Prof. Akira Sone earned his bachelor’s, master’s and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering at Tokyo Metropolitan University in 1981, 1983 and 1987, respectively, working there as a research associate from 1987 to 1989. He has been on the faculty of the mechanical and system engineering department at Kyoto Institute of Technology since 1989. He has been an associate professor and a professor there since 1991 and 1999, respectively. Sone’s research focus is seismic engineering and structural response control.