Ohio Third Frontier | To the World's Research Talent - Welcome to Ohio!
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Welcome to Professor Hiroshi Yokoyama and his family, the first distinguished scientist attracted to Ohio having the title Ohio Research Scholar. Professor Yokoyama will be supported with one of the 26 endowments funded as a result of an unprecedented $143 million investment made by the Ohio Third Frontier and the Chancellor of the Board of Regents, through the legislatively created Ohio Research Scholars Program.

Yokoyama has been named Professor of Chemical Physics at the Liquid Crystal Institute of Kent State University. He most recently held the position of director of the Nanotechnology Research Institute at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, an amalgamation of 15 institutes representing Japan's largest public research organization. Professor Yokoyama is a world expert in the field of liquid crystal physics. His expertise will contribute to the expanding knowledge base that is propelling the growth of the liquid crystal industry in Northeast Ohio, represented by companies such as Kent Displays and Alpha-Micron.

Innovation and economic prosperity often flourish where there are centers of great science and research, and world-class talent is most often the common denominator that determines success. Competition for talent is global, and Ohio must be prepared to aggressively compete. The Ohio Research Scholars Program is a resounding declarative that we are globally competitive. Offering endowment funding, capital for laboratories and equipment, and operating funds, the goal is to build upon existing strengths within our academic research institutions to create and grow industry relevant and supported centers of research excellence.

With the funding provided by the Ohio Research Scholars Program in FY 2008, nine collaborative projects involving Ohio's leading public and private research universities, medical centers and a host of business partners will be aggressively recruiting 25 more distinguished scientists and engineers like Professor Yokoyama. These talented people will become part of research and commercialization teams across Ohio that can spawn new innovations, products and companies. And they will do so in areas that represent the future of Ohio's economic growth including biomedical, alternative energy, and advanced materials.

With the Ohio Research Scholars Program, we have put the welcome mat out for the world's best and brightest.
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