Nagamori AwardsPast Winners

Award Winners (2023)

The Grand Nagamori Award (2023)

Nobuyuki Kurita
[Associate Professor, Department of Surgery, Baylor College of Medicine / Congenital Heart Surgery, Texas Children’s Hospital]
Contribution to the technological advancement of bearingless motors and magnetic bearings for various types of artificial hearts development

Award Winners (2023)

Ke-Horng Chen
[Chair Professor, Department of Electronics and Electrical Engineering / Institute of Electrical and Control Engineering, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University]
Pioneering research and development on power management IC and system designs in aims to contribute to global green energy technology
Juri Jatskevich
[Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Faculty of Applied Science, The University of British Columbia]
For modelling, analysis and control of electric motors and generators
Sangbae Kim
[Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology]
Proprioceptive actuation for robots designed for physical interactions and development of impact mitigation factor (IMF)
Sheldon Williamson
[Professor and NSERC Canada Research Chair, Department of Electrical, Computer, and Software Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, Ontario Tech University]
Innovative traction motor drives for highly-efficient and cost-effective e-mobility powertrains
Junming Zhang
[Professor, College of Electrical Engineering, Zhejiang University]
Active gate drive with fast response time for power loss reduction and reliability improvement in traction inverter applications

Award Winners (2022)

The Grand Nagamori Award (2022)

Gianmario Pellegrino
[Full Professor, Department of Energy "Galileo Ferraris", Politecnico di Torino]
Synchronous and PM-synchronous reluctance motor drives - theory, design, and control methods

Award Winners (2022)

Huijun Gao
[Professor and Director, Research Institute of Intelligent Control and Systems, Harbin Institute of Technology]
For contributions to the advanced control for mechatronic systems
Yunwei Ryan Li
[Professor and Acting Department Chair, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Alberta]
For contribution to the PWM, control and converter topology of medium voltage high power industrial drives
Burak Ozpineci 
[Section Head, Vehicle and Mobility Systems Research Section, Building and Transportation Science Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory]
Low cost, high efficiency, compact electric motor drives for more electrified transportation systems
Maryam Saeedifard
[Professor, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology]
For contributions to highly-efficient, power-dense and fault-tolerant multilevel converter-based medium-voltage drives
Akio Yamamoto
[Professor, Department of Human and Engineered Environmental Studies, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo ]
Pioneering research and development on theoretical models and applied systems for electrostatic film actuators

Award Winners (2021)

The Grand Nagamori Award (2021)

Tom Oomen
[Full Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Eindhoven University of Technology]
Advanced motion control for precision mechatronics: identification, learning, and control

Award Winners (2021)

Tobias Geyer
[R&D Platform Manager, ABB System Drives]
Research in and industrial productization of predictive control methods maximizing the power and efficiency of electrical drives
Leila Parsa
[Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California, Santa Cruz]
Multi-phase permanent magnet motors, design, analysis, and control
Ronghai Qu
[Professor, School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Huazhong University of Science & Technology]
Flux modulation machines – theory, topologies, and applications
Akshay Kumar Rathore
[Associate Professor, Graduate Program Director and Chair of Graduate Awards, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Gina Cody School of Engineering and Computer Science, Concordia University]
Optimal extremely low switching frequency control of medium voltage high power industrial motor drives
Jun Ueda
[Professor, George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology]
Cellular actuators inspired by biological muscles and their human assistive applications

Award Winners (2020)

The Grand Nagamori Award (2020)

Chris Gerada
[Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Professor of Electrical Machines, University of Nottingham]
For contributions to advancements in high performance electrical machines and their industrial application and uptake

Award Winners (2020)

