Team Members

NARITA Fumio
Department of Frontier Sciences for Advanced Environment, Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Tohoku University

NARITA Fumio is a professor at the Tohoku University Graduate School of Environmental Studies, and specializes in the strength of materials, and the mechanics and design of composite materials. In 1995, he graduated from the Department of Material Processing of the Tohoku University Faculty of Engineering; in 1997, he was adopted as a JSPS Research Fellow for Young Scientists; in 1998, he completed a doctoral program at the Tohoku University Graduate School, and received his doctoral degree in engineering. After working for Tokin Corporation from 1998 through 1999, he became a research assistant at Tohoku University in 1999, and later became an assistant professor and associate professor. He became a professor at the Graduate School of Engineering in 2017, and became a professor at the Graduate School of Environmental Studies in 2020.

KURITA Hiroki
Department of Frontier Sciences for Advanced Environment, Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Tohoku University

KURITA Hiroki is an assistant professor at the Tohoku University Graduate School of Environmental Studies, and specializes in powder metallurgy engineering, composite materials processes, and nanocomposites. In 2007, he graduated from the Department of Materials Science of the Kogakuin University Faculty of Engineering; in 2012, he completed a doctoral program at the Tohoku University Graduate School of Engineering, and received his doctoral degree in engineering. After serving as a postdoctoral fellow in France from 2012 through 2015, he served as an assistant professor at Shizuoka University from 2016 through 2018, and became an assistant professor at Tohoku University in 2018.

WATANABE Takanobu
Research Institute for Ambientronics, School of Fundamental Science and Engineering, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Waseda University

WATANABE Takanobu is a professor at Waseda University and the director of the Research Institute for Ambientronics. In 1995, he graduated from the Waseda University Department of Electronics and Communication; in 1999, he completed a doctoral program at the same university, and received his doctoral degree in engineering. From 1997 through 2003, he worked under the JSPS Research Fellowship for Young Scientists program. He became a lecturer at Waseda University in 2003, became a professor in 2012, and became the director of the Waseda University Research Institute for Ambientronics in 2018.

FURUKAWA Yukio
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, School of Advanced Science and Engineering, Waseda University

IWASE Eiji
Faculty of Science and Engineering, Waseda University

IWASE Eiji is a professor at the Waseda University Faculty of Science and Engineering, and specializes in optical devices, flexible devices, and micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS). In 2000, he graduated from the Department of Mechano-Informatics of the University of Tokyo Faculty of Engineering; in 2005, he completed a doctoral program at the Department of Mechano-Informatics of the University of Tokyo Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, and received his doctoral degree in information science and technology. After working as a research assistant and an assistant professor at the University of Tokyo Graduate School of Information Science and Technology and as a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University, he became an assistant professor at the Waseda University Faculty of Science and Engineering in 2012, and became a professor in 2019.

Tianzhuo ZHAN
Research Institute for Ambientronics, Organization for University Research Initiatives, Waseda University

Tianzhuo ZHAN is a researcher (associate professor) at Waseda University. In 2005, he graduated from the Beihang University School of Mechanical Engineering and Automation. In 2012, he completed a doctoral program at Kyushu University Graduate School, and received his doctoral degree in engineering. After serving as a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institute for Materials Science, Japan, from 2012 through 2017, he became a junior researcher (assistant professor of the Research Council) at Waseda University in 2017, and a researcher (associate professor of the Research Council) in 2020.

TOMITA Motohiro
Research Institute for Ambientronics, Organization for University Research Initiatives, Waseda University

TOMITA Motohiro is a junior researcher (assistant professor) at Waseda University, and specializes in semiconductor materials engineering, phonons, molecular dynamics, and thermoelectric conversion. In 2010, he graduated from the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering of the Meiji University School of Science and Technology; in 2015, he completed a doctoral program at the Meiji University Graduate School of Science and Technology, and received his doctoral degree in engineering. From 2015 through 2018, he worked at Waseda University under the JSPS Research Fellowship for Young Scientists program (PD). Since 2018, he has worked as a junior researcher (assistant professor) at the Waseda University Research Institute for Ambientronics.

