FY2026 Suematsu Award “Fundamentals and Developments of Innovative Value Creation” and Science Tokyo Challenging Research Award
The FY 2026 Suematsu Award for “Fundamentals and Developments of Innovative Value Creation” went to two researchers and the of the FY 2026 Science Tokyo Challenging Research Award went to eight researchers.
Three of whom further received the Suematsu Challenging Research Award.
The joint awards ceremony was held on October 1.
Suematsu Award “Fundamentals and Developments of Innovative Value Creation”
The Suematsu Award for "Fundamentals and Developments of Innovative Value Creation" was established to foster young researchers pursuing work that leads to innovative value creation in various fields of science and technology, including the humanities and social sciences. The award aims to provide a wide range of support for foundational research that underpins the creation of innovative value.
This award is the successor to the Suematsu Award for "Fundamentals and Development of Digital Technology," which was established by the Suematsu Fund in 2018. Starting in FY 2025, we have expanded the scope of support to include the medical and dental fields.
Science Tokyo Challenging Research Award
The award was established to encourage young faculty members at the Institute to engage in challenging and original research. It recognizes creative, up-and-coming researchers who boldly pursue the promotion of the most advanced research in the world, pioneering new fields of study, innovative development of new research, and taking on important issues that are difficult to solve. Recipients are granted research funding to support their work. Eligible candidates include associate professors, lecturers, and assistant professors under the age of 40. Many past awardees have subsequently received the Commendation for Science and Technology by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.
This award, originally presented since 2002 as the “Tokyo Tech Challenging Research Award,” changed its name to the “Science Tokyo Challenging Research Award” following the integration. Beginning in FY 2025, its scope of support has been expanded to include the medical and dental sciences.
The Suematsu Challenging Research Award is presented to particularly outstanding recipients of the Challenging Research Award. This award is made possible by the Suematsu Fund, which was established based on the desire of former President and Honorary Professor Yasuharu Suematsu to support young researchers. The Fund mainly supports young researchers, encouraging their research activities to predict and study the development of unexplored scientific and technological systems in diverse fields and to realize hidden futures within society.
Suematsu Fund
Former Tokyo Tech President and Honorary Professor Yasuharu Suematsu was awarded the Japan Prize in 2014 and the Order of Culture in 2015 for his contributions to society through the development of high-capacity, long-distance optical fiber communications. These achievements stemmed from his groundbreaking research at the Institute, particularly on dynamic single-mode lasers.
In recognition of his achievements and dedication to supporting young researchers, the former Tokyo Institute of Technology established the Suematsu Fund using donations from the Japan Prize. The Fund was created to carry forward Honorary Professor Suematsu's commitment to promote and support young researchers and their research activities.
Additional contributions to the Fund have been made by the Founder and Chairman of Gurunavi Inc., Hisao Taki, Professor Emeritus Fumio Koyama, and Senior Advisor Kazuo Kyuma, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO), all of whom share its mission. The Fund provides broad support for young researchers across disciplines, including science and engineering as well as medicine and dentistry.
Award Winners
FY2026 Suematsu Award “Fundamentals and Developments of Innovative Value Creation”
Sou Yasuhara
Assistant professor, Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering, School of Materials and Chemical Technology
Research Topic: "Transcending the Boundary between Single Crystals and Ceramics: Realization of Ideal Ion-Conductive Pathways via Single-Grain Thin Films"
Keerativoranan Nopphon
Assistant Professor, Dept. of Transdisciplinary Science and Engineering, School of Environment and Society
Research Topic: A Hybrid Kinematic–Kinetic Human Fall Model for Synthetic Wi-Fi CSI Micro-Doppler Data Generation in Passive Fall Detection
FY2026 Science Tokyo Challenging Research Award
KIM BYUNGGI
Associate professor, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, School of Engineering
Research Topic: Exploring quantum transduction mechanisms in a triply resonant microwave–hypersonic phonon–optical system
Akira Takahashi
Assistant professor, Dept. of Chemical Science and Engineering, School of Materials and Chemical Technology
Research Topic: Creation and Sustainable Design of Organic Polymers Exhibiting Hydraulicity
Yuichi Mitsui
Assistant Professor, Dept. of Immunology, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences
Research Topic: Elucidating the Mechanisms Underlying Susceptibility to Type 2 Diabetes Mediated by Disease-Specific Readthrough Transcripts
Yusuke Matsuyama
Associate Professor, Dept. of Dental Public Health, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences
Research Topic: Heterogeneous Effects of Oral Function: A Causal Machine Learning Approach
Yuto Honda
Assistant professor, Laboratory for Chemistry and Life Science, Institute of Integrated Research, the Suematsu Challenging Research Award
Research Topic: A Novel Approach for the Degradation of Intracellular Undruggable Target Proteins Using Antibody-loaded Nanoparticles
Kazuya Kanemoto
Associate Professor, Laboratory for Biomaterials and Bioengineering, Institute of Integrated Research, the Suematsu Challenging Research Award
Research Topic: Multicomponent Cycloaddition for Site-Selective Peptide Functionalization
Sayaka Deguchi
Junior Associate Professor, Medical Research Institute, Institute of Integrated Research
Research Topic: Regulation of Fluid Shear Stress–Induced Dedifferentiation in Human Hepatocytes
Daichi Fujiki
Associate Professor, AI Computing Research Unit, Institute of Integrated Research, the Suematsu Challenging Research Award
Research Topic: Efficient Physical AI Edge Architecture via Memory-Computation Integration