WAKINO AWARD The international community of electroceramicists received the sad news of the death of Prof. Kikuo Wakino in November 2013. His death was a huge loss for the whole international scientific community. Shortly thereafter, the idea of an award was proposed by Prof. Dani Suvorov (Founding member of MMA Advisory Board and host of the inaugural MMA meeting in 2000) and in January 2014 it was officially announced by Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. through the generosity of Dr. Akira Ando (R&D manager at Murata who secured both the cooperation of the Wakino family as well as the funding from Murata) and Dr. Yukio Sakabe, currently of Tokyo Institute of Technology but former executive director of Murata. The award is to be given to one outstanding researcher each two years at the MMA meeting. Murata, and in particular Dr. Wakino, was one of the founders of this conference series. The award consists of US$1233.80 (~€1000). Kikuo Wakino graduated from Osaka University with a B.S. in Physics (1950) and a Ph.D. in Engineering (1980). He took a position with Togawa Rubber Co. in 1950 but left to join Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. as a research engineer in 1952, becoming the leader of a research group for dielectric ceramics and applications in 1955. He became assistant manager of electronic ceramics development in 1961, manager of that department in 1965, and director and manager in 1967. From 1972 to 1979, Dr. Wakino was executive director of Murata Manufacturing, being promoted to senior executive director in 1979. In 1991 he began serving Murata in the capacity of corporate advisor, also working as a visiting professor at Ritsumeikan University from 1992. During Dr. Wakino’s distinguished career, he was responsible for many developments in the area of electronic ceramics and applications. Early in his career, he established mass production lines of low-cost disc type ceramic capacitors, increasing productivity and lowering costs. Under his leadership, PTC ceramics, PZT ceramic filters, and MLCs were developed and eventually brought into mass production. He conducted the development work of ultra-low-loss ceramics for dielectric resonators, microwave filters, and oscillators for cellular telephones and satellite communications. As executive and senior executive director, he guided policy-making toward future technical directions company-wide. Dr. Wakino was the recipient of many honors and awards, including the Award of Technical Progress of the Japanese Ceramic Society (1978), the Award of the Science and Technology Agency (Japanese Government, 1988), the Blue Ribbon Medal (Japanese Government, 1988), Distinguished Microwave Lecturer (MTT-S, 1996), Microwave Application Award (MTT-S, 1996), the Wilhelm R. Buessem Award (Center for Dielectric Studies, 1996), and the Fourth Class Order of the Sacred Treasure (Japanese Government, 1998). He was a member of the American Physical Society, the Physical Society of Japan, the Japan Society of Applied Physics, and the Ceramic Society of Japan, and he was a Fellow of both the American Ceramic Society and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. The winner of the 2014 Wakino Award was Dr. David Cruickshank of Skyworks Solutions. David was a plenary speaker at MMA2014 and has made extensive contributions over many years in the materials science of microwave dielectric ceramics, microwave magnetic ceramics as well as the microwave properties of metals and polymers. In addition, he has a complete understanding of microwave applications and how material developments are linked to device performance. He is an author of numerous papers and patents, many of which are referenced in his book; Microwave Materials for Wireless Applications published in 2011 by Artech House. The winner of the 2016 Wakino Award was Prof. Danilo Suvorov of Jozef Stefan Institute. Danilo had made a plenary talk in at MMA 2016. The academic activity reflects broad and productive research works in ceramic science and technology. He is among the most recognized experts in the field of electronic ceramics. Moreover, he authored numerous papers in journals and proceedings and is co-editor of four books - proceedings. He has presented papers and invited lectures and visited several laboratories in various European countries, USA, Brazil and Japan, South Korea and China. Nominations for the 2018 Wakino Award should be sent to kirihara@jwri.osaka-u.ac.jp and should contain your name and contact details, the name and contact details of the nominee, and a brief description of the nominee’s merits which qualify him/her for the award. One example of the nominee’s work (academic paper, patent, book/chapter, etc.) may also be included for consideration with the nomination.