That Blaine Murakami is from the University of Hawaii was an interesting coincidence, since the 2005 OECES Award was scheduled was to be presented at the awards banquet during the Annual Meeting of the Electrical and Computer Department Heads Association (ECEDHA) at the Turtle Bay Resort on Oahu's beautiful north shore. On March 13, 2006 Murakami accepted the award from Karl Martersteck, President of HKN, with his family and girlfriend present.

Murakami graduated fourth in his class of 137 EE seniors, with a B.S. in electrical engineering (GPA 3.8) from the University of Hawaii (UH). He was nominated by the Delta Omega Chapter of Eta Kappa Nu, where Dr. Wayne Shiroma is the faculty advisor and Dr. Galen Sasaki is the Department Chair. Murakami is a member of the IEEE and was honored with membership in the Golden Key Honor Society and Eta Kappa Nu, of which he served as secretary.

Murakami co-authored one book chapter and 13 conference papers, is a co-inventor on a pending patent, and co-wrote a research proposal that was subsequently funded with a $100,000 award. Serving as the student principal investigator of this award, Murakami led a multidisciplinary team of 30 electrical and mechanical engineering undergraduate students to design, build, and test two nanosatellites for launch into low Earth orbit.

As a junior, Murakami co-founded a high-technology company, Pipeline Communications and Technology, Inc., whose business plan took first place in the 2004 UH Business Plan Competition. The company is developing self-steering antenna technology, of which Murakami is a co-inventor.

Murakami's other awards include the UH Regents Scholarship, the 2005 Student Engineer of the Year Award from the Hawaii Society of Professional Engineers, the Spring 2005 Outstanding Graduating Senior Award, the Hawaii Space Grant Consortium Undergraduate Fellowship, the IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society Scholarship, and the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society Scholarship.

In his spare time, Murakami enjoys surfing, bodyboarding, running, and soccer.