| Masanori Koshiba |
Dr. Masanori Koshiba graduated with a doctorate in electronics from Hokkaido University in 1976, became a lecturer of the university in the same year, and was promoted to associate professor in 1977. He became associate professor, Department of Electronics, Faculty of Engineering in 1979, and was promoted to professor in 1987. He was dean of the Department of Information Science, Graduate School, Hokkaido University from 2006 to 2010. Since 2012, he has been director of the Career Center of the same university.Dr. Koshiba has made a significant contribution to the exploration of new research areas in the field of optical and radio science and electromagnetic theory. He developed a totally new high-precision numerical analysis method related to the fields of optical fiber science, optical electronics, and nanophotonics, and was quick to apply this method to new-structure optical fibers, integrated optical devices and circuit design. One of his noteworthy achievements is the prominent role he played in upgrading the finite element method in the fields of optical and electromagnetic engineering. He demonstrated that the finite element method can be applied universally but, above all, to surface acoustic wave devices, which are essential components in mobile phones, and to a large variety of other wave optics devices, such as microwave and millimeter-wave circuits, optical fibers, and optical waveguide devices. He also produced guidelines for the design of these new devices.
In addition, he discovered a way of removing non-physical solutions (called spurious solutions), which was a major hurdle to the widespread use of the finite element method. This discovery has contributed significantly to the subsequent development of this method. Conventionally, spurious solutions emerged during the vectorial wave analysis of optical and electromagnetic problems. For a long time, these proved to be a big stumbling block to the widespread use of the finite element method. Dr. Koshiba developed a new vector element that completely removes spurious solutions. Since this vector element is highly adaptable to structures that have a curved boundary, it has been widely used both in Japan and abroad, in particular, in optical fibers and photonic crystal fibers.
More recently, he has been playing a leading part in this field by promoting research and development that will result in a dramatic improvement in the optical communication infrastructure.
He has also greatly contributed to the development of innovative optical fiber technology for use in spatial multiplexing transmission that breaks through the limits of existing optical fibers. He carried out an experiment in which the highest ever recorded optical transmission rate of 1-Pbit/s was achieved, far surpassing the previous upper limit of 100 Tbit/s. The experiment was part of a joint research venture involving Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation, Fujikura Ltd., Technical University of Denmark and Hokkaido University, which is where he works.
In this way, Dr. Koshiba has been a trailblazer, exploring new scientific frontiers in the fields of optical and radio science and electromagnetic theory. He has submitted more than 550 papers to distinguished transactions, including those of the IEICE, IEEE and Optical Society of America (OSA). For these achievements, he received three Best Paper Awards (1987, 1997, and 1999), the Achievement Award (2004), and the Distinguished Achievement and Contributions Award (2013) from the IEICE. He was made a fellow by the IEICE (2002), IEEE (2003) and OSA (2005).
Serving as president of Electronics Society (1999), director of International Coordination and Publicity (2003 and 2004), chair of the Technical Committee on Optical Electronics (2005), chair of the Hokkaido Section (2008), and vice president of the IEICE (2004 to 2006), he focused his energies on the development of the IEICE. He has also made his technical expertise available to society at large by serving as an expert member of the Committee of Validation and Examination for Degrees, National Institution for Academic Degrees and University Evaluation (2001 to 2006), an expert member of the Science and Technology Council, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (2004 to 2006), a member of the Executive Committee, Japan Broadcasting Corporation (2004 to 2007), and a member of the Science Council of Japan (current member).
As outlined above, Dr. Koshiba’s contributions to the IEICE and the electronics, information and communication field are truly remarkable. We thus recommend that he be granted the status of a fellow, honorary member.
