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April 2006
Four alumni of the College of Engineering and Applied Science were
honored with the Distinguished Engineering Alumni Award at the 41st annual
Engineering Awards Banquet on April 21, 2006. The awards recognize alumni and
special friends of the college who have distinguished themselves through
outstanding personal qualities, knowledge, and significant contributions to
their field.
Dean Robert Davis presented the 2006 awards in the categories
of private practice, education, industry and commerce, and research and
invention. The recipients were nominated by their colleagues and selected for
the awards by the Engineering Advisory Council.
One of this year's awards went to Computer Science alumnus
Kumiyo Nakakoji:
Kumiyo Nakakoji
is a highly regarded educator and one of a select number of
researchers in the world who study how information technologies can be deployed
to support creative knowledge work at both the individual and group levels. She
is considered a pioneer in Japan, bringing together the computer and cognitive
sciences for a new generation of students.
After receiving her bachelor's degree in computer science from Osaka University
in Japan, Nakakoji started working for Software Research Associates (SRA) Inc.,
Japan. Through the company's scholarship, she attended the University of
Colorado Boulder, graduating with her computer science master's degree in
1990 and doctorate in 1993. She began her academic career as the cognitive
sciences chair at the Graduate School of Information Science at the Nara
Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Tokyo, before becoming an adjoint
associate professor at the Institute of Cognitive Science at CU-Boulder.
Nakakoji now is a full professor with the Research Center for Advanced Science
and Technology at the University of Tokyo and a senior researcher with SRA Key
Technology Laboratory, Inc.
She maintains strong ties with the University of Colorado as an ambassador
between the Japanese and American professional communities. Nakakoji is an
active liaison introducing people and sharing research through workshops and
conferences, keynote speeches, and invited university and industry guests. She
is credited with influencing researchers in higher education to reexamine how
to address research issue, formulate models and approaches, and communicate
research outcomes in international settings.
She serves as a member of many doctoral students' review committees in Japan,
as well as the University of Colorado, Georgia Institute of Technology, and the
University of Oulu, Finland. Nakakoji plays a major role in promoting
collaborative research projects involving members of the CU-Boulder Center for
LifeLong Learning and Design.
She is the recipient of two prestigious Japanese research fellow awards for
young researchers from the Precursory Research for Embryonic Science and
Technology (PRESTO) program by the Japan Science and Technology Agency).
Nakakoji's professional community service is extensive. She serves as the
program officer for one of the largest funding agencies in Japan, where she is
the representative of the Human-Computer Interaction area. She is currently
Chair of Special Interest Group on Human Interface at the Information
Processing Society of Japan. In 2002 she was awarded the Association for
Computing Machinery Recognition Service Award. She is featured in the book
How to Be a Scientist, which is published in Japan to encourage high
school students to study science.
See
Computer Science Distinguished Engineering Alumni
and
College of Engineering and Applied Science Alumni Awards
for more information.
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