Masakazu Sugiyama is the director and a professor at Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology (RCAST), The University of Tokyo. He received the B.E., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in Chemical Systems Engineering, all from the University of Tokyo, Japan, in 1995, 1997, and 2000, respectively. In 2000, he became a Research Associate at the Department of Chemical System Engineering, the University of Tokyo. In 2002, he joined the Department of Electronic Engineering as a Lecturer. He became an Associate Professor in 2005. In 2016, he was promoted to a full professor and then moved to RCAST in 2017.

His major research topics are high-efficiency photovoltaic (PV) devices using the nano-epitaxial structures of III-V compound semiconductors. He is a recognized leader in the sustainable conversion of solar energy to next-generation fuels. He is a program manager of Japanese MOONSHOT program, aiming to realize CO2 capture and conversion to chemical feedstocks driven by renewable electricity. He authored and coauthored 300 refereed journal publications and 510 international conference papers.