Yasuhisa Hirata
[Professor, Department of Robotics, Graduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University]
Development of motion control technology for passive robot using servo brake actuators for high safety and low power consumption
Alireza Khaligh
[Professor and Director, Maryland Power Electronics Laboratory, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering & the Institute for Systems Research, University of Maryland at College Park]
Pioneering research and development on design and control of high-efficiency and high-power-density electric-motor-integrated wide bandgap power electronics
Shihua Li
[Professor, Vice Dean, School of Automation, Southeast University]
For contributions to the nonlinear modeling, analysis and multi-disturbance rejection control solution for precise motion control systems
Annette Muetze
[Professor, Vice Dean, Department of Electric Engineering and Information Technology, Graz University of Technology]
Increasing the reliability, efficiency, and utilization of variable speed drive systems
Jin Wang
[Professor, Center for High Performance Power Electronics, The Ohio State University]
Leading-edge research and development of wide bandgap power device based electric machine drives

Award Winners (2019)

The Grand Nagamori Award (2019)

Takashi Kato (JAPAN)
[Senior Manager, EV System Laboratory, Research Division, Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.]
Improving Efficiency of Vehicle Traction Motors by using Variable Magnetic Flux Characteristic

Award Winners (2019)

Radu Bojoi (ROMANIA)
[Professor, Chairman of the Power Electronics Innovation Center (PEIC), Dipartimento Energia "Galileo Ferraris", Politecnico di Torino]
For contributions to electrical drives control
Ayman M. EL-Refaie (USA)
[Thomas and Suzanne M. Werner Endowed Chair Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Opus College of Engineering, Marquette University]
High-Speed Permanent Magnet machines for Transportation and Aerospace Systems
Mohammad S. Islam (USA)
[Chief Scientist – Electromagnetics, Halla Mechatronics]
Contributions to electric motors and electromagnetic actuators and sensors for safety critical automotive applications
Jianxin Shen (CHINA)
[Professor, Deputy Dean, College of Electrical Engineering, Zhejiang University]
An Outstanding Scholar in Permanent Magnet Electrical Machines and High Speed Electrical Machines for Design, Control and Applications
Bram Vanderborght (BELGIUM)
[Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, The Brussels Human Robotics Research Center (BruBotics), Vrije Universiteit Brussel and Flanders Make]
For his groundbreaking work on compliant and self healing actuators for safe and energy efficient human-robot interaction with applications in health and manufacturing

Award Winners (2018)

The Grand Nagamori Award (2018)

Bulent Sarlioglu (USA)
[Associate Professor, Associate Director of Wisconsin Electric Machines and Power Electronics Consortium, College of Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison]
Pioneering research and development on high-efficiency and high-power density new and classical electric motors with wide bandgap device power electronic drives

Award Winners (2018)

Jose Alfonso Antonino Daviu (SPAIN)
[Associate Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering, School of Industrial Engineering, Universitat Politecnica de Valencia]
Development of advanced fault diagnosis techniques for the reliable condition monitoring of electric motors based on transient current analysis
Jun-ichi Itoh (JAPAN)
[Professor, Department of Electrical, Electronics and Information Engineering, Nagaoka University of Technology]
Development of Technology for Size Reduction and Simple control method of Adjustable Speed Drive Systems
Seiichiro Katsura (JAPAN)
[Associate Professor, Department of System Design Engineering, Faculty of Science and Technology, Keio University]
Applied Abstraction and Integrated Design and Their Applications to Motion Control
Hiroshi Toshiyoshi (JAPAN)
[Professor, Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, The University of Tokyo]
Leading study on the fundamentals and industrial applications of MEMS actuators
Bin Yao (USA)
[Professor, School of Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University]
Theory and Applications of Adaptive Robust Controls to Integrated Design of Intelligent and High-Performance Mechatronic Systems

Award Winners (2017)

The Grand Nagamori Award (2017)

Yoshitaka Iwaji (Japan)
[Chief Researcher, Motor Systems Research Department, Center for Technology Innovation - Controls, Research & Development Group, Hitachi, Ltd.]
Widely Applicable Control Technique for Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motors without Rotor Position Sensor

Award Winners (2017)

