Akihiro Sato is the manager of the materials department of IHI Corporation. He studied the materials science in Kyoto University. He joined IHI Corporation as a material researcher in 1996 and has mainly researched high temperature materials for jet engine application. He invented new Ni-base single crystal superalloys and coating systems which could endure at over 1100 C. He was a visiting researcher of National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) Japan between 2004 and 2006. He had been a VP of IHI INC. and in charge of technology issues in US between 2011 and 2013.IHI Corporation (IHI), headquartered in Japan, began as a shipbuilding company, and has expanded its business to become a diversified leading global engineering and construction company that makes an array of heavy industrial machinery and equipment. With more than 24,000 employees, IHI offers its expertise in mechanical engineering to clients in key business areas: energy, shipbuilding and social infrastructure, industrial machinery and systems, rotating equipment and mass-production machinery, and aero-engines and space operations. IHI, Inc. is a subsidiary company of IHI Corporation, based in New York. IHI, Inc. supports IHI Corporation's business in the United States.