Prof. Isahara, Information & Media Center, received "Award for Contribution to Invitation and Organization of International Conference"
24 Jan 2012
The Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) awarded Professor Hitoshi Isahara the "Award for Contribution to Invitation and Organization of an International Conference in 2011" for successful invitations to the 8th International Conference on Natural Language Processing, JapTAL 2012.This award was established in 2008 and is mainly aimed at appreciation of the social value of organizers, and supporting cities and institutions to hold international conferences, as well as promoting national understanding.
This time, based on an assessment of the review board, which was organized by influential individuals concerned with conventions, a total of seven conferences in two divisions (i.e. a division for invitations to an international conference and a division for holding the conference) were selected.
The conferences are either due to be held or have already been held in 2010, and were recommended by promotional organizations.
The award for JapTAL 2012 was for:1. A conference being held for the first time outside Europe.
2. Academic researchers who have a say in site selection processes were invited by the committee to attend the Invitation Project meeting for key personnel for international meetings (MeetJapan) held by JNTO in 2010. The support system from the Kanazawa Convention Bureau including the Conference Center and accommodation were presented, which gave a favorable impression of the historic Japanese cultural city, Kanazawa. These activities were important in making decisions as to where the convention was to be held.
3. As part of the MeetJapan Project, a reception was held at the nationally designated historical site, Kanazawa Castle, where the delegates were entertained by a presentation of traditional performing arts.
Professor Isahara also works on a project to improve the performance of the Microsoft Translator on the Toyohashi Tech website.