On August 30th, the FUTI Board elected Dr. Masaaki Yamada, a Distinguished Laboratory Research Fellow at Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), to a newly created position, Director of University Relations. In this capacity, Dr. Yamada will be primarily responsible for planning and coordinating FUTI’s research grant and award programs, by interacting with universities in both the U.S. and Japan. He received his B.S. degree in Applied Physics and M.S. degree in Nuclear Engineering in 1966 and 1968, respectively, both from UTokyo (the University of Tokyo), and received his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Illinois in 1973. His main research area is plasma physics that is relevant to both fusion and space-astrophysics. Dr. Yamada was a visiting professor at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EFPL), Switzerland (1988), Kyoto University (1989), and UTokyo (1994 and 2010), and has served as their Ph.D. thesis advisor of a dozen graduate students of Princeton University, UTokyo, and Purdue University. He has been a Fellow of the American Physical Society since 1985 and received the APS 2002 Excellence Award in Plasma Physics Research and Princeton University’s Kaul Prize in 2003. “I am impressed with the goals of FUTI. It is an honor for me to serve on the Board. I will do my best to enhance international research collaboration through the FUTI program,” said Dr. Yamada. “We are delighted to have such a distinguished scientist as an executive director of FUTI. Dr. Yamada is not only a world renowned scientist but has an impressive track record of serving his community. He co-founded the Princeton Community Japanese Language School (PCJLS) in 1980, and served as Chairman of its Board in 1985-1995. His experiences in this non-profit organization as well as his close relations with leading universities in the U.S. and Japan will make our grant and award programs more credible and prestigious,” remarked FUTI President Kobayashi, a long-time friend of Dr. Yamada.
Dr. Yamada was introduced to all members of the FUTI Board and Advisory Committee (AC) at the FUTI Board & AC meeting held at the Nippon Club on September 16.
Articles in this newsletter:
- Call for Nominations for new Secretary and Treasurer
- The New Office and Mailing Address of FUTI
- Annual Board Meeting
- FUTI Announces Travel Grants for Graduate Students and Postdocs Involved in the IPMU-BCTP Collaboration
- Reports from the Participants of IARU’s Global Summer Program
- Invited Article: Activities of “Kagakusha Network” (“Scientist Network”) and a Guidepost to Study at U.S. Graduate Schools.
- Fundraising Results and Financial Statements of July 2010 through June 2011
- Revamping of the FUTI Website Completed
- Dr. Masaaki Yamada appointed Director of University Relations
