On August 1st, months of discussion culminated in the signing of a five-year Memorandum of Understanding between the Primate Research Institute (PRI) of Kyoto University, Japan, and the Anthropology Department and the School of Biomedical Sciences at Kent State University. It was signed by Provost Todd Diacon and Dean James Blank representing KSU, and Dr. Takakazu Yumoto, the new director of the PRI.
This effort was initiated by the previous director, Dr. Hirohisa Hirai, and one of our newest faculty members, Dr. Anthony Tosi. The MOU lays the foundation for collaborations in the fields of neuroscience, morphology, genetics, behavior and ecology of primates. Our relationship with the PRI has been building steadily over the last 15 months. Two of our graduate students, Emily Munger and Cody Ruiz, were each awarded an NSF-EAPSI fellowship to pursue research projects at the PRI in the summers of 2015 and 2016. In addition, three of our faculty members – Drs. Raghanti, Meindl, and Tosi – visited the PRI in January, February, and June and built a network of 14 host researchers interested in receiving Kent State graduate student interns. Dr. Hirai also visited us at Kent State for two days in August.
Dr. Tosi (left) and Dr. Hirai (right) at the Kent State University Office of Global Education on August 26, 2016. The sign reads, “Welcome Dr. Hirohisa Hirai, Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University.”