January 24, 2021
Since FY 2020, Japan ACM SIGCHI Chapter Awards identify and honor leaders of the field of human-computer interaction. We present awards in two categories:
The awards committee selected following recipients from the submitted award nominations after strict review. The award ceremony was taken place on January 24, 2021 in the International Symposium on Human-Computer Interaction 2021.
Dr. Kumiyo Nakakoji has made substantial research contributions to the field of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), particularly in knowledge interaction design and computational support for creative knowledge work. Her work has earned national and international recognition. Since the early 1990s, when there were few HCI researchers in Japan, she has been a pioneer in the field, actively presenting her work at various international conferences. She was one of the first Japanese researchers who served on CHI's Papers program committee, and she has taken on multiple key roles at CHI, including Tutorials, Workshops, and Mentoring.
She has not only been active internationally but has also had a profound influence on HCI research in Japan. She has made significant contributions to the development of the HCI research community, as well as related fields such as AI and software development over a number of years. Her service includes being an executive board member of the "Human Interface Society" and the "Information Processing Society of Japan", and taking on a number of governmental roles. Through these activities, she has shown a tireless commitment to mentorship and encouragement of young researchers, and also served as a role model for female researchers. She has inspired many young researchers and led the way for Japanese researchers to become internationally active. Dr. Nakakoji's research and community contributions to HCI are significant, and it is Japan ACM SIGCHI Chapter’s privilege to honor her with this award.
Dr. Daisuke Sakamoto has published many excellent research achievements in the fields of human-computer interaction and human-robot interaction and has been awarded many times at top-tier conferences. In addition to the research achievements, he has contributed extensively to the management of international conferences, journals, and academic society. For example, he has served as Paper Associate Chair of CHI, the most prestigious and important international conference in the field of HCI, in 2015, 2019 - 2021. He is also serving as an Associate Editor for several international journals. In Japan, he is continuously organizing a study group to overview CHI papers, which contributed to the increase in the number of accepted papers for the CHI conference from Japan. This group is recognized as a unique and world-largest study group now. Likewise, he started the Japan Night, which is held annually in the host city of the CHI conference. These activities have greatly contributed to the enhancement of Japan's presence in the field of HCI and have led to the decision to hold the conference in Japan for the first time in 2021. As a leader of young researchers in Japan for many years, he has contributed to the establishment and management of the Japan ACM SIGCHI Chapter as a treasurer, and the management and support of the large-scale key domestic symposium such as the Symposium on “Interaction” by the Information Processing Society of Japan and the Symposium on WISS by Software Science Society of Japan. Those his efforts and contributions to the strengthening and development of the HCI research community in Japan are remarkable.
As described above, Dr. Sakamoto's research achievements and contributions to the development of the research community have been outstanding, and he has been recognized as a worthy recipient of the Outstanding Young Researcher Award. We hope that he will make use of his experience to further promote excellent research under his new vision and establish a new research field, thereby playing an active role in a wider range of fields and making contributions.
Dr. Koji Yatani has made distinguished research contributions to the field of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), particularly in ubiquitous computing and mobile interaction. His papers were published at top-tier conferences and he was also given multiple awards there. In addition, he has actively contributed to conference and journal organization. He was a Program co-chair for UbiComp 2015, and is currently the Steering Committee chair for that conference. He has served as a Subcommittee co-chair for CHI 2019 and 2020, and is serving as a Papers co-chair for CHI 2022. He was one of the founding editors for PACM IMWUT, a premiere journal series for ubiquitous computing research. He currently serves as an associate editor for TOCHI, an editor for Foundations and Trends in Human-Computer Interaction, and a vice chair for Japan ACM SIGCHI Chapter. Dr. Yatani's research and community contributions are therefore outstanding.