Kenji Uchino, one of the pioneers in piezoelectric actuators and electro-optic displays, is the director of the International Center for Actuators and Transducers (ICAT) and the professor of electrical engineering at The Pennsylvania State University. He is currently teaching "ferroelectric devices," making use of this book, as well as two other books Micromechatronics and FEM and Micromechatronics with ATILA Software that have been published by CRC Press. He is also the senior vice president and CTO of Micromechatronics Inc., a spin-off company of ICAT, where he is trying to commercialize the ICAT-invented piezoactuators and transducers. He also started teaching "how to start-up a high-tech company" for young engineers using a textbook "Entrepreneurship for Engineers" published by CRC Press. After receiving his PhD from Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan, Uchino became a research associate in the physical electronics department at the same university. He then joined Sophia University, Japan, as an associate professor of physics in 1985. Subsequently, in 1991, he moved to Pennsylvania. He was also involved with the Space Shuttle Utilizing Committee at the National Space Development Agency (NASDA), Japan, during 1986–1988, and was the vice president of NF Electronic Instruments, United States, during 1992–1994. Uchino has an additional master’s degree in business and administration from St. Francis University, Loretto, Pennsylvania. He has served as a consultant for more than 100 Japanese, U.S., and European industries to commercialize piezoelectric actuators and electro-optic devices. He is the chairman of Smart Actuator/Sensor Study Committee that is partly sponsored by the Japanese government, Ministry of Economics, Trade and Industry (METI). He is also the associate editor of the Journal of Materials Technology (Matrice Technology) and an editorial board member of the Journal of Ferroelectrics (Gordon & Breach) and the Journal of Electroceramics (Kluwer Academic). He has also served as an administrative committee member for IEEE, Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control Society during 1998–2000. Uchino’s research interests are in solid-state physics—especially dielectrics, ferroelectrics, and piezoelectrics, including basic research on materials, device designing, and fabrication processes; he is also interested in the development and commercialization of solid-state actuators and displays for precision positioners, ultrasonic motors, projection-type TVs, etc. He has authored 550 papers, 60 books, and 26 patents on the subject of piezoelectric actuators and optical devices. He has been a fellow of the American Ceramic Society since 1997, and is also a recipient of the SPIE Smart Product Implementation Award (2007), the R&D 100 Award (2007), the ASME AdaptiveStructures Prize (2005), the Outstanding Research Award from Penn State Engineering Society (1996), the Academic Scholarship from Nissan Motors Scientific Foundation (1990), the Best Movie Memorial Award at the Japan Scientific Movie Festival (1989), and the Best Paper Award from the Japanese Society of Oil/Air Pressure Control (1987). Apart from his academic pursuits, Uchino is an honorary member of KERAMOS (National Professional Ceramic Engineering Fraternity) and has received the Best Movie Memorial Award as the director/producer of several educational videos on "dynamical optical observation of ferroelectric domains" and "ceramic actuators" at the Japan Scientific Movie Festival (1989).
