Join Us

Overview (Updated 2026/10/02)

Introduction

  • Our research group welcomes students from both inside and outside the University of Tsukuba.
  • We especially welcome students who want to concentrate on and be passionate about research.
  • We also actively accept working professionals in doctoral and master’s programs. (We have experience supervising such students.)

For more specific information on joining the group, please see below.

Research Topics

We conduct a wide range of research, from theory to implementation, on algorithms, databases, and data mining technologies for the efficient processing and management of large-scale data.

  • Research keywords
    • Databases, algorithms, data mining, information retrieval, AI, cheminformatics
  • Examples of recent research topics
    • Ultrafast analysis of large-scale social graphs
    • Ultrafast query processing for next-generation databases
    • Compression and compressed search for large-scale data
    • Ultrafast search and analysis of chemical compounds to support AI-driven drug discovery
    • Data cleaning for AI and knowledge graphs
    • Correlation detection from large-scale purchase graphs
    • Ethical issues in publishing datasets
    • Fast similarity search for large-scale point cloud databases
    • Theoretical verification of data migration

For more details on our research, please see Research .

Research Supervision Policy

  • One topic per student
    • Research topics are decided based on the research projects of the group and the student’s interests. Few students have a topic decided before joining, so most decide their topics through discussions with the faculty after joining.
  • Active publication of research results
    • We place great emphasis on actively publishing research results as papers. Compared with other laboratories, most students write many papers and give many presentations at conferences, including business trips. (The guideline is at least twice a year.)
  • Aiming for top international conferences and journals
    • Our goal is to publish research results at top international conferences and in top journals. By taking on the challenge of presenting results at the world’s highest level, we aim to maximize students’ abilities and presence.
  • Participation in external joint research
    • Our group actively conducts joint research with private companies and research institutions in Japan and abroad. If a project matches a student’s interests and research topic, the student can participate as a member of the joint research.
  • Rest well on holidays
    • Good health and physical well-being are essential for good research. Our group encourages students to work in a planned manner on weekdays and to take a good rest on holidays.

Research Life and Environment

  • Research meetings are held once a week.
    • Undergraduate and master’s students
      • In team meetings attended by all members, students discuss each other’s research progress with the faculty and other students.
      • The primary language of most students is Japanese. To make discussions fruitful, we recommend acquiring a certain level of Japanese proficiency.
    • Doctoral students
      • Students discuss their research progress with the faculty in one-on-one meetings.
      • The language used is English or Japanese.
  • In addition, students participate in and give presentations at the monthly seminar held by the entire KDE laboratory, deepening discussions with faculty and students of other groups.
  • Each student is assigned a seat in Integrated Research Building B, Room 922, or at the Center for Computational Sciences.
  • Each student is provided with at least one computer (e.g., MacBook Pro) and one Claude Team standard seat license.
  • All other computers, supplies, and travel expenses required for research are provided by the laboratory.

Career Paths after Graduation

  • All undergraduate graduates over the past 10 years have gone on to graduate school.
  • Graduates of our graduate programs (doctoral and master’s) have excellent career outcomes.
  • Recent major career paths
    • NTT Laboratories, Sony Research, GMO (R&D), NTT DATA, Fujitsu, NS Solutions, ZOZO Technologies, MIXI, LY Corporation, FORCIA, NEC, Amazon AWS, etc.

For Students of the College of Information Science

Number of openings (2026 academic year): 2 students (planned)

  • Please submit your preference according to the laboratory assignment process held every October.
  • If you wish to join, please be sure to attend one of the information sessions .
    • If you cannot attend any of them, please contact us individually.
  • If the number of applicants exceeds the capacity, students will be selected through interviews.

Information Sessions (2026 academic year)

  • We will hold two types of information sessions: the KDE Laboratory Information Session and the KDE-SALT Group Information Session.
  • The KDE Laboratory Information Session briefly introduces each group. The KDE-SALT Group Information Session gives a detailed explanation of our research, and current students introduce life in the laboratory.
  • These sessions are only for students of the College of Information Science. If you are not a student of the College of Information Science and wish to attend, please contact Shiokawa in advance.
KDE Laboratory Information Session (Location: Integrated Research Building B, Room 922)
  • [Session 1] 2026/10/06 (Tue) 18:15–19:00
  • [Session 2] 2026/10/14 (Wed) 18:15–19:00
  • [Session 3] 2026/10/23 (Fri) 18:15–19:00
KDE-SALT Group Information Session (Location: Center for Computational Sciences, Meeting Room B)
  • [Session 1] 2026/10/08 (Thu) 18:15–19:00
  • [Session 2] 2026/10/16 (Fri) 18:15–19:00
  • [Session 3] 2026/10/21 (Wed) 18:15–19:00

For Graduate Students

Number of openings: Determined each year based on the balance of members

For applicants to the master’s program
  • Academic transcript from your current (or previous) university
  • English test scores such as TOEIC, TOEFL, or IELTS
  • Resume (CV) (only if you have already graduated from university)
  • Status of the Japanese-Language Proficiency Test (only for applicants from overseas)
For applicants to the doctoral program
  • A document describing your research plan after admission (a brief one is fine)
  • Documents describing your previous research and a list of publications
  • Resume (CV)

Contact

  • If you have any questions, please contact Shiokawa .