Professor Emeritus of Political Science, and Director Emeritus of the Asia/Pacific Research Center at Stanford University.

He has taught at the Stockholm School of Economics and the International Research Center in Japanese Studies in Kyoto, Japan. In 1978, Professor Okimoto co-founded the Shorenstein Asia/Pacific Research Center, a leading center for scholarly research, public policy, and policy outreach. He has been Vice-Chairman of the Japan Committee of the National Research Council at the National Academy of Sciences and a member of the Advisory Council of the Department of Politics at Princeton University.

From 1984 to 2000, Dr. Okimoto served as a special policy advisor to US Senator Bill Bradley. He worked on Senator Bradley’s Presidential Campaign in 1999 to 2000. Since August 2009, Dr. Okimoto has been serving as Special Policy Advisor for US Ambassador to Japan, John V. Roos, particularly on policy issues related to clean technology.

In 2004, Professor Okimoto received the Japanese Foreign Minister’s Commendation in recognition of his contributions to US-Japan relations during the 150th year celebration of bilateral relations. In 2007, he was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun with Goldray Neck Ribbon by the Japanese government, the highest honor that can be conferred on a non-Japanese. In 2009, Professor Okimoto was awarded ‘The Lifetime Achievement Award’ by the Keizai Society, US-Japan Business Council of Silicon Valley.

Professor Okimoto earned a BA from Princeton University, received an MA from Harvard University, and earned a PhD (Political Science) from the University of Michigan. He is the author and editor of numerous books and articles, including Between MITI and the Market: Japanese Industrial Policy for High Technology and co-editor, The Political Economy of Japan and Competitive Edge: The Semiconductor Industry in the U.S. and Japan, and, The Financial Crisis and America’s Capital Dependence on Japan and China, in Asia-Pacific Review, Vol. 16, No. 1, May 2009.

Professor of Electrical Engineering; Professor of Material Science and Engineering; Director of Research, Center for Integrated Systems; Director, Stanford Site of National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Newtwork, NNIN.; Stanford University.

Yoshio Nishi received his Ph.D. in electronics engineering from University of Tokyo. He first joined Toshiba Corporation in 1962, working in the area of semiconductor materials and processes during which he discovered the origin of the fast interface states. He is one of the pioneers in MNOS nonvolatile memory, silicon on sapphire (SOS) based devices, CMOS DRAM, SRAM and EPROM.

In 1986 he joined Hewlett-Packard as Director of Silicon Process Lab, became Center Director for ICBD R&D Center, and established ULSI Research Laboratory as the advanced IC technology research for HP.
In 1996 he joined Texas Instruments Inc, as Senior Vice President and Director of R&D in which he established a new R&D model and the Kilby Center for IC technology R&D.

In 2002 he joined Stanford University as Professor of Electrical Engineering, and also Director of NNIN Stanford Site, and Research Director of Center for Integrated Systems.

Professor Nishi published 200papers, co-authored several books and holds more than 50 patents. He has received a number of awards and honors, a part of which includes such as Fellow of IEEE (1987), IEEE Jack Morton Award (1995), IEEE Robert Noyce Medal (2002), and 2008 SEMI Lifetime Achievements Award. He also serves as Board Member of both public and private companies.