Nobuhiro Yanai wins First Prize of Quadrant Award, building global career through JSPS-iCeMS Bon Voyage Program

February 7, 2013

Quadrant, a Swiss manufacturer of high-performance thermoplastic materials, awarded Kyushu University assistant professor Dr. Extenal LinkNobuhiro Yanai first prize of the Quadrant Award this January1. He will receive 15,000 Euros for his work on "Controlling Polymer Properties in Coordination Nanospaces2, 3", a research project he conducted in Susumu Kitagawa's group during his years at Kyoto University. Conferred for the 5th time this year, 46 applied for the Award. The next selection process is to be held in 2015.

In his first year of his Ph.D. program, Assistant Prof. Yanai was selected by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) as a research associate in 2008 under Prof. Kitagawa's supervision. Dr. Yanai was the first successful applicant of the "JSPS-iCeMS Bon Voyage Program4", an initiative supporting young scientists to obtain research experience and networking opportunities abroad. In 2010, Dr. Yanai visited ten labs in six universities, including Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), over a period of 20 days5. Attaining his doctoral degree in engineering in 2011, Dr. Yanai was then selected by JSPS as an overseas research associate to join Dr. Extenal LinkSteve Granick's lab at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, one of the labs that he visited during the said program. Returning after a year and a half of research in the United States, he currently works as an assistant professor for Extenal LinkNobuo Kunizuka's lab at Kyushu University.


Related Links

  1. Quadrant's press release: "Extenal LinkPresentation of the Quadrant Award 2013"
  2. Kitagawa lab's press release on Dr. Yanai's achievements: Nature Materials | 4 September 2011 "Fast, Cheap, and Accurate: Detecting CO2 with a Fluorescent Twist "
  3. Kitagawa lab's press release on Dr. Yanai's achievements: Nature Communications | 5 October 2010 "Building a Smaller, Lighter Future: Understanding Polymer Behaviors Below One Nanometer"
  4. Official name "Extenal LinkInstitutional Program for Young Researchers Overseas"
  5. iCeMS Bon Voyage program website:Extenal LinkDr. Yanai's report on his visit during the program

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