About

Nobuyuki Tamai was born on November 6, 1941 in Toyohashi City, Japan. He graduated from the University of Tokyo with Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering in 1964. From 1967 to 1968 he stayed in Ph.D. course under Prof. Robert Wiegel at the Univ. of California, Berkeley as a Fulbright Travel Grant Student. He returned to the Univ. of Tokyo to accept a faculty position and was promoted to Assistant Professor in April 1969. He obtained Ph.D. degree from the University of Tokyo in July 1972. Tamai received an incentive award of the Japan Society of Civil Engineers in 1974 for the paper entitled by “Unified view of diffusion and dispersion in coastal waters” published in Jour. of the Faculty of Engineering, the University of Tokyo (B), Vol. XXXI, pp. 531-692, No.4, 1972. Tamai’s research topics moved to three dimensional characteristics of open channel flows. He was awarded APD-IAHR award in the 5th Congress of the APD-IAHR held in August 1986 in Seoul Korea for “Generation mechanism and periodicity of large surface-eddies in a compound channel flow. He was promoted to full Professor in July 1983. The 13th IAHR World Congress was held in Kyoto in 1969. Tamai served as a member of the committee to consolidate research trends in Japan over the last decade for the coming IAHR World Congress in Kyoto. The 25th IAHR World Congress was held in Tokyo in 1993. Tamai served as the secretary general of the organizing committee of the Congress. The presence of His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince and Her Imperial Highness the Crown Princess of Japan at the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Congress was a milestone in the history of IAHR. Tamai also served to several international committees of IAHR. He was an executive committee member of the APD-IAHR in 1980-1990, served as a member of committee on fundamental fluid mechanics in 1987-1991, and a chairperson of committee on education and training 1995-1999. Tamai was nominated Division Chair in 1999 in the council meeting in Graz. He was awarded “Honorary Professor, University of Tokyo, May 14, 2002”, “Honorary Professor, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Aug.5, 2008”, “Honorary Membership, Japan Society of Civil Engineering, 2014”, and “ Honorary Membership, Ecology and Civil Engineering Society, 2015.. Major Activities in IAHR Tamai was nominated Vice President in Thessaloniki Congress. The term started on August 30, 2003 and finished after Venice Congress on July 6, 2007. In Venice Congress Tamai was nominated President of IAHR. The term started on July 7, 2007 and finished on July 2, 2011. Two major targets in my presidency were firstly name change of IAHR and secondly improvements of a system of council election. (1) Name Change of IAHR The council of IAHR elected in 2007 at Venice sincerely discussed for one year and reached the conclusion including voices from general members that the present name “International Association of Hydraulic Engineering and Research” was not so attractive to especially young members who wish to solve and contribute to the climate change problems on the earth. The climate change of the earth includes wider problems on the earth and our human societies including nature itself, plants and animals. Based on discussions in divisions and committees, and individual members of IAHR in about two years, the new name “International Association for Hydro-Environment Engineering and Research” proposed by the council was accepted in 2009 General Members’ Assembly. (2) Improvement of the council election system A couple of changes in the by-laws concerning the election procedure for the next council members were decided in the 2010 Council Meeting in Athens. The purpose of the change is to add more democratic and transparent features to the election procedure followed by the nominating committee. In conclusion the council permitted the nominating committee to propose multiple candidates for one vacant seat. The bylaws states that the nominating committee proposes up to two candidates per vacant position.

Career Type:

Scientist/Researcher/Academic

Organization Type:

Universities and Academia

Expertise Fields/Interests:

Major Achievements: