Yoichi Nishino

Short Bio:

Yoichi Nishino received a degree of Doctor of Engineering at Nagoya University in 1983. He started his career as a researcher at Central Research Laboratory, Hitachi Ltd. and, in 1986, moved to Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Nagoya Institute of Technology as an assistant professor and was then appointed as an associate professor in 1990. Since 2003 he has been a professor and was nominated in 2021 as a designated professor and an emeritus professor of Nagoya Institute of Technology.\\r\\nHis research interest is the development of the microplasticity theory of internal friction and its application to crystal plasticity of metallic alloys and thin-film materials. Further his research activities are focused on the phase stability and physical properties of intermetallic compounds, which has led him directly into the idea of the electron concentration effect in Heusler compounds. His subsequent visit to University of Cambridge as a visiting scientist during 1995-1996 further deepened his interest in the pseudogap Heusler system. Nishino in his later work on thermoelectric Heusler compounds stressed the existence and importance of a deep pseudogap across the Fermi level. Emeritus Professor Uichiro Mizutani of Nagoya University actually guided him into this fascinating research field. On the basis of the pseudogap engineering, he established the valence electron concentration (VEC) effect on the Seebeck coefficient in thermoelectric Heusler compounds. He also received many awards including the Murakami Young Researcher Award (1994), the Japan Institute of Metals Best Paper Award (2002), the Best Paper Award of the Thermoelectrics Society of Japan (2016) and the Thermoelectrics Society of Japan Award (2019).\\r\\nIn his later pioneering work, Nishino further concentrated on the development and practical application of thermoelectric Heusler compounds. He was a project leader of Consortium R&D Projects for Regional Revitalization (Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Japan) “Development of high-strength nano-Heusler thermoelectric module designed for motorcycles” during 2006-2008. Subsequently he served as a principal investigator of A-STEP programs (Japan Science & Technology Agency) “Practical development of rare-metal-free thermoelectric generator for automotive waste heat recovery” during 2012-2016 and “Mass production technology of automotive thermoelectric generator for waste-heat recovery” during 2017-2022.