1996 Buessem Award Recipient
Kikuo Wakino graduated from Osaka University in Japan, with a B.S. in Physics (1950) and a Ph.D. in Engineering (1980). After working at Togawa Rubber Co. from 1950 to 1952, he joined Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd., in 1952 as a research engineer, becoming the leader of a research group for dielectric ceramics and applications in 1955. He became assistant manager of electronic ceramics development in 1961, manager of that department in 1965, and director and manager in 1967. From 1972 to 1979, Dr. Wakino was executive director of Murata Manufacturing, being promoted to senior executive director from 1979 to 1991. Since 1991, he has served Murata in the capacity of corporate advisor, also working as a visiting professor at Ritsumeikan University from 1992 until the present.
During Dr. Wakino’s distinguished career, he was responsible for many developments in the area of electronic ceramics and applications. Early in his career, he established mass production lines of low-cost disc type ceramic capacitors, increasing productivity and lowering costs. Under his leadership, PTC ceramics, PZT ceramic filters, and MLCs were developed and eventually brought into mass production. He conducted the development work of ultra low loss ceramics for dielectric resonators, microwave filters, and oscillators for cellular telephones and satellite communications. As executive and senior executive director, he guided policy-making toward future technical directions company wide.
Dr. Wakino has been the recipient of many honors and awards for his accomplishments. Some of the awards he has received are the Award of Technical Progress of the Japanese Ceramic Society (1978), the Award of the Science and Technology Agency (Japanese Government, 1988), the Award of the Blue Ribbon Medal (Japanese Government, 1988), Distinguished Microwave Lecturer (MTT-S, 1996), Microwave Application Award (MTT-S, 1996), and the Fourth Class Order of the Sacred Treasure (Japanese Government, 1998). He is a member of the American Physical Society, the Physical Society of Japan, the Japan Society of Applied Physics, and the Ceramic Society of Japan, as well as a Fellow of both the American Ceramic Society and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
The Center for Dielectric Studies presented Dr. Wakino with the Wilhelm R. Buessem Award at the CDS Awards Dinner on November 7, 1996.