Biographical
Sketch
Masaharu KOMIYAMA, Prof., Dr.
Director, Center for Instrumental Analysis
Also: Clean Energy Research Center
and Graduate School of Medicine and Engineering
University of Yamanashi
Professor
Komiyama, born in Fujinomiya City, Shizuoka, Japan,
has been working in the field of catalysis ever since his graduate education at Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan. There he started working on catalyst preparation studies, which he continued on after he was enrolled in the graduate schools at the University of California-Berkeley where he obtained his M.S. degree and at Cornell University where he earned his Ph.D. degree. His graduate work was later fruited in a review, "Design and Preparation of Impregnated Catalysts," published in Catalysis Reviews-Science and Engineering, 27 (1985) 341-372, as well as in a chapter in a book
"Handbook of Heat and Mass Transfer, Vol. 4: Advances in Reactor Design
and Combustion Sciences" published by Gulf Publishers, New York, in 1990.
When he returned to Japan in 1980, he was appointed a Research Associate in the
Department of Chemical Engineering, Tohoku University. There he developed an
interest in catalyst characterization, and introduced new techniques to the
field, including high-pressure in situ IR, XPS and Auger in combination with
ion-bombardment, and among all, scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and atomic
force microscopy (AFM). His work during this period earned him the "Young
Scientists Award" from the Japan Catalysis Society in 1991 for his
"Study of Catalyst Characterization Techniques on Supported Metal
Catalysts".
Moving to Yamanashi University (then) in 1990, he was first appointed Associate
Professor in Chemistry, then Professor at the Institute of Inorganic Synthesis (then).
He continued to work on the application of scanning probe microscopy (STM and
AFM) to catalysis studies. His work of this period includes the observation of atoms
and molecules liquid-phase adsorbed on zeolite
surfaces. This work attracted much attention, resulting in a number of invited
lectures in domestic as well as in international conferences, including
"The 7th International Conference on Molecular Electronics and Biocomputing" (Nanjing, November, 1997), "Bouyoucos Conference on Environmental Chemistry at the
Clay-Water Interface (Honolulu, March, 2000), and "The 8th International
Colloquium on Scanning Probe Microscopy and Asian SPM (3) (Atagawa,
December, 2000).
In April, 2001, he moved to the Institute for Molecular
Sciences, Okazaki National Research Institutes, where he served as a professor
at the Division of Interface Molecular Science in the Molecular-scale Nanoscience Center. During the two-year appointment there,
he conducted a study of photocatalysts at atomic
scale using scanning tunneling microscopy, and also sponsored and chaired two colloquims, "New Developments in Molecular Science
Study using Scanning Probe Microscopy" and "Nanomechanics of Atoms and Molecules."
Moving back to University of Yamanashi in April, 2003, he now belongs to its Clean Energy Research Center, and teaches at Green Energy Conversion Science and Technology program at its Graduate School of Medicine and Engineering. He is also appointed as the Director of the university's Center for Instrumental Analysis. He continues to work in the field of catalysis, including the STM study of catalysts and the development of steam reforming catalysts for fuel cell applications. The latter has evolved into a collaborative project with a major Japanese diesel engine manufacturer for 7 years. In recent years he is actively involved in renewable energy projects as well, including biodiesel fuel production and catalytic gasification of biomass with supercritical water, attracting invited lectures at international conferences including: "Third International Symposium on New and Renewable Energy" (Jeonju, November, 2006), "Indian Vacuum Society Symposium on Thin Films Science and Technology" (Mumbai, November, 2011), "International Conference on Emerging Advanced Nanomaterials" (Brisbane, October, 2012), "International Conference on Renewable Energy: Generations and Applications" (Al-Ain, March, 2014), and "Peradeniya University International Research Sessions" (Kandy, July, 2014).
He has also served as: Visiting
Professor, Hunan Normal University (2001-2004), Associate Editor, Chemistry
Letters, The Chemical Society of Japan (2003- 2005), Editorial Board Member,
e-Journal of Surface Science and Nanotechnology, The Surface Science Society of
Japan (2003 to present), Visiting Professor, Cornell University (2006-2007), Visiting Professor, Universiti Teknologi Petronas (2011), Editor, Journal of Biomass and Renewables (2011 to present) and Visiting Professor, University of Peradeniya (2014).