Makoto Obata

Makoto Obata is the current President of Nagoya Institute of Technology, having assumed this position in April 2024. Previously, he served as Executive Director and Vice President (2020-2024) and Professor in the Graduate School of Engineering, Department of Civil Engineering (2013-2020). With a long-standing academic career at Nagoya Institute of Technology spanning from Assistant Professor (1987) to Professor (2002), Dr. Obata has established himself as a prominent figure in structural and earthquake engineering.

Dr. Obata earned his Ph.D. and Master of Science from Northwestern University in 1985 and 1984 respectively, following his undergraduate studies in Civil Engineering at The University of Tokyo (1978-1982). His educational background provided the foundation for his specialized expertise in structural mechanics and earthquake engineering.

His research primarily focuses on structural engineering with emphasis on earthquake engineering, corrosion of steel bridges, and numerical simulation of corrosive environments. Dr. Obata has made significant contributions to understanding the behavior of steel bridges in coastal environments, particularly regarding sea salt particle adhesion and its effects on corrosion. His work bridges theoretical structural mechanics with practical bridge maintenance and seismic retrofitting solutions. He has developed innovative approaches combining global meteorological analysis with local fluid dynamics to predict corrosive environments for steel bridges.

Analysis of his recent publications reveals a clear progression from fundamental material behavior studies toward integrated structural systems analysis. His early work focused on rubber bearing mechanics and steel column fracture, while more recent research addresses comprehensive bridge system performance, including advanced techniques like point cloud data processing for structural modeling and innovative seismic retrofitting solutions using yielding steel dampers.

• 28th Japan Road Conference Outstanding Paper Award (2009)
• Japan Society of Civil Engineers Paper Award (2009)

Dr. Obata has been actively involved in research funding, leading multiple projects funded by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, including studies on corrosion environment simulation of steel bridges and seismic performance evaluation of bridge structures. His committee memberships include significant roles in the Japan Society of Civil Engineers, where he served as Chubu Branch Chief (2019-2020) and Editorial Committee Chair for the Proceedings of the Japan Society of Civil Engineers (2016-2018).