Professor Akira Kawaguchi received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Administration Engineering from Keio University in Yokohama Japan, and M.S., M.Phil, and Ph.D degrees in Computer Science from Columbia University. Prior to his academic career, Professor Kawaguchi worked for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd as an assistant manager in its Tokyo presidential office. He then acquired Mitsubishi's two-year fellowship for his graduate studies in the U.S. He left Japan with one-way ticket, devoted to the forefront of database research, and developed lifelong collaborations with researchers in Columbia, Bell Labs, IBM Research, and various Japanese industries. Since September 1997, he has been a faculty member of the Department of Computer Science at the City College of New York and the CUNY Graduate Center. Professor Kawaguchi has been recognized as one of a small and invaluable class of scholars with the ability to build an intellectual bridge between the U.S. and Far East countries.

Professor Kawaguchi has been serving chair of the Computer Science Department since October 2013. His strategic vision is to promote the continuing transformation of the Department into a powerful research unit as an integral part of its educational mandate, as well as to redefine Computer Science education for enhancement of career prospects, especially, to strengthen the CCNY's competitive edge in the graduate education marketplace consisting of early and midcareer scientists and engineers who seek a graduate credential to enhance their career prospects. He has been affiliated to NCWIT and Break Through Tech (formally WiTNY) to help underrepresented group to be in the computing program, wishing to realize K-17 pipeline education, i.e., K-12 plus 5-year combined B.S. and M.S. degrees in STEM academic disciplines.

Professor Kawaguchi served director of Masters degree program in Information Systems (MIS) from August 2009 to July 2013. He took responsibility for implementing a thoroughly upgraded MIS program, and successfully re-launched the program in Fall 2009 after twenty years of dormancy. His continuous effort resulted in formal approval from the New York State Education Department in Spring 2010. He carried out an advertising campaign in an effort to attract highly qualified applicants, and directed the program with two goals in mind: to establish the MIS degree as a nationally competitive program and to ensure adequate resources for covering the science, economics, and management components of the curriculum.

Professor Kawaguchi served chair of the Computer Science Curriculum Committee from February 2007 to July 2013. He realized dozens of curricular updates and improvements such as introducing a computer science minor to make the program well-positioned to attract students with scientific and engineering backgrounds, and restructuring the MS graduate program by taking account of technological advances and changes in student demand. Further curricular enhancement is in mission to effect a high quality program with stable enrollment and brand recognition in its primary New York metropolitan market and beyond.

In 2004, Professor Kawaguchi was given a one-year fellowship from Ashridge Business School in England for his sabbatical work. He has been pursuing a computerized representation of general human influencing structures with Ashridge scholars since then. Professor Kawaguchi is a recipient of the CUNY Certificate of Recognition "Salute to Scholars" in 2001 and 2008. He was also awarded the Certificate of Recognition by the Grove School of Engineering in 1999 for his effort of revitalizing the City College's ACM Student Chapter.

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