ABOUT ME

Ryota was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1981. He graduated from Soka University (Tokyo) in 2004 with a B.S. in Bioengineering. In 2009 he received his Ph.D. (Biological Oceanography), also from Soka University. Ryota worked for Soka University as teaching staff from 2009-2012. By becoming interested in the deep-sea, he moved to JAMSTEC, the deep-sea research institution in Japan, as a postdoc researcher. Ryota started his work on coral reef ecology in the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in 2016, supported by the Japanese government. He moved back to JAMSTEC in 2018 and started his work on ocean plastics. His wife and he have 3 wonderful daughters.

Professional Experience

April 2021 – Present
Group Leader/Senior Scientist, Marine Plastic Research Group
Japan Agency for Marine Science and Technology (JAMSTEC)
Research topic: Ocean Plastics
April 2018 – Present
Scientist
Japan Agency for Marine Science and Technology (JAMSTEC)
Research topic: Ocean Plastics
March 2016 – February 2018
JSPS Postdoctoral fellow
Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego
Research topic: The role of soft coral mucus
The Smith Lab
April 2012 – February 2016
Postdoctoral fellow
Japan Agency for Marine Science and Technology (JAMSTEC)
Research topic: Quantitative evaluation and future prospectives of biodiversity loss in the deep-sea chemosynthetic ecosystems around Japan.
April 2009 – March 2012
Assistant Professor (3 years limited contract)
Soka University
Undergraduate courses taught: Basic Ecology, Biology Experiment, etc

Education

Ph.D. (April 2006 – March 2009)
Department of Bioengineering, Soka University
Thesis title: Abundance, biomass and estimated production rates of net-zooplankton community in the coral reef waters of Malaysia
Supervisors: T. Toda, S. Taguchi, and B.H.R. Othman
M. Sc. (April 2004 – March 2006)
Department of Bioengineering, Soka University
B.Sc. (April 2000 – March 2004)
Department of Bioengineering, Soka University

Awards

The Environmental Science Prize
-The Oceanographic Society of Japan (September 16, 2021)
The Kawaguchi Prize
-Japanese Coral Reef Society (November 29, 2015)
Soka University Alumni Prize
-Soka University (September 20, 2015)
Best Young Scientist Oral Presentation Award
-IOC/WESTPAC 9th International Science Symposium-
(April 24, 2014)