Shindo Award

SAMPE, the Society for the Advancement of Material and Process Engineers, announces a new award in honor of Akio Shindo (1926-2016) who is well known as the inventor of PAN (polyacrylonitrile) based carbon fiber.

This award provides recognition to individuals and groups that have meritoriously fostered the advancement of carbon fiber, carbon fiber reinforced composite materials, and their technologies, and/or enhanced the attainment of the objectives of the carbon materials fields.

Nominee Requirements

  • Nominees may not be limited to individuals but a group(s) organized by any constituents belonging to a company, a research institute, a university and so on.
  • Nominees shall have already attained national or international name recognition in the materials and processes field of carbon materials.
  • Nominees are not required to be a member or a former member of SAMPE.
  • Nominees must have provided significant contributions to the field of materials and processes regarding carbon materials over a broad spectrum in at least one of the following ways (see the draft of Global Practice).

The advancement of “carbon fiber” started slowly around 1958 with the introduction of “Rayon” graphite fibers of low yield but useful in rocket nozzles and heat shield applications. Akio Shindo’s work in his classic Patents of 1959-1962 on “Polyacrylonitrile, PAN” carbon fibers really revolutionized and kick-started the “Carbon Fiber” industry expansion when he published the results in 1961. Japan followed shortly after his work with “Pitch” carbon fibers in 1965, and the rush was on!

“Shindo was indeed the revolutionary person to be noteworthy of the honor of laying the groundwork for where we are today,” said Gregg Balko, Retired SAMPE CEO.

This award is presented at CAMX.

Nominations are due February 15 of each year, and awardees will be honored during the SAMPE Member Awards Ceremony at CAMX – The Composites and Advanced Materials Expo.

Akio Shindo Memorial Award Recipients

2019 | Toray Industries, Inc.