Early career researchers are the backbone of science, and it is the duty of society and educational institutions to support such researchers, who will go on to be leaders in their respective fields. However, whether such researchers have access to such support depends on a variety of factors, including funding, bureaucracy, understanding, time, and other resources, all of which may be limiting. In Japan specifically, many of the resources available to support early career researchers are not equally available to everyone. In particular, there are many talented researchers in the Chugoku-Shikoku region, but who may not have access to such support systems which could make a huge difference in their career progression.  

Here at HIRAKU-Global, our goal is to provide an environment and structure which adequately supports the development of talented early career researchers across the entire Chugoku-Shikoku region. In particular, we hope to see researchers develop not only their scientific skills, but also adjacent skills required to be good researchers within academia, such as (science) communication and management. Similarly, HIRAKU-Global researchers are incredibly diverse in their research expertise, and thus we hope to provide resources for researchers from all backgrounds.

As program manager, I hope to support not only HIRAKU-Global researchers, but also other institutions and early career researchers in the entire region to the best of my abilities. In particular, given that my research up until now has been nearly 100% based on international collaborations, one of my personal goals is to help to expand the scope of international collaborations by HIRAKU-Global researchers, while simultaneously being an outlet to highlight significant and impactful research from HIRAKU-Global researchers and other early career researchers in all of Chugoku-Shikoku globally. These are the researchers who will shape the future of science in Japan, and now is the perfect time for them to shine on the world stage! 

As a child growing up in the Chicagoland area of the USA, Tony understood the importance of a strong educational background from an early age, specifically gaining interest in math and science during primary school. After graduating from high school, Tony thus pursued a science-centric education at California Institute of Technology (USA), where he graduated with a BS (with Honors) in 2010 in Chemistry and Business, Economics, and Management. Tony then put the business/management side of his education aside and went on to pursue graduate studies in Chemistry at Harvard University, where he received his PhD in 2016. It was at Harvard that Tony first had the opportunity to collaborate with researchers from Japan, and this partially led him to join the Earth-Life Science Institute, Institute of Science Tokyo, where he was a researcher/faculty 2017-2025, leading his own lab focused on origins of life and astrobiology over the final 3 years. In June, 2025, Tony joined Hiroshima University as a faculty member and HIRAKU-Global Program Manager.