preface

IMS 1997

This is the year of a turning point for IMS. Two research facilities have been established in April 1997. Their establishment is a realization of our future plan for the IMS extensively discussed for the last three years. It was based on the critical review of the research activity of IMS which was carried out by external reviewers in 1993. New research facilities are the Laser Research Center for Molecular Science and the Research Center for Molecular Materials.

The former consists of three research groups and the latter of four research groups, each of them being headed by an Associate Professor. The aim of these research centers is to carry out extensively research on specific subjects which are expected to produce a great impact in molecular science. A close collaboration between a new group and an existing group or groups on a subject of common interest will be greatly encouraged. We hope that a small but original idea born in IMS will be developed into a new large field or concept of molecular science through the newly added reserach centers.

As usual, there has been a high turnover of personnel during the last year. Professor K. Yoshihara and Professor I. Hanazaki in the Department of Electronic Structure, who have contributed a great deal in the development of IMS since the establishment of the institute, retired from IMS and were appointed to professorship positions at Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology and Hiroshima University, respectively. Their successors are Professor N. Nishi from Kyushu University and Professor M. Fujii from Waseda University. Associate Professor Y. Matsumoto of the same department has been promoted to professor of the Graduate University for Advanced Studies. Associate Professor K. Kanoda of the Department of Molecular Assemblies has been assigned an associate professorship of the Tokyo University. Both Professors Matsumoto and Kanoda continue their research activity at IMS for a while as adjunct professors. We have appointed Dr. M. Fujita of Chiba University as an associate professor of the Coordination Chemistry Laboratories. Professor N. Ueno and Associate Professor M. Sakurai took positions in the Department of Vacuum UV Photoscience by transfering from their positions at Chiba University and Kobe University, respectively. Professor R. D. Levine of Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Professor C. S. Parmenter of Indiana University were assigned as foreign Councillors to succeed Professor E. W. Schlag and Professor M. A. El-Sayed.

Finally, I would like to congratulate Professor H. Kobayashi and Professor N. Nishi for the Divisional Award of the Chemical Society of Japan in Physical Chemistry. The Chemical Society of Japan Award for Technical Achievement was awarded to Mr. K. Kato, technical section chief of Research Center for Molecular Science, to whom I would like to congratulate.

September, 1997

Mitsuo Ito
Director-General