First from the Asia-Pacific Region in IEEE’s 134-year history

Toshio Fukuda, Visiting Senior Researcher at Waseda Research Institute for Science and Engineering

Toshio Fukuda ’71, a visiting senior researcher at Waseda Research Institute for Science and Engineering and graduate of the School of Science and Engineering, was elected as the 2019 IEEE president-elect on October 5, 2018.

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is the world’s largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancement in technology with more than 420,000 members from over 160 countries. This is the first time in the organization’s 134-year history that a president has been chosen from the Asia-Pacific region.

Fukuda graduated from Waseda University’s School of Science and Engineering (Kiichi Tsuchiya Laboratory) in 1971. After obtaining his Ph.D. from the University of Tokyo, he taught at Tokyo University of Science and Nagoya University, and served as IEEE Robotics & Automation Society president (1998-1999). He is now a professor of mechatronics engineering at Meijo University.

Even after graduating, Fukuda, a leading figure in robotics research, has stayed engaged in exchange with Waseda by participating in research projects with robotics researchers from the University, and his advice and feedback as a visiting senior researcher enhance the education and research activities at Waseda.

Congratulatory messages

Professor Hironori Kasahara

The preceding organization of IEEE was established by Thomas Alva Edison, Alexander Graham Bell and others in 1884, and now having more than 420,000 members from over 160 countries, IEEE has grown into one of the world’s largest and most prominent academic organizations. There are 40 societies under IEEE, branching out into various technical areas such as computers, robotics & automation, telecommunications, electricity & energy, and transportation systems. I feel great pleasure and am extremely honored as a fellow alumnus of Waseda University that Toshio has been elected as the 2019 IEEE president-elect, the first from the Asia-Pacific region in the organization’s 134-year history.

Ever since I met Toshio in 1983 at the IFAC World Congress, a prestigious international conference in automatic control, I have always had respect for his exceptional academic achievements, his personal magnetism which allows him to become friends with people from all over the world in an instant, and his ever-optimistic and proactive attitude toward research. We have been participating together in the IEEE Technical Activities Board Meeting, the highest committee meeting in technology, usually held in the United States.

As I wholeheartedly congratulate Toshio for his achievement, I pray that he will lead IEEE to development in technology in the best interest of all the lives on earth in the future.

Hironori Kasahara

Professor, Graduate School of Fundamental Science and Engineering, Waseda University
President, IEEE Computer Society; IEEE Fellow
Director of the Advanced Multicore Processor Research Institute of Green Computing Systems Research Organization, Waseda University
Member of the Engineering Academy of Japan and the Science Council of Japan

Professor Shigeki Sugano

As his junior at Waseda University’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, I am very happy that Toshio was elected as president-elect of IEEE, the world’s largest organization for engineering including robotics and computing.

It has been nearly 40 years since Toshio and I met in a lecture presented by the late Professor Ichiro Kato, a former teacher of mine. We have got together at academic meetings held overnight and have sang the Miyako no Seihoku (Waseda University’s Alma mater) at parties of international symposiums. He has been very helpful and supportive, both professionally and personally. Currently, we supervise research as well as organize together the International Conference on Intelligent Robotics, the world’s largest international conference in the field of robotics. I hope that Waseda University’s education and research in the robotics field will develop with Toshio being elected as IEEE president-elect.

Shigeki Sugano

Dean of the School and Graduate School of Creative Science and Engineering
Professor of the Department of Modern Mechanical Engineering
Unit Leader of Frontier of Embodiment Informatics: ICT and Robotics, Waseda’s Top Global University Project
Director, Institute for Human Robot Co-Creation, Waseda Future Robotics Organization
IEEE Fellow