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In fall 2019, the Anthropology Department was fortunate to receive a three-year grant (PIs Tosi, Raghanti, Meindl, Lovejoy) to fund 18 summer internships in Japan for KSU students. These are collaborative projects in primate biology under the direction of colleagues at Kyoto University; the spectrum of studies includes neuroscience, genetics, skeletal anatomy, behavior and cognition. Unfortunately, the COVID pandemic froze this program for summers 2020-22 while Japan was largely closed to foreigners.

The Japanese government recently lifted all travel restrictions, and we sent our first NSF-IRES cohort to Japan in June. This year’s group includes four students. Samantha Magrini (PhD candidate, Biomedical Sciences) and Scott McKinny (undergraduate, Anthropology) are researching platycnemia in the Jomon skeletal collections housed at Kyoto University. They are studying under , an expert in primate postcranial morphology. Dakota Smallridge (PhD candidate, Biomedical Sciences) is investigating auditory steady-state responses (ASSRs) in marmosets under the tutelage of , a specialist in brain mechanisms controlling emotion and mood. Hannah Maycon (MA candidate, Anthropology) is researching whether the caudate and putamen receive input from different cortical and subcortical areas of the brain. She is working in the lab group of , an authority in both cortico-cerebellar and cortico-basal ganglia loop circuits.

Before departure, the students joined a spring seminar on Japanese society and culture led by Dr. Tosi. They also took Elementary Japanese I, either in-person at Kent State or through the Transparent Language Program online. In Japan, the students will continue language studies via weekly online tutorials with HH JapaNeeds, and cultural studies via classroom discussions with () and online discussions facilitated by ().

The IRES group arrived in Japan on a Friday night. Dr. Tosi arranged icebreaker dinners for the students and their hosts in the first weekend. The students also enjoyed some of the local sights, such as visiting a castle in Inuyama and ancient shrines in Kyoto. Then, fighting through jetlag, they began their internships early Monday morning. The students will report on their scientific progress and cultural excursions in weekly news posts uploaded to the Anthropology Department website.

As the IRES students began their internships, Dr. Tosi met with the many Kyoto University faculty that have supported collaborations with Kent State over the years. His first meeting was with , the Director of the newly formed and an expert in primate cognitive neuroscience. By chance, the research partnership between Â鶹´«Ã½ and Kyoto University began with Dr. Nakamura in 2015 when he welcomed the first KSU summer intern, Emily Munger, to his laboratory. As director, he has kindly renewed the MOU (2022-2027) for collaborations in primate biology with Kent State. He and Dr. Tosi discussed both current research projects and tentative plans for the NSF-IRES 2024 cohort, and then met the former (now retired) director, , for dinner.

Dr. Tosi met briefly with several other professors to thank them for supporting the partnership with Kent State. We are fortunate to have many kind colleagues: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , and . Dr. Tosi also stopped by the nearby and thanked and for their continued support.

The KSU Anthropology and Biology faculty are very grateful to our colleagues in Japan for their partnership in studies of primate biology and evolution.

These research collaborations were launched by, and continue to be supported by, grants from both the (Award #1853937) and the .