NIMS Award Symposium 2024 Report

Day 1 | Wednesday, Nov.6

On November 6, the first day of the event, the NIMS Award 2024 ceremony and commemorative lectures were held. The lectures by the two distinguished award winners were a valuable opportunity to learn about cutting-edge knowledge and outstanding ideas. Around 500 audience attended the event, and the venue was packed with people standing in line to see the lectures.

In the afternoon, invited lectures by top scientists in related fields and presentations of the latest research results by NIMS researchers led to lively discussions.
The theme of the session was “Advanced Characterization for Materials Innovation,” and the presentations were given by Prof. Rafal E. Dunin-Borkowski of the Institute for Microstructure Research, Germany, Prof. Kazutomo Suenaga of Osaka University, Prof. Takayuki Uchihashi of Nagoya University, Prof. Masaki Takata of Tohoku University and Prof. Simon J. L. Billinge of Columbia University, USA gave invited talks, and two NIMS researchers, Dr. Shigeki Kawai (Nanoprobe Group) and Dr. Shinji Kohara (Quantum Beam Diffraction Group), gave presentations.

After the oral session, the poster session featured 99 presentations from inside and outside NIMS. Researchers from various fields gathered in the hall and enthusiastic discussions took place, especially among young researchers.

The NIMS Award Reception, held in the evening, provided a rare opportunity for attendees to interact directly with the NIMS Award winners and other prominent researchers from Japan and overseas.

Day 2 | Thursday, Nov.7

On the second day, November 7th, invited speakers and NIMS researchers presented on the three themes of “Synchrotron Spectroscopy and Imaging”, “Scanning Probe Microscopy” and “Advanced Electron Microscopy”, each of whom are conducting cutting-edge research in their respective fields.
In the “Synchrotron Spectroscopy and Imaging” session, Professor Changyoung Kim of Seoul National University, Korea, Dr. Hendrik Ohldag of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, USA, and Professor Yukio Takahashi of Tohoku University gave invited lectures, and from NIMS, Team Leader Dr. Yuichi Yamasaki (Synchrotron Radiation Imaging Team) gave a presentation.

In the “Scanning Probe Microscopy” session, Professor Lifeng Chi of Soochow University, China, Professor Yasuhiro Sugawara of Osaka University, and Professor Soo-hyon Phark of the Center for Quantum Nanoscience, Korea gave invited lectures, and from NIMS, Senior Researcher Dr. Shunsuke Yoshizawa (Nano Probe Group) gave a presentation.

In the final session on “Advanced Electron Microscopy”, Professor Yasunori Murakami of Kyushu University and Professor Colin Ophus of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, USA gave invited lectures, and Dr. Naoyuki Kawamoto (Electron Microscopy Group) of NIMS gave a presentation.

At the closing ceremony, three outstanding posters were selected from the 99 poster presentations and awarded. The Best Poster Award went to Junya Okazaki of the University of Tokyo, and the Poster Award went to Dr. Katsuaki Nakazawa, ICYS Research Fellow at the International Center for Young Scientists (ICYS), and Dr. Yuta Ishii, Research Fellow at the NIMS Materials Science Center.

Many participants highly evaluated the two-day symposium, saying that it was a good opportunity to learn about the latest characterization techniques in various fiels.

The next NIMS Award Symposium will be held in November 2025 and will focus on energy-related materials and technologies in the field of environment and energy.

NIMS Award Commemorative Medal

The winners of NIMS AWARD received “Urban Mined Ethical Gold-Plated Silver Medal” as a supplementary prize. The gold was extracted from urban mines of environmentally and ethically friendly.
【Material】 Urban Mined Ethical Gold-Plated Silver
【Chemical composition】 Gold - 99.99% by mass

NIMS AWARD medal was made using gold extracted from urban mines, just like the gold medals at the 2020 TOKYO Olympic and Paralympic Games. Urban mining is a resource- and environment-friendly that collects and reuses metals from used home appliances, mobile phones, computers, and other products. The concept of urban mines was triggered by the NIMS’s announcement (by Dr. Kohmei Halada) in 2008 of its importance of urban mines accumulated so far and spread out to the recycling system for small home appliances as well as the gold, silver, and bronze medals at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympic Games. The NIMS AWARD medal was also made by plating a silver base metal with gold extracted from urban mines of environmentally- and ethically friendly.