WSEPEE-2025

Kenji Uchino, one of the pioneers in piezoelectric actuators, is Academy Professor at Emeritus Academy Institute, Founding Director of International Center for Actuators and Transducers, Materials Research Institute, and was Professor of EE and MatSE,Distinguished Honors Faculty of Schreyer Honors College at The Pennsylvania State University. He wasAssociate Director (Global Technology Awareness, the US Navy Ambassador to Japan) at The US Office of Naval Research – Global Tokyo Office from 2010 till 2014. He was also the Founder and Senior Vice President & CTO of Micromechatronics Inc., State College, PA from 2004 till 2010. After being awarded his Ph. D. degree from Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan, he became Research Associate/Assistant Professor (1976)in Physical Electronics Department at this university. Then, he joined Sophia University, Japan as Associate Professor in Physics Department in 1985. He was then recruited from The Penn State University in 1991. He was also involved with Space Shuttle Utilizing Committee in NASDA, Japan during 1986-88, and Vice President of NF Electronic Instruments, USA, during 1992-94. He was the Founding Chair of Smart Actuators/Sensors Committee, Japan Technology Transfer Association sponsored by Ministry of Economics, Trading and Industries, Japan from 1987 to 2014, and is a long-term Chair of International Conference on New Actuators, Messe Bremen, Germany since 1997. He is currentlyEditor in Chief of J. Actuators, MDPI and J. Insight-Material Science, PiscoMed Publishing LLT.Uchino served as Administrative Committee Member (Elected) of IEEE Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control (1998-2000) and as Secretary of American Ceramic Society, Electronics Division (2002-2003). His research interest is in solid state physics, especially in ferroelectrics and piezoelectrics, including basic research on theory, materials, device designing and fabrication processes, as well as application development of solid state actuators/sensors for precision positioners, micro-robotics, ultrasonic motors, smart structures, piezoelectric transformers and energy harvesting. K. Uchino is known as the discoverer/inventor of the following famous topics: (1) lead magnesium niobate (PMN)-based electrostricive materials, (2) cofired multilayer piezoelectric actuators (MLA), (3) superior piezoelectricity in relaxor-lead titanate-based piezoelectric single crystals (PZN-PT), (4) photostrictive phenomenon, (5) shape memory ceramics, (6) magnetoelectric composite sensors, (7) transient response control scheme of piezoelectric actuators (Pulse-Drive technique), (8) micro ultrasonic motors, (9) multilayer disk piezoelectric transformers, and (10) piezoelectric loss characterization methodology. He has authored 582 papers, 83 books and 33 patentsin the ceramic actuator area. 66 papers/books among his publications have been cited more than 100 times, leading to his average h-index82. Total citation number 36,000and annual average citation number 1,500 are very high in College of Engineering. He was also awarded his MBA degree from St. Francis University (2008), and authored a textbook, “Entrepreneurship for Engineers” for College of Business. He is a Life FellowMember of American Ceramic Societyand IEEE since 2012, a Senior Member of National Academy of Inventors since 2019, and also is a recipient of34 awards, includingJapan Ceramics Grand Prixfrom Japanese Ceramics Society (2022),Wilhelm R. Buessem Award from the Center for Dielectrics and Piezoelectrics, The Penn State University (2019), Distinguished Lecturer of the IEEE UFFC Society (2018), International Ceramic Award from Global Academy of Ceramics(2016),IEEE-UFFC Ferroelectrics Recognition Award (2013),Inventor Award from Center for Energy Harvesting Materials and Systems, Virginia Tech (2011), Premier Research Award from The Penn State Engineering Alumni Society (2011), the Japanese Society of Applied Electromagnetics and Mechanics Award on Outstanding Academic Book (2008), SPIE (Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers),Smart Product Implementation Award (2007), R&D 100 Award (2007), ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers) Adaptive Structures Prize (2005), Outstanding Research Award from Penn State Engineering Society (1996), Academic Scholarship from Nissan Motors Scientific Foundation (1990), Best Movie Memorial Award at Japan Scientific Movie Festival (1989), and the Best Paper Award from Japanese Society of Oil/Air Pressure Control (1987).