Rate My Professor Yoshikazu Ohara

Yoshikazu Ohara is a Professor in the Department of Materials Processing at the School of Engineering, Tohoku University, where he also holds a concurrent professorship in the Division for the Establishment of Frontier Sciences of the Organization for Advanced Studies. He earned a Bachelor of Engineering degree in 2002 and a Master of Engineering degree in 2004 from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Nagoya Institute of Technology. He received his Ph.D. in engineering from the Department of Materials Processing at Tohoku University in 2007. His career at Tohoku University includes postdoctoral research from 2007 to 2008, followed by appointments as Assistant Professor from 2008 to 2017 and Associate Professor from 2017 to 2023, before his promotion to Professor in 2023.

Ohara’s research centers on ultrasonic nondestructive evaluation, with emphasis on nonlinear ultrasonics, ultrasonic phased array imaging, and techniques for detecting and characterizing closed cracks in materials. He has contributed to the development of methods such as subharmonic phased array for crack evaluation and high-resolution 3D phased-array imaging systems. Key publications include papers in Applied Physics Letters on imaging closed cracks using nonlinear responses and in Scientific Reports on 3D elastic-wave scattering. He has co-authored book chapters on nonlinear ultrasonic characteristics and techniques for nondestructive evaluation. Ohara has received numerous awards, including the 81st Meritorious Award from the Japan Institute of Metals and Materials in 2023, multiple Best Paper Awards from symposia on ultrasonic electronics, the Murakami Incentive Award, and the Honda Memorial Incentive Award. He serves as a council member of Academia NDT International and has secured substantial research funding through JSPS KAKENHI grants and JST programs.