2017 Recipients of C&C Prize
The recipients of the 2017 C&C Prize were selected as shown below.
Group A
>> Group A Detailed Description
Dr. Mitsuo Kawato
Director, ATR Fellow, ATR Brain Information Communication Research Laboratory Group, Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International
Citation
For contributions to pioneering research and development based on the advanced integration of neuroscience, artificial intelligence, and information engineering, and its innovative application to psychiatry
Achievement(summary)
Remarkable progress has been made in neuroscientific research to elucidate the structure and functions of the brain over the past fifty years. This research remains important today as we seek a deeper understanding of neuronal functions, such as information representation and processing in the brain. Illuminating the brain’s functions allows us to better understand advanced cognitive operations. This in turn accelerates research in computational neuroscience leading to the creation of machines and computer programs that operate on the same principles as our brains. We anticipate that many new findings will be made through the integration of psychiatry, neuroscience, and information engineering to help resolve pressing social issues such as maintenance and recovery of the cognitive functions in the elderly, and precise, personalized medicine in the diagnosis and treatment of mental illnesses.
Dr. Kawato's groundbreaking achievement of integrating neuroscience and information engineering to elucidate the information processing mechanisms in the brain with artificial intelligence technologies has been instrumental in expanding the application of computational neuroscience to the field of psychiatry through cooperation with universities and institutions in Japan. Dr. Kawato has also been involved in developing innovative diagnostic techniques for using fMRI to classify brain circuits and utilizing fMRI neurofeedback as a therapeutic tool. His achievements have set the course for psychiatry to be transformed into a precise, personalized medicine that enables treatment of patients who, for example, do not respond to drug therapies. In consideration of his pioneering work in tackling some of the most pressing issues facing the world today by applying innovative BMI-based information processing technologies, Dr. Kawato highly deserves as the C&C Prize.
Group B
>> Group B Detailed Description
Prof. Alfred V. Aho Professor, |
Prof. John E. Hopcroft Professor, |
Prof. Jeffrey D. Ullman Professor Emeritus, Stanford University |
Citation
For outstanding contributions to laying the foundation of theoretical computer science and to education in that field through numerous influential publications
Achievement(summary)
In recent years, many of the remarkable changes and advances that have taken place in people’s lifestyles and social environments can be attributed to information technology (IT). IT has not only transformed the hardware of our social systems, but also played a huge role in bringing about innovations in software that are crucial to building a comfortable society, which is the ideal embodied in the Computers and Communications (C&C) concept.
Professor Aho, Professor Hopcroft, and Professor Ullman have all conducted pioneering research in core computer science disciplines such as automata, formal languages, language theory, compilers, data structures, algorithms, database theory, and graph theory and have published numerous research papers and books about these subjects on their own and in collaboration. Books co-authored by all three doctors, such as "The Design and Analysis of Computer Algorithms" (1974) and "Data Structures and Algorithms" (1983), not only provided an expert and comprehensive summary of research findings in the field at the time, but were also highly influential from an educational point of view. These three doctors have also been lauded for their contributions to educating and mentoring the next-generation researchers over many years, and have received many prestigious awards and honors in recognition of those achievements. In summary, in addition to their outstanding achievements in their specialist academic research fields, Professor Aho, Professor Hopcroft, and Professor Ullman, through their writings, teaching and mentoring, have made major contributions to computer science education, theoretical understanding, and the fostering of talent, and have been instrumental in bringing about remarkable developments in computer science—the core of C&C—that we witness today. They are all most worthy recipients of the C&C Prize.