Masataka Ando
– Citation
As President of the Seismological Society of Japan, he made a significant contribution to the realization of the joint meeting of geoscience related societies by passing a resolution on the establishment of a consultative organization related to the holding of the joint meeting of Japan Earth and Planetary Science Joint Meeting, and by calling on other societies in cooperation with the Society of Geomagnetism and Earth, Planetary and Space Sciences.
– Comment
I would like to congratulate the JpGU meeting for celebrating its 30th anniversary last year, counting from its predecessor, the Joint meeting of geoscience related societies. I think the launch of the joint meeting was a result of the increasing number of attendees at AGU and IUGG at that time and the growing desire for a meeting that crosses disciplines. Many people worked hard to make the joint meeting a reality, and it was accomplished in a relatively short time. The first joint meeting could be held at Kyoritsu Women’s University, which also hastened the realization of the joint meeting. We owe this to the dedicated efforts of Dr. Noriko Sugi, a geophysics researcher at the university. After that, each university took over the meeting on a rotating basis, and the following year, Kyoto University, to which I belonged, also hosted the meeting. I remember that a lot of staff and students were involved in the preparation and management of the meeting. After that, I attended the conference only as a participant, but I was impressed by the special session after the Tohoku earthquake, where a comprehensive discussion was held spanning a wide range of fields. One of the things that impressed me was the establishment of a “nursery” to take care of the children of the participants. Not only was this a progressive attempt, but it was also made possible by the larger scale of the meeting. Recently, there has been a noticeable increase in the number of honors and recognitions such as fellows and various awards, but I would like to see focus on those that target young researchers. As for the future, my wish is to see a woman become the president soon.