MAKIHARA Kanjuro
Department of Aerospace Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University

MAKIHARA Kanjuro is a professor at the Tohoku University Graduate School of Engineering, and specializes in energy harvesting, semi-active control, and structural dynamics. In 1998, he graduated from the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics of the University of Tokyo Faculty of Engineering; in 2004, he completed a doctoral program at the graduate school of the same university, and received his doctoral degree in engineering. In 2004, he became an aerospace research associate for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). In 2011, he became an associate professor at the Tohoku University Department of Aerospace Engineering, and in 2019, he became a professor.

OTSUKA Keisuke
Department of Aerospace Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University

OTSUKA Keisuke is an assistant professor at the Tohoku University Graduate School of Engineering. In 2014, he graduated from the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering of the Tohoku University School of Engineering; in 2020, he completed a doctoral program at the Tohoku University Graduate School, and received his doctoral degree in engineering. In 2020, he became an assistant professor in the field of space structures at the Department of Aerospace Engineering of the Tohoku University Graduate School of Engineering.

Constantinos Soutis
University of Manchester

Constantinos Soutis is Professor of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Manchester. His research focuses on damage mechanics of composites and structural health monitoring. He has authored or co-authored more than 400 papers and successfully supervised over 40 PhD students. He is Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, distinguished for his major contributions to the science and technology of the mechanics and mechanisms of failure of fibre-composite materials based upon polymeric matrices. The Academy's Fellows represents the nation’s best engineering researchers, innovators, entrepreneurs, business and industry leaders. Election to the Academy is by invitation only.

Yu Shi
University of Chester

Prof. Yu Shi is a Research Professor and lead of Chester Smart Composite Group (CSCG). He has successfully secured external funds by total budget of £3M since 2018 while internal funds of £400k for research and PhD scholarships. He is supervising seven PhDs by widely developing the smart composite with design and integration of nano-functional materials for energy harvesting, structural health monitoring, communication and failure assessment, and thermoplastic composite manufacturing, welding, repair and recycling. He had published number of peer reviewer journal and international conference papers highly cited.

Yu Jia
Aston University

Yu Jia is a Senior Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering at Aston University, UK, having previously been an Associate Professor at University of Chester. He has a PhD in Engineering from University of Cambridge and MEng Electromechanical Engineering from University of Southampton. His main research interests include vibration dynamics, energy harvesting, MEMS, smart composites and smart microsystems. He has published 85 journal and international conference papers, filed 12 patent applications, been an academic investigator for £2.4M research funding, a co-founder of 8 power Ltd, has international collaborations with over 10 companies and 20 universities, a Senior Member of IEEE as well as a Steering Board member and the current convenor of the Energy Harvesting Network.

Haidong Wang
Tsinghua University

Haidong Wang is now an associate professor in Tsinghua University, China. His research interest is focused on micro/nanoscale heat transfer, MEMS technology, novel 1D/2D functional devices, single-molecular detection. He has received several acedamic awards: 2013 Best paper award from Asian Thermophysical Properties Conference, 2017 Young Scientist Award from Asian Union of Thermal Science and Engineering, 2018 Acedamic Award from Japan Heat Trasnfer Society. He has published more than 35 SCI papers, including Nat Comm, Nanotech, Carbon, etc.

Xueyong Wei
Xi’an Jiaotong University

Xueyong Wei received his M.S. degree in the Xi’an Jiaotong University in 2005 and Ph.D. degree in the University of Birmingham in 2009. He then conducted research on micromechanical inertial sensors in the University of Cambridge as a post-doctoral research associate. He joined the faculty of Xi’an Jiaotong University in 2012 where he is presently a Professor in Microsystems Technology. His research interests include micromechanical resonators and oscillators, MEMS sensors, and Microfluidics. He has published more than 100 peer-reviewed papers and has delivered over 20 invited talks.

Professor Wei is Senior Member of IEEE, Youth Committee Member of both China Instrument and Control Society (CIS) and Chinese Society of Micro/Nano Technology (CSMNT). He won the FK Bannister Prize of University of Birmingham (2009) and Young Scientist Award of Microsystem and Nanoengineering Summit (2017). He serves as the Associate Editor of IET Micro & Nano Letters, Section Executive Editor-in-Chief of Engineering, an international journal launched by the Chinese Academy of Engineering in 2015. He has also served as session chair, organization chair of several home and international conferences