Motoko Kotani is Executive Vice President for Research, Tohoku University, Japan. Her interest has been in mathematics (geometric analysis), related to mathematical physics. She was awarded the 25th Saruhashi Prize for “Study of crystal lattice via discrete geometric analysis” in 2005. While she works in pure mathematics, she is active in communication with researchers in other scientific fields. She has led several big research projects bridging mathematics and materials science. Based on her experience and achievement both in research and management, she was appointed as Director of the Advanced Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University in 2012, an institute with 200 researchers, first established under the national program “World Premier International Research Center Initiative” in 2007.
Kotani holds / held the following positions:
- At Tohoku University: Executive Vice President for Research (April 2020-)/Associate Executive Vice President (2014-2019)/Principal Investigator (2011-)/Director (2012-2019), Advanced Institute for Materials Research/Professor (2004-), Mathematical Institute
- At RIKEN: Executive Director (4/2017-3/2020)
Her social contributions are varied: Executive member, Council of Science, Technology and Innovation, Cabinet Office, Japan (2014-)/Member, Board of Governors, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology School Corporation (2014-)/President of the Mathematical Society of Japan (2015-2016), board member (2008-2019)/Member of advisory committees of several national research institutes (such as National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, National Institute of Informatics, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, National Institute for Materials Science), RIKEN