Masakazu Ejiri was born in Takefu, Fukui, Japan in 1937 and received the B.E. degree in Mechanical Engineering and the Dr. Eng. degree in Electrical Engineering, both from Osaka University, Osaka, Japan, in 1959 and 1967, respectively. Since 1959, he was with the Central Research Laboratory of Hitachi Ltd., Kokubunji, Tokyo, Japan, and spent 1967-1968 as a Visiting Professor at the University of Illinois, Chicago, and 1977-1981 as the Vice President of HISL Inc., California, USA.         He has worked primarily in the area of Control Engineering, Robotics, Pattern Recognition, Machine Vision, and Artificial Intelligence, and authored a variety of technical papers, reviews and books. His pioneering research and developments include various vision-based machines and systems for factory automation and office automation. His most famous achievement, among others, was the development of the world-first, computer-controlled, fully-automatic transistor assembly system using innovative machine vision technology in 1973. This vision-based technology spread quickly to the world-wide semiconductor industry, and formed the basis of succeeding new manufacturing technologies not only in semiconductor industry but also in various other industries.         He retired from his position of a Senior Chief Research Scientist, Corporate Technology, both at the Central Research Laboratory and the Mechanical Engineering Research Laboratory of Hitachi Ltd, in March 2003. After his retirement, he received the Joseph F. Engelberger Award (Technology) from the US Robotics Industries Association in Dec. 2005 for his long-term service as the industry leader in robotics research and development.          Dr. Ejiri is a Life Fellow of the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers), a Fellow of the IAPR (International Association for Pattern Recognition), a Fellow of the IEICE (Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers of Japan), and a Fellow of RSJ (Robotics Society of Japan). He served as the Vice President of the IAPR during 1990-1992 period and as a Governing Board Member of the IAPR during 1992-2002 period. He also served as the President of the Robotics Society of Japan (RSJ) during 2001-2003 period, and as the Vice President of the Transdisciplinary Federation of Science and Technology during 2005-2008 period. In 2008, he was designated as an Honorary President of the Robotics Society of Japan. In the same year, he served as the general co-chair of the International Conference on Pattern Recognition, ICPR-2008, held in Tampa, Florida. Most recently, he received the certificate of appreciation at the MVA-2015 Conference from MVA Organization, the body of organizing biennial IAPR conference on Machine Vision Applications, in recognition of his long-term services and contributions as an MVA founding and organizing member.  B.E. (Mechanical Engineering), Osaka University, Osaka, Japan, 1959 Dr. Eng. (Electrical Engineering), Osaka University, Osaka, Japan, 1967 Researcher, Central Research Laboratory, Hitachi, Ltd., 1959-1970 Senior Researcher, Central Research Laboratory, Hitachi, Ltd., 1970-1977 Vice president, HISL Inc, California, USA, 1977-1981 Chief Researcher, Central Research Laboratory, Hitachi, Ltd., 1977-1987 Senior Chief Research Scientist, Central Research Laboratory, Hitachi, Ltd., 1987-1989 Senior Chief Research Scientist, Corporate Technology, Central Research Laboratory, Hitachi, Ltd., 1989-2003 Senior Chief Research Scientist, Corporate Technology, Mechanical Engineering Research Laboratory, Hitachi, Ltd., 1991-2003 Techno-Journalist (2003-) R&D Consultant in Industrial Science (2003-) Visiting Assistant Professor, University of Illinois, 1967-1968 Visiting Lecturer, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 1977-1977 Visiting Lecturer, University of Tokyo, 1982-1988 Visiting Lecturer, Waseda University, 1984-1991 Visiting Lecturer, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 1987-1992 Visiting Lecturer, Tokushima University, 1991-2004 Visiting Professor, University of Electro-Communications, 1992-1996 Visiting Lecturer, Nagoya University, 1994-1996 Visiting Professor, Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Hokuriku, 1998-2003 Visiting Lecturer, Nihon University, 1999-2002 Visiting Professor, Fukui University, 2000-2002 Vice President of the IAPR, 1990-1992 Governing Board Member of the IAPR, 1992-2002 President of the Robotics Society of Japan (RSJ) , 2001-2003 Vice President of the Transdisciplinary Federation of Science and Technology, 2005-2008 Honorary President of the Robotics Society of Japan (RSJ) , 2008- Member of Technology Development Committee, Ministry of Postal Services, 1992-1993 Member of Technology Assessment Committee, Mechanical Engineering Lab,, Ministry of International Trade and Industry, 1999 Assessment Committee Member, The University of Tokyo, School of Engineering, 1999 Assessment Committee Member, Kagawa University, 2000 Evaluation Committee Member for Industrial Technology Research Grant, NEDO, 2000-2006 Assessment Committee Member, Tokushima University, Faculty of Engineering,, 2002 Member of the Intellectual Property Evaluation Committee, JST, 2003-2009 General Co-chair, International Conference on Pattern Recognition (ICPR-2008), Tampa, Florida, 2004-2008 Chair, Advisory Committee, IAPR MVA Conference Committee, 2005-2007 Chair, Fellow and Masters Committee, IEICE, 2007-2009 Chair, Advisory Committee, International Association for Pattern Recognition (IAPR), 2006-2008 Member, Advisory Committee, International Association for Pattern Recognition (IAPR), 2008- 2016 Member, Nominating Committee, International Association for Pattern Recognition (IAPR), 2000-2002, 2010-2012 Member, Advisory Committee, International Conference on Pattern Recognition (ICPR-2012), Tsukuba, Japan,　2008-2012 Member, Political Ethics Review Committee of the Tsukubamirai City, 2015-2017 Member, Urban Planning and Landscape Preservation Committee of the Tsukubamirai City, 2021-