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AOGS Election of Office Bearers - 2010 to 2012
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Takehiko Satoh (CV)
Professor
Department of Space Plasma Physics
Institute of Space and Astronautical Science / Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Japan
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Asian and Oceanian countries, in the world, have great potentials to play key roles in the field of solar terrestrial science. Such potentials are becoming obvious through the fact that AOGS's Solar & Terrestrial Sciences section (ST) is making steady steps towards a level which compares to AGU's corresponding sections: topics of the ST section last year were found to cover those of AGU, indicating the section's high activity. It is, needless to say, important that AOGS should not be a mere copy of well-established society, such as AGU, but should be a strong binder of Asian and Oceanian countries with “unique” activities and/or potentials. Most important thing is that we (AOGS participating countries) know each other, understand each other, and share ideas that would most benefit our scientific community. As a Presidential candidate for the ST section, therefore, I propose to work primarily on two areas: One is to enhance what AOGS is strong and another is to reinforce what AOGS is weak now.
The former includes successful Asian lunar missions (Japan's, China's, India's, and those coming in near future), from which the Earth's magnetosphere and the interplanetary plasma can be studied. Together with the near-Earth missions plus the heliospheric physics (greatly enhanced by Hinode), the AOGS ST scientists have advantages in this research field. Having our own data, it should be possible to attract young and talented students which would definitely increase our activity in the coming decades. I feel that more researchers should engage in the ST section so that the data are fully utilized and our understandings increase. The latter includes studies on the outer planets' magnetospheres which, as far extrema, would tell us “invisible” sides of our (terrestrial) environments. Although such objects are beyond our reach at this moment, I believe we have high potentials in this field. The ST section should invite specialists from the USA and from Europe so that our readiness for future outer planet missions will increase.
In addition to these two, I am positive about the fact that AOGS runs remarkable educational sessions. Education is, needless to say, essential to sustainable growth of the scientific community and I will make every effort to continue this very favourable tradition. Let me remind you that education cannot be done by a single person but should be done through continuous effort by the entire community. I want participants to AOGS’s educational sessions to gain ability to better educate their students and such students to become even better educator in the future. This is an ideal and essential cycle through which our community opens a bright future, I believe.
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