Maki Kawai

Kawai earned her bachelor's degree at the University of Tokyo in 1975.[1] She completed her doctoral studies at the University of Tokyo in 1980.[1] Her PhD was supervised by Kenji Tamaru.

Kawai was a postdoctoral researcher at Riken between 1980 and 1982.[2] She joined the University of Tokyo as a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science fellow in 1982.[2] Her research considers the vibrational dynamics of single-molecules at surfaces.[3][4][5] Her group use STM to monitor molecules and atoms on top of surfaces.[6] She uses this to understand the chemical and physical phenomena of nanowires, nanodots and biomolecules.[1] She was awarded fellowships from the Surface Science Society of Japan and American Physical Society to develop single molecule spectroscopy.[7] Her group monitor the vibrational and relaxation energies of single molecules using scanning tunneling microscopy and inelastically tunnelled electrons.[8] She has contributed to several books and hundreds of peer-reviewed publications.[9][10][11][12] Kawai continued to be supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, investigating nanoscale electron transport through molecular layers.[13] By combining single molecule spectroscopy (using scanning tunneling spectroscopy) with inelastic electron tunneling spectroscopy to identify electron transfer channels.[14][5] She discovered a new reaction pathway in titanium dioxide.[15]

Kawai became Chief Scientist and Director of Surface Chemistry Laboratory at Riken in 1991 and an executive director in 2010.[16] She was made a professor at the University of Tokyo in 2004.[2] Kawai joined the Institute of Molecular Science as Director General in 2016.[2] She was appointed President of the Chemical Society of Japan in 2018.[2][17]