Takashi Abe (Japan)
[Professor, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Division of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Graduate School of Engineering, Nagasaki University]
Development of a variable field flux motor utilizing power electronics aiming at high efficiency in a wide speed and torque range
Satomi Hattori (Japan)
[Associate Professor, Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Faculty of Science and Technology, Shizuoka Institute of Science and Technology]
Research and development of high efficiency and low vibration motors which considered the issue of global environment
Makoto Iwasaki (Japan)
[Professor, Department of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya Institute of Technology]
Research and Development on Fast and Precision Positioning Techniques for Advanced Mechatronic Systems
Masaharu Komori (Japan)
[Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Science, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University]
Research on general characteristics of rotation transmission mechanism with geometric surface contact, its ultra precision measurement, and precise change of rotational ratio
Minh C. Ta (Vietnam)
[Associate Professor, Centre for Technology Innovation and Department of Industrial Automation, School of Electrical Engineering, Hanoi University of Science and Technology]
Implementation of innovative control techniques to improve performance and to save energy of electric motor drives
Masatsugu Takemoto (Japan)
[Associate Professor, Division of Systems Science and Informatics, Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, Hokkaido University]
Research on high performance and high functioning of electric motors to realize reduction of environmental burden
Kanokvate Tungpimolrut (Thailand)
[Deputy executive director, National Electronics and Computer Technology Center]
Motor, Drive system development and related appropriated applications for Thai society and industry

Award Winners (2016)

The Grand Nagamori Award (2016)

Hiroshi Fujimoto(Japan)
[Associate Professor, Department of Advanced Energy, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, the University of Tokyo]
Research and Development of Electric Vehicle Motor Control and Wireless In-wheel Motor with Improved Safety and Energy Efficiency

Award Winners (2016)

Jumpei Arata(Japan)
[Associate Professor, System Engineering Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyushu University]
Embedded elasticity in mechanism : Applications in Medicine and Industry
Elena Andreevna Lomonova(The Netherlands)
[Professor, Eindhoven University of Technology]
New concepts, design methods, development and realization of advanced multi-degrees of freedom permanent magnet actuation and vibration isolation systems
Tomoaki Mashimo(Japan)
[Associate Professor, Electronics-Inspired Interdisciplinary Research Institute (EIIRIS), Toyohashi University of Technology]
Research on Micro Ultrasonic Motors
Taketsune Nakamura(Japan)
[Associate Professor, Superconductivity Engineering, Department of Electrical Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University ]
Pioneering Research on High-temperature Superconducting Induction/Synchronous Motors and Challenges in their Application to Transportation Equipment
Atsushi Nishikawa(Japan)
[Professor, Bioengineering Course, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Robotics, Faculty of Textile Science and Technology, Shinshu University ]
Research and development of a medical actuator and an endoscopic robot to support minimally invasive surgery and treatment and their control technologies

The Special Award (2016)

Masato Sagawa(Japan)
[President, NDFEB Corporation]
The invention and industrialization of the world most powerful Nd-Fe-B sintered magnets and the continuation of the research and development of the production technologies enabling their resource saving manufacturing and the reduction in the amount of usage of rare metals

Award Winners(2015)

The Grand Nagamori Award (2015)

Kan Akatsu(Japan)
[Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering, College of Engineering Shibaura Institute of Technology]
Research on and development of low-cost, high-performance SR motors to foster more widespread use and increase energy-savings

Award Winners (2015)

Wolfgang Gruber(Austria)
[Assistant Professor, Institute of Electrical Drives and Power Electronics, Johannes Kepler University (JKU) Linz | Senior Researcher, LCM GmbH]
Design, optimization and manufacturing of novel of bearingless slice motor topologies and their industrial implementation
Yasuhisa Hasegawa(Japan)
[Professor, Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya University]
Basic research and clinical applications concerning upper limb support technology for disabled patients
Chun-Yu Hsiao(Taiwan)
[Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering National Taiwan University of Science and Technology | Technical Adviser, Kilews Industrial Co., Ltd.]
Design of High Performance Permanent-magnet Synchronous Motor
Takeshi Morita(Japan)
[Associate Professor, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo]
Research on the basic driving principles of the piezoelectric actuator and how this technology can be used in the development of new applications
Omar Scaglione(Switzerland)
[R&D Engineer, Product Development, Faulhaber Minimotor SA]
Iron Hysteresis and Enhanced Kalman Filtering for Sensorless Position Detection of Synchronous Motors