Chair of the Advisory Board

Tokio Niikuni earned a B.S. in synthetic chemicals from Tokyo Institute of Technology in 1969. He joined Mitsubishi Chemical Industries Limited (current Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation) and worked at Yokkaichi Research Center, concentrating on polymers. He studied at the University of Massachusetts from in 1971 to 1972 and received an M.S. in polymer science and Engineering. He was General Manager of Polymer Research Center at Yokkaichi Plant; Executive Officer and General Manager of Polyester Department, Fiber Intermediates Company; and General Manager of Petrochemicals Technology Management Department, Petrochemicals Segment and was later named Managing Executive Officer of Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation and Chief Operation Officer of the Petrochemicals Segment. He also held Chief Operation Officer in the Chemical Derivatives Division, the Petrochemicals Segment and in the Automotive Solutions.

Advisor

Hiroaki Kitano is a President of The Systems Biology Institute and a Director at Sony Computer Science Laboratories, Inc. He is also a visiting professor of the University of Tokyo and Keio University, and a Founding President of The RoboCup Federation. He received a B.A. in physics from the International Christian University, Tokyo, and a Ph.D. in computer science from Kyoto University. Since 1988, he has been a visiting researcher at the Center for Machine Translation at Carnegie Mellon University. Dr. Kitano received The Computers and Thought Award from the International Joint Conferences on Artificial Intelligence in 1993, Prix Ars Electronica 2000, Japan Design Culture Award 2001, and Good Design Award 2001, as well as being an invited artist for Biennale di Venezia 2000 and Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) New York in 2001. His research interests include AI, Robotics, and Systems Biology.

Advisor

Hiroshi Komiyama was named Chairman of the Institute, Mitsubishi Research Institute, Inc. in April 2009, after completing his term as President of the University of Tokyo in March 2009. Dr. Komiyama became the 28th President of the University of Tokyo in April 2005, after serving a year each as Vice President and Executive Vice President. Prior to this, Dr. Komiyama served as Dean of the School of Engineering from 2000 to 2002. Dr. Komiyama received his Bachelor's, Master's, and Doctoral degrees in chemical engineering all from the University of Tokyo in 1967, 1969, and 1972 respectively. From 1973 to 1974, he was a post doctoral fellow at the University of California at Davis. He became a full professor in the University of Tokyo's Department of Chemical System Engineering in 1988.
His expertise varies from chemical system engineering and global environmental engineering, to structure of knowledge. During his presidency at the University of Tokyo, Dr. Komiyama officially announced the UT Action Plan to reform the University of Tokyo, and also lays out the "Vision 2050", Roadmap for a Sustainable Earth from viewpoints of energy and materials. His recent publications include Japan as a Forerunner for Addressing Emerging Problems in the World (Chuokoron-Shinsha), I will tell you the University of Tokyo (President), Structuring Knowledge (Open Knowledge), Technologies for Global Sustainability (Iwanami).

Advisor

Makoto Shiho is Chief Scientist at the Institute for Applied Optics. He studied at the University of Tokyo, earning a B.S. from Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences in 1969, and a Ph.D. in physics in 1975. Starting as an over doctoral fellow in the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI; now the Japan Atomic Energy Agency, JAEA), Dr. Shiho worked on nuclear fusion field, JT-60 construction, plasma diagnostics, free electron laser development at JAERI for 30 years. In 1988, he became a senior scientist, since 1998, he worked as a division head of fusion engineering division. While at JAEA, Shiho served as a visiting scientist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, as a visiting professor of Tokyo Institute of Technology in Japan, and as a visiting scientist at National Institute for Environmental Studies. He was appointed the current position in 2007.

Advisor

Eiichi Nakamura is Professor of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Tokyo. He studied at Tokyo Institute of Technology, earning a B.S. in chemistry in 1973 and a Ph.D. in chemistry in 1978. Dr. Nakamura attended Columbia University in the U.S. for two years of post-doctoral study. He was appointed Assistant Professor of the Department of Chemistry at Tokyo Institute of Technology in 1980 and became Professor in April 1993. Since April 1995, he has been Professor of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Tokyo. Dr. Nakamura concurrently manages the ERATO Nakamura Functional Carbon Cluster program focusing on fullerene. He has received many awards for his research such as Young Chemists Award (Chemical Society of Japan) in 1984, Tejima Memorial Award (Tokyo Institute of Technology) in 1992, Nagoya Silver Medal for Organic Chemistry in 2001, Chemical Society of Japan Award in 2003, and Humboldt Research Award in 2006, and was also elected as a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2008 and an Elected Foreign Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2005.

Advisor

George Hara is Group Chairman and CEO, DEFTA Partners; Prime Minister's Government Special Commissioner on Tax Panel; Counselor, Ministry of International Affairs and Communications; and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, IIMSAM Permanent Observer Mission to the United Nations Economic and Social Council.
Mr. Hara is internationally known as a leading edge technology investor and visionary architect in the field of post-computer technology, Pervasive Ubiquitous Communications (PUC). DEFTA Partners is the pioneer to implement PUC in industries through its worldwide operations in Tokyo, San Francisco, London, Tel Aviv, and Seoul.
In 2005, Oplus Technologies (the leader of LCD and plasma display chip) merged with INTEL. He has served Chairman of the Board since its inception. Oren Semiconductor (the leader of digital TV chip) merged with Zoran. In 2007, Broadware merged with CISCO. He currently serves as board member of Fortinet (network security gateway) and XVD (the world's leader in HD codec).
While creating ventures in advanced nations, he founded DEFTA Development Holdings to bring to less developed countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America cost effective information infrastructure technologies through private and public sector initiatives. In October 2005, DDH launched its first company, bracNet in Bangladesh, a joint venture with BRAC, the world's largest social development organization.
Prior to 2000, he helped creating and managed many IT firms as chairman, board member, or shareholders of companies such as Borland (2nd largest PC software), PictureTel (the world's leader of video conference), SCO (the largest PC Unix), Zoran (world's 1st major DVD chip), Wollongong (world's 1st commercialized TCP-IP for the Internet) and Tradex (inventor of B2B engine, merged with Ariba).
In the public sector, he is Chairman of the Alliance Forum Foundation and has served on the boards of the San Francisco Opera, San Francisco Zoo, University of San Francisco, Tokyo Foundation, and Hara Research Foundation which offers fellowships for interdisciplinary research between life & computer science. In 2003, Mr. Hara received the National Leadership Award and was named Honorary Co-Chairman of the Business Advisory Council in the US.

Advisor

Dr. Leibler, a Director of Research of Exceptional Class at Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), is a Director of the Soft Matter and Chemistry Laboratory and an Adjunct Professor at Ecole Superieure de Physique et Chimie Industrielles (ESPCI ParisTech) in Paris. He received his Ph.D. in theoretical physics from Warsaw University in 1976, and then spent two years as a post-doctoral fellow with Professor Pierre-Gilles de Gennes at the College de France. He joined CNRS in 1979 first in Strasbourg then Paris. From 1996 to 2003, he was the founding director of a joint laboratory between CNRS and chemical company Elf-Atochem (later ATOFINA), a unique endeavor that assembled researchers from academe and industry to tackle emerging concepts in soft matter and polymer science and their use for design of new materials and systems. Dr. Leibler has received awards for teaching and research from various organizations including Medaille d'Argent from CNRS, Polymer Physics Prize of American Physical Society, and American Chemical Society Polymer Chemistry Award. He is a Foreign Associate of National Academy of Engineering (Washington, D.C., USA). His research interests include soft matter physics and chemistry, supramolecular chemistry and design of stimuli responsive and self-repairing materials and systems.