Dr. Futoshi Nakamura was born in Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture in 1958.  He entered Hokkaido University to satisfy a longing for Hokkaido since junior high school.  At first, he was going to specialize in engineering, but he changed his direction to major in forestry under the influence of his friends of the brown bear collegium and the words by Prof. William Smith Clark of Sapporo Agricultural College (now known as Hokkaido University), “Boys, be ambitious.”  He earned his Ph.D. in Agriculture from Hokkaido University in 1987.

From 1990 to 1992, Dr. Nakamura studied ecosystem management at Oregon State University.  His major interest is the interactions in ecosystems such as connections of forests and rivers.  He has studied this field from a perspective of watersheds including land use and his activities extend over a wide range of fields.  He has played an active role not only in the field of application including forestry and applied ecological engineering, but also in the field of basic science including geomorphology and ecology.  He serves as a member of editorial boards of international journals including Geomorphology, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, Landscape and Ecological Engineering, and Riparian Ecology and Conservation. 

Dr. Nakamura was awarded the Japanese Forest Society Award in 2005, Biwako Prize for Ecology in 2009, Oze Prize in 2011 and The MIDORI Academic Prize in 2012.  He holds several positions such as vice president of the Japanese Forest Society; vice president of the Ecology and Civil Engineering Society; expert of the Central Environmental Council; member of the Nature Restoration Promotion Conference; president of the Nature Restoration Committee for Kushiro Shitsugen Wetland.  His major publications include: “Mizubeikikanri (in Japanese, Management of Riparian Zone)” (Kokon Shoin); “Shinrin no Kagaku (in Japanese, Forest Science)” (Asakura Publishing Co., Ltd.); “Kawa no Kankyomokuhyo wo Kangaeru (in Japanese, Thinking about the Environmental Targets of Rivers)” (Gihodo Shuppan); “Kawa no Dakohukugen (in Japanese, Restoration of S-shaped Rivers)” (Gihodo Shuppan)”; “Kasenseitaigaku (in Japanese, River Ecosystem)” (Kodansha Scientific).