午夜剧场

As of early July, when this article is being written, there are concerns about a seventh wave of COVID-19. However, before the re-expansion begins in earnest, I would like to look back on the past two and a half years up until this spring, which had some relatively calm periods.

Three years after I took up my post at the Faculty of Pharmacy, just as I was finally getting used to things and catching my breath, the COVID-19 pandemic began, and I was busy dealing with new responses on the front lines. The first challenge I faced was conducting the Organic Chemistry Practicum in April. I believed that a practicum for acquiring chemical experiment skills and experience could not simply be replaced by home study via streaming. Although it was postponed many times due to the state of emergency, we repeatedly reorganized the content and schedule, took thorough infection control measures, and somehow managed to conduct it at the university. I still remember the happy expressions on the students' faces amidst the extremely limited opportunities to learn on campus.

What I feared most was the impact on the graduate students' research projects. In the field of organic chemistry research, which is my specialty, hundreds of experiments to synthesize compounds in the laboratory are essential, and the number of experiments is directly linked to the volume of results. However, due to campus closures and limits on the number of people allowed on campus, experiments were also significantly restricted. Because of differences in environments, there were other universities where research activities could be carried out almost as usual. I worried that a gap in experience and results would have a negative impact on their futures, and at one point I even considered whether I should advise them to take a year's leave of absence. However, I am relieved that the graduate students managed to pull through with their efforts, performing as many experiments as possible within the limited time and experimenting on Sundays and holidays instead of being able to come to campus on weekdays.

In the 2020 academic year, the lectures I was in charge of were entirely streamed. However, out of a desire to let students who wished to do so attend on campus, I made it possible to take lectures either via streaming or in person in the 2021 academic year. Of the nearly 200 students enrolled, only about 30 attended in person, but when I saw a comment in the course survey saying they were glad I gave in-person lectures, I felt a quiet sense of personal satisfaction. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, there were large groups and quite a bit of private chatter, but since this was a small group of only those who wished to be there, not a single person talked during the lectures. Since I switched to in-person only this academic year, the group returned to nearly 200 people, and I thought the chatter would increase again. However, once the lectures began, everyone listened quietly and seriously. I reflected a little on my shallow prediction that underestimated the students' motivation.