Tokyo Institute of Technology: Doctoral student Kou Li receives 35th Advanced Technology Award from education minister

Kou Li, a 3rd-year doctoral student in Electrical and Electronic Engineering, has received the 35th Advanced Technology Award from Japan’s Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. Li received the award for his research on technology that utilizes advanced materials to enable accurate observation of internal conditions of social infrastructure, such as electricity and water supply, regardless of location or structure.

The Advanced Technology Award was established in 1986 to nurture originality and creativity in science and engineering students, and to motivate them to pursue research further. Today, accolades are awarded in two categories, the student category and the working professional category, with the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology prize being the highest honor in each category.

In the presence of Her Imperial Highness Princess Takamado, Li received the award from Hiroshi Masuko, the director-general of the Higher Education Bureau at the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) at a ceremony held on July 14.

At the ceremony, the chairperson of the judges’ committee, Tohoku University Professor Emeritus Hiroyuki Abe stated that “today’s researchers are conducting increasingly complex research that cannot be restricted to any specific academic field. In the student category, research with novel ideas and unique conceptions once again stood out.”