ＭＲＳ-J News Vol.14 No.4  Nov. 2002

To the Overseas Members of MRS-J

■Materials Technologies Can Save Japan……p.1
Dr. Keiichi MURAI, Director, R&D Institute, Canon Co. Ltd.

　It is more than ten years ago that the bubble economy crashed and the financial system of Japan failed, but at this point in time the future aspect of Japan economy is still uncertain and instable. Under such circumstances, I believe that only Japanese material technology, eventually, has held the key to regenerate the Japan economy. To produce a valuable product that is very competitive and distinguishable, it needs to create an excellent material that shows very high performance and work well in the product like a black box. For that purpose, both of the national project for university―industry cooperation and the national training program for the young people who can create novel materials should be enhanced strongly based on the national vision by the authority. At the same time Japanese chemical companies have been expected to make a aggressive effort to develop novel materials that will be qualified in the five to ten years future.

■Report: The 14th MRS-J Academic Symposium……p.3
Yasuro IKUMA, Kanagawa Inst. of Tech.

　The 14th Symposium of MRS-J was held on 20th and 21st of December, 2002 at Tokyo Institute of Technology, Ookayama Campus. In order to attract many participants, the conference site was moved to new location. As a consequence, papers of 582 were presented and approximately 800 attendees registered. These figures are larger than last several years. Stimulated discussions were found in many sessions.
Session A “Functional Materials Based on Self-Assembly V”; Prof. Tatsuya OKUBO (Univ. of Tokyo); Invited (３), Oral (1)2, Poster (4)1
Session B“Smart Materials/Structures”;Prof.Shuichi MIYAZAKI (Univ. of Tsukuba); Invited (5), Oral (4)6, Poster(1)5
Session C “Control of Structures, Morphologies and Properties of Materials by Magnetic Fields”; Prof. Tomoyuki KAKESHITA (Osaka Univ.); Invited (５), Oral (2)2, Poster ( )0
Session D “Coherent Excitation of Nanometer-scale Structures”; Dr. Hitoshi NEJO (NIMS); Invited (３), Oral (９), Poster ( )０
Session E “Fabriction and Characterization of Organic Ultrathin Films”; Prof. Michio SUGI (Toin Univ.); Invited ( )０, Oral (2)4, Poster (1)2
Session F “Preparation of Innovative Materials Using Soft Solution Process”; Prof. Kiyoshi OKADA (Tokyo Tech.); Invited (１), Oral (1)7, Poster (1)3
Session G “Materials for Living―Environment･Medicine･Welfare―”; Prof. Kenichi OKAMOTO (Yamaguchi Univ.); Invited ( )０, Oral (3)0, Poster ( )０
Session H “Designing and Properties of Low Dimensional Nanostructured Materials”; Prof. Kunio TAKAYANAGI (Tokyo Inst. Technol.); Invited (４), Oral (2)7, Poster (2)2
Session I “Progress in New Plant Materials”; Prof. Masahisa OTSUKA (Shibaura Inst. of Tech.); Invited (２), Oral (1)1, Poster (1)8
Session J “Symposium of Advanced Materials for Fuel Cells”; Dr. Itaru HONMA (AIST); Invited (３), Oral (８), Poster (1)4
Session K “Domain Structure Related Properties and Materials”; Prof. Satoshi WADA (Tokyo Inst. of Technol.); Invited (８), Oral (９), Poster (2)2
Session L “Science and Technology of Gels as an interdisciplinary field”; Prof. Kazuhiro HARA (Kyushu Univ.); Invited (１), Oral (1)5, Poster (2)8
Session M “Sputter Deposition Technology”; Prof. Y. HOSHI (Tokyo Institute of Polytechnics); Invited (２), Oral (1)8, Poster (1)9
Session N “Innovative Materials Using Ion Technology”; Prof. K. YATSUI (Nagaoka Univ. of Tech.); Invited (４), Oral (1)9, Poster (1)8
Session O “Materials･Frontier･Poster”; Prof. Tatsuo NOMA (Tokyo Univ.of Agricult. and Tech.); Invited ( )０, Oral ( )０, Poster (5)7

■Report of MRS Fall Meeting 2002……p.8
MRS-J Vice President Prof. Hiroshi YAMAMOTO (Nihon Univ.)

　The meeting was held in Dec. 2 -6, 2002 at Boston. The number of participants was about 4600 and its 40% came from foreign countries. About 40 sessions and other related programs were successfully organized.

■ICSTR Honors to Prof. Somiya……p.8

　Prof. Somiya received the 1st ICSTR Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award (July 2002) for his outstanding accomplishments in teaching, scholarship and research relating to Solvo-Thermal Reactions.