Uchino, Kenji
Kenji Uchino, one of the pioneers in piezoelectric actuators and energy harvesting systems, is currently Academy Professor of Emeritus Academy, was the Director of the International Center for Actuators and Transducers (ICAT) and Professor of Electrical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering, and a Distinguished Honors Faculty at Schreyer Honors College at the Pennsylvania State University. He has been a university professor for 48 years so far, including 18 years in Japanese universities. He has also been a company executive (president or vice president) for 21 years in four companies, most recently the Founder and Senior Vice President of Micromechatronics Inc., a spin-off company from the above ICAT, where he was working to commercialize the ICAT-invented piezo-actuators, transducers and energy harvesters. He was a government officer for 7 years in both Japan and the US, and recently a “Navy Ambassador to Japan” (2010–2014) for assisting the rescue program from the Big Northern Japan Earthquake. He was teaching “Ferroelectric Devices”, “Micromechatronics”, “FEM Application for Smart Materials”, and “Entrepreneurship for Engineers” for the Engineering and Business School graduate students using the textbooks authored by himself and titled as the same.
After being awarded his Ph. D. degree from Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan, Uchino became Research Associate/Assistant Professor in the Physical Electronics Department in 1976 at this university. Then, he joined Sophia University, Japan, as an Associate Professor in Physics in 1985. He was then recruited to Penn State in 1991 under a strong request from the US Navy community. He was also involved with the Space Shuttle Utilizing Committee in NASDA (current JAXA, equivalent to the US NASA), Japan, during 1986-1988, and was the Vice President of NF Electronic Instruments, USA, during 1992-1994. He has his additional Master’s degree in Business and Administration from St. Francis University, PA. He has been consulting with more than 138 Japanese, US, and European industries to commercialize the piezoelectric actuators and electro-optic devices. He was the Chair of Smart Actuator/Sensor Study Committee partly sponsored by the Japanese Government, MITI (1987–2014). He was also the associate editor for Journal of Materials Technology (Matrice Technology) and the editorial board member for Journal of Ferroelectrics (Gordon & Breach) and Journal of Electroceramics (Kluwer Academic). He is currently Editor in Chief of Insight-Material Science (PiscoMed Publishing) and of Actuators (MDPI). He also served as an Administrative Committee member for IEEE, Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, Frequency Control Society (1998–2000), and Secretary of American Ceramic Society, Electronics Division (2002–2003).
His research interests are in solid state physics—especially dielectrics, ferroelectrics and piezoelectrics, including basic research on materials, device designing and fabrication processes, as well as development of solid-state actuators for precision positioners, ultrasonic motors, and energy harvesting systems. He has authored 584 papers, 84 books, and 33 patents in the piezoelectric actuator and optical device area. He is Life Fellow of American Ceramic Society from 1997, Life Fellow of IEEE since 2012, Senior Member of National Academy of Inventors since 2019, and also a recipient of 34 awards, including Japan Ceramics Award from Japanese Ceramics Society (2022), the 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 (2008), the SPIE Smart Product Implementation Award (2007), R&D 100 Award (2007), ASME
