Two students from the Graduate School of Life Science and Systems Engineering at Kyushu Institute of Technology (Kyutech) received distinguished awards at the European Materials Research Society (E-MRS) Spring Meeting 2026, one of Europe's largest international conferences in materials science, held in Strasbourg, France, from May 25 to 29, 2026.

E-MRS is one of the world's leading international conferences in the field of materials science, attracting more than 2,000 researchers to the 2026 meeting. The awards received by both students are presented only to a very limited number of outstanding contributions and are selected through a rigorous review process.

These achievements demonstrate that the research outcomes they have accumulated through their dedicated efforts have been highly recognized by the international scientific community, further highlighting the global competitiveness and excellence of Kyutech's research activities. In addition, Ms. Harshita Rai, recipient of the Young Researcher Outstanding Oral Presentation Award, attracted significant attention for her work and was interviewed by local media during the conference.

Furthermore, Professor Hirofumi Tanaka, Director of the Research Center for Neuromorphic AI Hardware and a faculty member of the Graduate School of Life Science and Systems Engineering, delivered an invited keynote lecture at the conference. Together with the students’ award-winning achievements, this provided an opportunity to showcase the international recognition of Kyutech’s research in neuromorphic AI hardware, particularly in the emerging field of Material AI, which aims to imbue materials themselves with intelligent information-processing capabilities.

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Group photo

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Ms. Harshita Rai(left)