Koki Takanashi received his BS, MS, and Ph.D. degrees in Physics from the University of Tokyo. After postdoctoral research at Tohoku University, he joined the faculty there and is now a Professor and Deputy Director of the Institute for Materials Research at Tohoku University. In 1994-1995 he was an Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellow at the Forschunszentrum Jülich in Germany. He has published over 300 papers and has receive numerous awards, including the Outstanding Research Award (2004, Magnetic Society of Japan), Outstanding Paper Award (2009, Japan Society of Applied Physics), Masumoto Hakaru Award (2011, Japan Institute of Metals). Professor Takanashi was the leader of a national project in Japan: “Creation and Control of Spin Current” (2007-2011). His research interests include magnetism and magneto-transport in nanostructures, magnetic materials for spintronics, and spin current phenomena.