Lucciana Mikaela Cáceres Holgado has been chosen as the recipient of the second annual Marian H. Rose Research Scholarship from the Society of Physics Students. The scholarship honors Marian H. Rose, a career plasma physicist, author, and environmental activist, by providing one graduate student with $15,000 in grant funding. Cáceres Holgado currently serves as the vice president for the University of Kansas’ SPS chapter, leads outreach activities with local schools, and enjoys giving back to a group of people who have supported her throughout her college education.

After nearly five years of collaborative work, the European Horizon 2020 REST-COAST project convened for its final consortium meeting in Barcelona in early February. On the agenda were the main results that demonstrate how nature-based solutions (NbS), operational tools, business plans and policy insights can support evidence-based decision-making across Europe to reduce coastal risks, restore ecosystems and biodiversity, while improving the well-being of citizens.

Kogakuin University has officially announced the launch of a prestigious global scholarly volume entitled “Global Engineering Educational Management: Comparative Trends and Insights” which will be published by Springer Nature as part of the Emergent Directions in Engineering Education book series. This publication marks a significant milestone in celebration of the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the School of Advanced Engineering. The initiative was formally announced at the School of Advanced Engineering Executive Meeting at Kogakuin University on January 19^th, 2026.

Loneliness has a critical impact on the mental health of citizens, particularly among the elderly. Robots capable of perceiving and responding to human emotions can serve as heart-warming companions to help lift the spirits. A research team at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) has discovered that the combined power of music and empathetic speech in robots with artificial intelligence (AI) could foster a stronger bond between humans and machines. These findings underscore the importance of a multimodal approach in designing empathetic robots, offering significant implications for their application in health support, elder care, education and beyond.