FOCUS ON FACULTY

YOSHI FUJITA

Finding Solutions

I’ve always enjoyed problem-“ solving,” says science faculty member Yoshi Fujita, who teaches physics, engineering, and robotics. That’s as true today—when he guides students through physics problems, fabrication, and programming—as it was when he worked as an electrical engineer, doing hardware diagnostics.

Each of the subjects he teaches brings its own form of problem-solving, of course. Physics, Fujita notes, is not a required course at Rivers, but most students take it. The section he teaches is the baseline course—not advanced or AP—and many students who enroll, he says, “don’t see themselves as science students.”

But he’s able to overcome their resistance, he says, because “in physics, it’s very easy to bring in examples from real life. People have a lot of everyday experience with things that are relevant to physics, and I can push students to have an intuitive understanding.” He admits the subject “has a bad reputation,” dating back to the time when it was taught “from a math perspective.”

“That’s changed in the past few years,” says Fujita. “I come from a conceptual standpoint. The math informs and allows us to apply the concepts. It gives students a chance to practice and reinforce what they learn in math classes but in more concrete situations.”

In the engineering class, the work “revolves around the technologies that have revolutionized engineering, which we lump together as digital fabrication.” This can take different forms, but the most familiar one is 3D printing. In The Revers Center’s fabrication lab, students have access to five 3D printers, as well as laser cutters. “Having that equipment allows students to move quickly from concept to prototype,” explains Fujita. “They can test whether things work, and then minutes later have a second version.” With multiple printers available, says Fujita, students are able to “take ownership of their work,” and the course content can be built around access to rapid, inexpensive prototyping.

Robotics, too, has grown by leaps and bounds since The Revers Center opened. The initial semester is spent learning how to program, using preexisting robots, and the second half involves a competition in which students build their own robots. Fujita says that working in the new robotics lab has made a world of difference: “Having more space and a dedicated room with all the tools out and accessible makes it much easier.”

Fujita is a whiz at solving problems in the lab, but teaching itself was a problem he set out to solve when he changed careers, back in 2008. After graduating from Brown with a degree in electrical engineering, he worked in industry. But, he says, he soon found “cubicle life didn’t agree with me.”

The son of two teachers, Fujita says he “had always had in the back of my mind that teaching was something I might do.” He took a job teaching physics at a charter school in Malden and applied his engineer’s analytical mind to the task of learning to be a teacher. “Every day was like a science experiment, with a lot of trial and error,” he recalls.

But for Fujita, it was just one more challenge—one that he tackled with typical aplomb. “The problem-solving was very personal and tangible: How do I get these students to understand and learn?” he says. “When you’re teaching, the problem is very much in front of you.” Which is just how this inveterate problem-solver likes it. — Jane Dornbusch