Distinguished Alumni Award Winner Profile

Mikio Arie, president of Hokkaido University, Japan, is one of the UI's most loyal graduates (55MS) and staunchest supporters. While rising to international preeminence in his field of fluid mechanics, he has always maintained a close relationship with the UI.

After receiving his Bachelor of Engineering degree from Hokkaido University, Dr. Arie received a Fulbright Fellowship to pursue advanced studies with the Institute of Hydraulic Research at the University of Iowa. During his two years here, Dr. Arie impressed his classmates and instructors as one of the institute's most energetic students and ingenious experimentalists. His M.S. thesis, which was published in the Journal of Fluid Mechanics, is considered definitive in its treatment of a specific fluid engineering problem.

In 1959, he earned the Doctor of Engineering degree from Kyushu University, Japan; and the University of Massachusetts awarded him the Doctor of Engineering, honoris causa, in 1983.

Dr. Arie has served on several influential academic and scientific organizations, including the Japan Science Council and the Senate of the National Research Institute for Polar Regions. He was vice president of the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers in 1980-81.

Despite his many responsibilities as president of the prestigious Hokkaido University, Dr. Arie still finds the time to arrange numerous faculty exchange programs between the UI and Hokkaido University, to publish first rate technical papers, and to visit the UI whenever he is in this country.

Dean of Academic Affairs Philip G. Hubbard, who was a fellow graduate student with Dr. Arie, has rightly called Arie "one of our stars on the international scene."