PROFESSOR DR. SHUJI NAKAMURA

NP (Nobel Prize), Fellows of NAE, NAI, NIHF, JSAP, Dr.h.c. (Hong Kong, Poland, Spain, UK, Canada), Hon. D. Sc. (US), DLS (US)

Professor Dr. Shuji Nakamura has been conferred Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science at the Commemorative Convocation Ceremony held in celebration of the USM 50th anniversary held on 23 September 2019. The Honorary Degree was conferred by USM Chancellor Raja of Perlis, Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin ibni Almarhum Tuanku Syed Putra Jamalullail. Professor Dr. Shuji Nakamura was born on May 22, 1954 in Oku, a tiny fishing village, located on the Pacific coast of Shikoku.  During high school, his ambition was to become a theoretical physicist or a mathematician. However, his teacher suggested him to select an engineering course, from which he could make a better living.  In 1973, at the age of 19, he entered University of Tokushima, a local state university to study Electronic Engineering. In the first two years, he had to take general studies subjects including arts courses, which were not relevant to engineering and so he lost his interest to attend lectures.  He started to study alone by reading books mostly on Physics. In the third year at the University of Tokushima, a lecture on semiconductors reignited his interest to attend classes as he was attracted by the physics of solid-state materials.  Finally, he decided to study at the university for the next two years and later graduated with a Bachelor of Electronic Engineering in 1977.

In 1979, Shuji obtained his Master of Electronic Engineering at the same university for which he completed a thesis entitled “Conductivity Mechanism of Barium Titanium Oxide”.  His supervisor, Professor Dr. Osamu Tada told students that reading from papers and knowing theories were useless without making a real device. Though Shuji wanted to study theory during his Master studies, he had to work in Professor Tada’s laboratory by making or modifying many of his own equipment.  However, without being regretful, Shuji gained most of the skills that were later applied in the development of bright blue light emitting diode (LED).  He joined a chemical and electronics company, Nichia in Tokushima after he completed his Master studies. This was the place where he conducted his Nobel Prize-winning work.  In 1994, he received his Doctor of Engineering from the same university and left Nichia in 1999 to become a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) in the United States of America.

In 2014, Professor Dr.Shuji Nakamura received the Nobel Prize in Physics jointly with Professor Dr. Isamu Akasaki and Professor Dr. Hiroshi Amano "for the invention of efficient blue light-emitting diodes which has enabled bright and energy-saving white light sources". The invention has enabled a world-wide sustainable lighting revolution, which is saving billions of USD in energy costs and reducing harmful greenhouse gases. He continues to be highly visible at the international level, with an exceptional number of awards and honours including the 2014 Global Energy Prize (highest technology prize in Russia), the Charles Stark Draper Prize (the highest award from the National Academy of Engineering), an Inductee of National Inventors Hall of Fame (2015), the Ordinedei Santi Maurizio e Lazzar in 2016, the  IET Mountbatten Medal Award in London in 2017 (a major technology prize), and the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Zayed Future Energy Prize in UAE (former US Vice-President Al Gore was a previous recipient). Professor Dr. Shuji Nakamura has assisted Malaysia in leveraging on green technology through the “GaN on GaN” National Project, wherein our government has provided RM75 million throughout the 5-year programme (2015 till 2020) via the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) for a transfer of technology with regard to GaN on GaN LED technology from UCSB to Malaysia. The continuous support and innovations provided by Professor Dr. Shuji Nakamura and his efforts in assisting Malaysia to produce the first ever Malaysian-made high brightness LEDs has helped to foster scientific collaboration between the academia and industry through the involvement of Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Universiti Malaya (UM), Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UNIMAP), Monash University Sunway Campus (MUSC), CREST, NCIA, and key industrial players (OSRAM, Penchem, Inari and ITRAMAS).  Under this programme, Malaysia will be at the forefront of a new technology, i.e. GaN on GaN, which will revolutionize the current technology based on GaN on sapphire in the development of next generation solid state lighting based on LEDs and laser. At present, the GaN on GaN technology is also being pursued for the niche market of ultraviolet (UV) LEDs and light fidelity (LiFi). As the “GaN on GaN” National Project progresses, Professor Dr. Shuji Nakamura himself has frequented USM more than 4 times. Professor Dr. Shuji Nakamura and his research groups have hosted 12 visiting researchers and students from Malaysia for the last 4 years during the course of the national project to provide training related to knowledge transfer of technology on GaN LEDs and epitaxial growth using metal organic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD). He has also delivered a Nobel Laureate Talk at USM on 29 July 2016 and Sir John Monash Talk at Monash University on 18 April 2017.  Professor Dr. Shuji Nakamura continues to be one of the most highly published and highly cited researchers in the fields of Physics and Engineering. He has over 691 journal publications. He is one of UCSB’s most prolific inventors with over 300 patents and received an “Inventor of the Year Award” from the Silicon Valley Intellectual Property Law Association. For his seminal work in creating energy efficient LED lighting, he was inducted into the US Inventor Hall of Fame by the US Patent Office.  In addition, he is an ISI highly-cited researcher and his work has achieved the highest visibility with an “h-index” of 96 and has received over ~44,000 citations for his work. The contributions of Professor Dr. Shuji Nakamura for the betterment of humankind as well as his continuous innovations for new applications are very inspiring.  He is an eminent scholar and definitely a great role model for students, scientists, researchers, academicians, and other professionals who are seeking to build or move his or her current career pathway to a higher level. The honorary doctorate is a well-deserved recognition for a truly outstanding scientist.