STM publisher Springer Science+Business Media, Germany, will be providing 15,000 euros each to three Japanese students from the district of Tohoku, which was devastated by the tsunami. The grants will enable them to go to university. The three high-school girls are nearing graduation and won the grants in an official application process.
The jury was made up of members of Springer's management in Japan, members of the company's charity Springer Hilfsfonds e.V and the long-time Springer author Prof. Jin Akiyama. The money donated by the charity will be presented at an official award ceremony on December 25, 2012, in the Springer Japan offices.
From August to October 2012, students had applied for a grant by submitting a three-page essay on their area of scientific interest, written in English. Springer's office in Tokyo organised the competition and invited schools in the area affected by the tsunami to take part. Applicants were asked to explain why they wished to take up studies in their chosen field and to provide evidence that they came from one of the regions hit by the disaster, that their home had been destroyed and that their family members were suffering unemployment. The grants are designed to enable them to study the subjects they have chosen at a university or other higher education institution.
The three students come from Soma City near Fukushima and from Ofunato and Kamaishi in the northern coastal area of Sanriku, where entire towns were wiped out by the tsunami. Two of the girls are still living in emergency housing. The girls hope to go on to work in the fields of cell research, gynecology/obstetrics, and cancer research/pharmacology and have therefore chosen corresponding fields of study.
