEC All-Hands Meeting FY2025 in Hawaii

The FY2025 WPI-AIMEC All-Hands Meeting, effectively the third of its kind, was held in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA. The meeting took place at the Hawaii Imin International Conference Center on the relatively quiet campus of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa during spring break, where the East-West North Pacific Marine Ecosystem Research Unit, a WPI-AIMEC international satellite, is located. The event was held over two days, from March 18 to 19, 2026. Although some schedule adjustments were necessary due to rain and strong winds, the main sessions proceeded as planned.

The All-Hands Meeting is held annually to provide an opportunity for AIMEC members to gather, share the latest research results, and discuss future directions for cross-disciplinary research and collaboration. It also serves to overcome communication challenges arising from the geographically distributed nature of WPI-AIMEC members, who are typically based at JAMSTEC in Yokohama, Yokosuka and Kochi, Tohoku University in Sendai, Onagawa and Asamushi, the University of Hawaiʻi and other overseas PI’s institutions.

A total of 57 participants attended on-site, including AIMEC members, overseas PIs and two JST-ASPIRE-supported graduate students: Tohoku University PhD student Tatsuki Ueyama and Massachusetts Institute of Technology PhD student Xu Manlin. Three of the overseas PIs also for the ASPIRE project were amongst the attendees: Prof. Sabine Kasten (Alfred Wegener Institute, University of Bremen), Prof. Shuhei Ono (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and Prof. Shang-Ping Xie (Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego). In addition, 19 participants registered for online attendance via Zoom, with many joining remotely despite the time difference with Japan.

WPI-AIMEC has been actively promoting cross-disciplinary research through the establishment of Fusion Science Activities (FSAs). At this meeting, reports were presented from 11 FSA projects, followed by related discussions. Furthermore, AIMEC plans to launch three clusters (Cluster 1: Climate-Ocean-Ecosystem Interactions; Cluster 2: Dynamics of Coastal Marine Ecosystems; Cluster 3: Prediction and Planetary Stewardship) to address AIMEC’s Grand Challenges 1-5 and further advance cross-disciplinary research. During the meeting, participants were divided into clusters to hold discussions, laying the groundwork for shaping the future direction of the Flagship Projects. Going forward, further discussions will be conducted to clarify strategies and approaches for successfully advancing cross-disciplinary fusion science and to move toward implementation.