Sumitomo Rubber technician wins 2022 Industry Mentor of the Year from the US Tire Technology Consortium

Tokyo, Japan – Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Ltd. announced that one of their technicians has won the “2022 Industry Mentor of the Year” from CenTiRe, a major tire technology consortium in the United States. Given in recognition of the mentor who has contributed the most when it comes to providing guidance and support for academic researchers, the “Industry Mentor of the Year” was just established by CenTiRe this year. In other words, our own Dr. Toshio Tada (a General Manager in the Material Planning Department of our Material Research and Development HQ) has the distinct honor of being the very first person chosen to receive this prestigious award.

Bringing together representatives from industry, government and academia, CenTiRe is a consortium whose membership includes the NSF (National Science Foundation), Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and The University of Akron, as well as tire manufacturers, material suppliers, automakers, testing device suppliers and service providers from all over the world.

The Sumitomo Rubber Group has participated in this consortium since 2012 and is currently involved in multiple projects involving tire wear, degradation, grip, noise, the analysis of wear debris and so forth. The advice that Dr. Tada provides in his role as a mentor on various projects has always been quite well received by PhD candidates and their academic advisors, making him a natural choice to become the first ever recipient of this award for mentorship.

At an awards ceremony held on June 8, Dr. Tada remarked, “I have been proud to take part in CenTiRe since 2014 in my capacity as a representative of the Sumitomo Rubber Group. Today, I am grateful to all of the PhD candidates and academic advisors who selected me for this great honor. I am very much looking forward to continuing to work with all of you and hope that we will continue to have productive debates for years to come.”