Masaaki Fujii honored with Humboldt Research Award

The German government's internationally acclaimed the Humboldt Research Award is presented by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation to renowned overseas researchers who have had and are expected to continue to have a lasting impact in their field. The award is not restricted to any particular academic discipline and allows the recipient to conduct research in Germany on a research topic chosen by the researcher and a collaborating partner at a host institution. Each year, up to 100 researchers receive the Humboldt Research Award, which is viewed as one of the most prestigious academic awards in Germany.

Prof. Fujii is well-known for his pioneering studies on molecular recognition phenomena and reaction dynamics in molecular clusters. He developed laser spectroscopic techniques to probe solvation dynamics in isolated molecular clusters in real time, with the aim to understand solvent effects in chemical reaction mechanisms at the molecular level. In Germany he will extend his previous studies to effects of solvent-solvent interactions on the properties of solvation dynamics and to biomolecular recognition.

It is great pleasure for me to be awarded the Humboldt Research Prize at the 250th anniversary of Professor Alexander von Humboldt. I deeply thank Prof. Dr. Otto Dopfer (TU Berlin and WRHI Tokyo Tech) who recommended me to avH, my hard-working collaborators, Tokyo Tech's Profs Shun-ichi Ishiuchi, Mitsuhiko Miyazaki, Makoto Sakai (current address:Okayama Science U), all the postdocs and graduate students. Such achievements are possible under the superior policy and research circumstance for scientific research in our university, which are prepared by the Chemical Resources Laboratory / Laboratory for Chemistry and Life Science, the Institute of Innovative Research, the School of Biotechnology, directed by President Kazuya Masu (the foundation director of IIR), CLS Director Prof. Toru Hisabori, Head of School of Biotechnology Prof. Mihara, and all related professors. Here, I would like to express my deep appreciation to all the people. Finally, I am grateful to my wife Kyoko (d. 2010) for her kind support and to my children for their encouragements.