Blueprint for a Methanol Society

Junji Nakamura received his Ph.D. from Hokkaido University in 1988, and subsequently worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow at Indiana University and University of Washington. He then served for 32 years in research and education at the University of Tsukuba, before assuming his current position as Research Professor at the International Institute for Carbon-Neutral Energy Research, Kyushu University. His work focuses on heterogeneous catalysis for environmental and energy issues, including CO2-to-methanol synthesis and non-Pt fuel cell catalysts. The research paper published in Science in 2016 is among the most cited papers with a keyword of “catalyst”.  He has received awards from the Surface Science Society (2017), the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (2018), and the Catalysis Society of Japan (2018). Since 2024, he has served on the IUPAC Committee on Chemical Research Applied to World Needs (CHEMRAWN).

Masayoshi Ishida received his Ph.D. in Engineering from Tsukuba University in 1993. He is currently Professor in Institute of Systems and Information Engineering of Tsukuba University. His research focuses on construction of environment-friendly energy system utilizing renewable energy, hydrogen-related carriers, and electrochemical devices. He won IEEJ Distinguished Paper Award in 1994 and Best Faculty Member Award of Tsukuba University in 2013. He is also in charge of executive board members of Fuel Cell Development Information Center, East Asian Circle of Applied Technology Foundation, Chairman of Ibaraki Hydrogen Utilization Promotion Council, Secretary of The SOFC Society of Japan, Representative Director of Institute for Energy Technology Innovation, and etc.