Kohei Saijo | 1st year doctoral student, School of Fundamental Science and Engineering
- Visiting Period：April 2023 to July 2023
- Study Abroad University：Carnegie Mellon University
- Country/Region：Pittsburgh, USA
Below is a study abroad experience report from Kohei Saijo (1st year doctoral student, School of Fundamental Science and Engineering), who was able to go to Pittsburgh, USA, to study at Carnegie Mellon University. This study abroad experience was possible due to support from Waseda University’s Top Global University project “Waseda Goes Global”, referred to as TGU below.
Reason for applying
I wanted to study abroad as an opportunity to improve my research skills and think about my career after completing my doctoral program. During this study abroad program, I conducted research as a visiting researcher in the laboratory of Professor Shinji Watanabe at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. Prof. Watanabe’s laboratory is one of the world’s leading groups in the field of speech and acoustic signal processing, the subject of my doctoral research, and boasts an outstanding number of publications. The purpose of this project was to improve myself by joining a team with such excellent students. In addition, I thought that the experience of conducting research with excellent researchers abroad would be a good opportunity to reconsider my future career.
Debriefing session at the laboratory
Content of the research
We proposed a general-purpose speech enhancement model that can handle all the major tasks in speech enhancement. Speech enhancement is a technique for extracting only human speech from a microphone signal that contains interference sources such as reverberation, noise, and the voices of others. Speech enhancement can mainly be classified into five main tasks: dereverberation, noise reduction, speaker counting, speech separation, and target speaker extraction. In previous research, models that handle only one or a few of these tasks have been considered, but in this research, we have succeeded in constructing a general-purpose model that can handle all five tasks. The results of this research were submitted to an international workshop on speech recognition and understanding. After returning to Japan, I have continued to collaborate with the laboratory I visited and am considering further development of the research theme we were working on during my stay.
School environment
In the laboratory, two or three students were assigned to each room. I shared my office with a student from China who was also visiting the same lab, and we were able to conduct research while having discussions every day. There are many free spaces for studying on campus, and the environment is very well equipped for research. The campus is rich in nature, and I sometimes saw wild animals such as squirrels and rabbits on campus. Fireflies flew on summer nights, and we could see their beautiful light even on campus. There are many delicious Chinese and other restaurants around the campus, making it a comfortable environment.
A view of the office. There is a large whiteboard in the back, which was useful for discussions.
The campus is a comfortable place with a lot of nature. Some students played catch in the courtyard.
A photo at farewell dinner party
Housing and the surrounding environment
I booked a shared house through Airbnb and stayed there. Since the campus was about an hour’s walk away, I bought a bicycle at a local used bicycle store and commuted to the school. There are several large supermarkets within a 5-minute bike ride from the share house, so it was easy to buy food and daily necessities. Since I had access to a microwave oven, I mainly purchased frozen foods that could be cooked in it. While some accommodations do not have a washing machine or charge for it, I chose to stay at a place where I could use one free of charge. Pittsburgh, where I stayed, is a relatively safe city in the U.S., and I was able to spend my time there without worries. There is a major league baseball stadium (home of the Pittsburgh Pirates) about an hour away by bus, and I enjoyed watching baseball games on weekends. I could have rented a car and gone to Niagara Falls if I had had an international driver’s license.
The share house booked through Airbnb.
The bicycle I bought at a local used bicycle store
Enjoying watching baseball game at PNC Park
Differences with Japan
The local culture and lifestyle differed from that of Japan in many respects. What impressed me was that there were churches all over the city. In Japan, churches like this are not so common, so I felt the difference in culture. I was also impressed by the difference in climate. The temperature and humidity there are relatively lower than in Japan, so it was comfortable even in the summer. However, I was a little confused by the speed at which the weather changed, as there were many times when a thunderstorm would suddenly start, and then the sky would clear up after a few minutes. Also, the days are longer than in Japan, and it is light until around 9:00 p.m., so even if I left campus a little late, I could return home without worrying. As for food, I was able to enjoy not only local food, but also other dishes without any problems.
Churches were all over the city
Future Goal
Before the visit, I was a little anxious about living in a foreign country with a different culture and discussing research in English, but through this visit, I realized how enjoyable it is to conduct research while discussing with many researchers who have different backgrounds. I am now considering conducting research overseas in the future. I would like to continue to improve my English and research skills so that I can achieve my goals, including new career path options.
Acknowledgement
This study abroad program provided me with the valuable experience of conducting research abroad. Although it would normally require a large financial commitment, I was able to concentrate on my research without such worries thanks to support from the TGU program. This experience was so significant that it changed my view of the value of research. Thank you very much for the support.
