Team

Director

Prof. Kaoru Kitajima
Vice-Director, the International Strategy Office, Kyoto University
Vice-Dean, the Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University

Dr. Kaoru Kitajima is a forest ecologist, with approximately 40 years of research experience in tropical America, Asia, and Africa. As vice-director of Kyoto University’s International Strategy Office, she assists the director and oversees the university’s North American Center (2022–current). As a faculty member of the Graduate School of Agriculture, she heads the Tropical Forest Resources and Environment Laboratory (2013–current). After receiving her PhD from the University of Illinois (1992) and holding research positions at the University of Minnesota and Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, she served as a faculty member at the University of Florida (1997–2013).