Yukiko Ogawa (小川 由希子 (Ogawa Yukiko)) is a materials science researcher at the National Institute for Materials Science in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. Ogawa’s research focuses on next-generation structural materials — particularly lightweight ones such as magnesium alloys — that show promising potential to improve fuel efficiency in vehicles, make electronic devices more portable and open up new possibilities in medical devices. The use of magnesium alloys has been limited as they are difficult to shape into new forms. But Ogawa succeeded in controlling the microstructure and mechanical properties of magnesium by heat treatment, which had previously been considered impossible. For her efforts in creating the next generation of smart materials, Ogawa was recognized as a 2018 L’Oréal-