About Us
Greetings
At the General Meeting of the Fulrath Okazaki Memorial Association held in June 2023, I was honored to be appointed as the President of the memorial association. On this occasion, I would like to extend my greetings.
The Fulrath Okazaki Memorial Association was established with the aim of recognizing researchers and engineers in the field of ceramics and activating industry-academic collaboration between Japan and the United States, starting from the interaction between Professor Richard M. Fulrath and Professor Kiyoshi Okazaki. Ceramics play a crucial role in various fields such as social infrastructure, environment, energy, information technology, and beyond, encompassing both electronic ceramics and engineering ceramics. Additionally, the internationalization of the ceramics field, particularly the exchange between Japan and the United States, is expected to further expand. With this background, the role played by this memorial association is becoming increasingly important.
The Fulrath Award is presented annually, with one academic sector and two industrial sector recipients from the Japanese side, and one academic sector and one industrial sector recipient from the U.S. side. The award is bestowed upon young researchers and engineers who have contributed to the advancement of academia and the development of industry in both academic and industrial sectors. This award distinguishes its status as an official international award from the American Ceramic Society. The fact that the industry category is given slightly more weight in the number of awards reflects the importance of manufacturing in the ceramics industry and the importance of industry-academia collaborative research between Japan and the United States. The Kiyoshi Okazaki Award, on the other hand, is awarded to an individual or a group of individuals who have made outstanding achievements in research, technology development, and manufacture/production in the field of electronic ceramics, and is complementary to the Fulrath Award.
In addition to the awarding of the Fulrath Award and the Kiyoshi Okazaki Award, the memorial association will further advance strong collaboration with the American Ceramics Society. This includes hosting discussions with related researchers and engineers from Japan and the United States, organizing symposiums primarily featuring lectures by awardees, inviting awardees from the United States, conducting visits to universities and companies, promoting joint research between Japan and the United States, and enhancing cooperation with the Ceramic Society of Japan.
Above all, we are committed to further advancing our memorial association and making significant contributions, particularly in promoting and disseminating ceramics research between Japan and the United States. We sincerely request the continued support and guidance of all our members and supporting members. Furthermore, we would greatly appreciate the support of companies that share our mission by becoming supporting members.
Fulrath Okazaki Memorial Association
Yuichi Ikuhara, President
Objectives and activities
Our objectives are to contribute to the mutual exchange and advancement of science and technology related to ceramics, to support awards for young researchers and engineers who have made outstanding achievements, and to contribute to the development of international exchange among Japan, the U.S., and Asia.
- Organizing research presentations and seminars on ceramics
- Nominating Fulrath Award candidates for the Japan side
- Reviewing the content s of the Fulrath Award application documents and sending them to the U.S. committee
- Organizing or supporting lectures/celebrations of the Fulrath Award winners
- Selecting and awarding the Kiyoshi Okazaki Award winners
- Select ing and awarding the Kiyoshi Okazaki Achievement Award winners
- Supporting celebrations/lectures of the Kiyoshi Okazaki Award and Kiyoshi Okazaki Achievement Award winners
- Other activities necessary to achieve the objectives of this memorial association.
Officers, Advisors and Supporting members
Officers
| President ： | Yuichi Ikuhara | University of Tokyo |
| Vice President ： | Yoshihiko Imanaka | Sophia University |
| Organizer： | Hideyuki Itose | Tosoh Corporation |
| Organizer： | Masato Iwazaki | Niterra Co., Ltd. |
| Organizer： | Yoshiki Iwazaki | Taiyo Yuden Co., Ltd. |
| Organizer： | Yasushi Enokido | TDK Corporation |
| Organizer： | Naoki Ohashi | National Institute for Materials Science |
| Organizer： | Kenichi Okazaki | Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd. |
| Organizer： | Masahiko Kimura | Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. |
| Organizer： | Yasuyoshi Saito | TOYOTA CENTRAL R&D Labs., Inc. |
| Organizer： | Hideki Sakai | TOHO TITANIUM CO., LTD. |
| Organizer： | Wataru Sakamoto | Chubu University |
| Organizer： | Yoshikazu Sasaki | Shoei Chemical Inc. |
| Organizer： | Kiyoshi Shimamura | National Institute for Materials Science |
| Organizer： | Junichi Tatami | Yokohama National University |
| Organizer： | Tomoyuki Nakamura | Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. |
| Organizer： | Tadachika Nakayama | Nagaoka University of Technology |
| Organizer： | Takeshi Nomura | Shoei Chemical Inc. |
| Organizer： | Baba Yuji | SAKAI CHEMICAL INDUSTRY CO.,LTD. |
| Organizer： | Hideaki Hayashi | AGC Inc. |
| Organizer： | Hiroshi Funakubo | Tokyo Institute of Technology |
| Organizer： | Katsumasa Yasukawa | KYOCERA Corporation |
| Organizer： | Satoshi Wada | University of Yamanashi |
| Organizer： | Koji Watari | National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology |
| Auditor ： | Yuji Akimoto | Shoei Chemical Inc. |
| Auditor ： | Yuzo Shimada | Japan Jisso Technology Transfer Association |
Advisors
| Honorary Advisors： | Noboru Ichinose | Waseda University |
| Honorary Advisors： | Takaaki Tsurumi | Tokyo Institute of Technology |
| Advisors ： | Yukio Sakabe | formerly with Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. |
| Advisors ： | Nobutate Yamaoka | formerly with Taiyo Yuden Co., Ltd. |
| Advisors： | Akira Okamoto | formerly with TDK Corporation |
| Advisors： | Takashi Goto | Tohoku University |
| Advisors ： | Kazuaki Utsumi | Waseda University |
| Advisors ： | Hiroshi Kishi | Taiyo Yuden Co., Ltd. |
| Advisors ： | Akira Ando | Osaka Metropolitan University |
Supporting members
| Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. | Shoei Chemical Inc. |
| TDK Corporation | Taiyo Yuden Co., Ltd. |
| Sakai Chemical Industry Co., Ltd. | Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd. |
| KYOCERA Corporation | Niterra Co., Ltd. |
| AGC Inc. | Tosoh Corporation |
| TOHO TITANIUM CO., LTD. |