Dr. Kuraoka received a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Geotechnical Engineering in 1994. He has worked at National Research Council of Canada Institute for Research in Construction from 1994 to 1997 and subsequently joined Nippon Koei Co. Ltd. Dr. Senro is presently the Chief Engineer of Research and Development Center of a Nippon Koei Co. Ltd. During 24 years of his association with Nippon Koei, his efforts have been focused on development of technologies for risk assessment and countermeasures for landslides, including modeling, field monitoring, and laboratory tests. Dr. Senro is active in serving on academic committees and contributing to publishing articles and papers. He has served as the Vice Chief Editor of the Japan landslide society and co- authored papers and textbooks on analyses and mitigation of landslides. He has also served as the Secretary General of JSCE committee on ‘Transdisciplinary approach for building societal resistance to disasters’, which aims at promoting the institutional frameworks to ensure the application of science in disaster risk reduction.