Top Scientists and Innovators honored by National Academy of Inventors

101 academic inventors and innovators elected as NAI Charter Fellows

TAMPA, Fla., Jan. 7, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The 101 top scientists, innovators, and leaders from the academic world named as 2012 Charter Fellows of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) are being recognized for their exceptional achievements "in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development, and the welfare of society."

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"The NAI is a young organization but already is having a major influence in the world of scholarly research and innovation," said Texas A&M University President R. Bowen Loftin.  "I am honored and humbled to be among the first NAI Fellows."

The newly elected class of Fellows is made up of inventors and innovators from 56 prestigious research universities and non-profit research institutes across the U.S. and around the world.  All are named inventors on patents issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).  Collectively, they hold an impressive number of U.S. patents—over 3,200.

"I absolutely believe in the power of invention—its power to transform daily life, to reestablish what we consider possible, to make our striving efforts more effective and more efficient. Every time we tap our inventive ability, we have the chance to revolutionize how we operate and interact, and how we best serve society's most urgent needs," said Patrick Harker, president of the University of Delaware.  "I'm thrilled to be in the company of people who share this work and these ideals."

Included among the Fellows are eight Nobel Laureates, 14 presidents of research universities and non-profit research institutes, 53 members of the National Academies (National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine), 11 inductees of the National Inventors Hall of Fame, two Fellows of the Royal Society, five recipients of the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, four recipients of the National Medal of Science, and 31 AAAS Fellows, among other major awards and distinctions. 

"Maintaining a culture of innovation requires commitment, vision, and partnerships.  To be recognized by the NAI for helping to promote that culture at my university is an honor," said G.P. "Bud" Peterson, president of the Georgia Institute of Technology and new Charter Fellow.  "It supports our commitment to preparing students to become innovators and leaders, as well as helping faculty and staff to commercialize their ideas quickly."

The Fellows are recognized for accomplishments in innovative discovery and technology, significant impact on society, support and enhancement of innovation, and patenting and licensing.

"Commercializing patents, spinning off new companies, building products, and creating high paying jobs have to become as much a part of a university's mission as educating a high tech workforce for its state and the nation," said Paul Sanberg, senior vice president for research and innovation at the University of South Florida, who is president of the NAI and a newly elected Fellow himself.

"The path to bring innovation from the lab to the market is challenging but exciting. A supportive ecosystem at universities makes a significant difference," said new Fellow Gerardine Botte, professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Ohio University.

The Charter Fellows will be inducted by the U.S. Commissioner for Patents, Margaret Focarino, from the USPTO, during the second annual conference of the NAI, Feb. 22, 2013, at the University of South Florida in Tampa. 

In his keynote address at the NAI's first conference, David Kappos, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO, said: "The NAI is a breakthrough for our country. It couldn't be more timely to have an organization like this to be championing innovation."

"I attended the first NAI conference last February, where I met many truly accomplished inventors who have changed this world for the better," said Dean Sicking, professor of Engineering at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). "I am really surprised and deeply honored to be considered worthy of being in this group."

Richard Marchase, UAB's interim president and another new NAI Fellow, agrees: "It is an honor to be included in this charter class with researchers who are daily pushing the envelope in engineering, drug discovery and many other fields. The induction of inventors like me who serve as university presidents is really a testament to our institutions' robust capacity for innovation, and translating those discoveries to benefit our communities and states in the form of better health, quality of life and economic development."

"Being elected a Fellow by the NAI is a testament to the importance of university invention and translating technology to society," said Morteza Gharib, vice provost for research and professor of Aeronautics and Bioinspired Engineering at the California Institute of Technology.  "At Caltech, our mission is to expand human knowledge and benefit society through research integrated with education, and as academic inventors, we have the privilege of sharing that challenging and creative work with our students."

The 2012 NAI Charter Fellows:

Dharma P. Agrawal, University of Cincinnati

Anthony Atala, Wake Forest University

Benton F. Baugh, University of Houston

Khosrow Behbehani, University of Texas at Arlington

Raymond J. Bergeron, University of Florida

Gerardine G. Botte, Ohio University

Robert H. Brown, Jr., University of Massachusetts Medical Center

Robert L. Byer, Stanford University

Sir Roy Calne, University of Cambridge

Curtis R. Carlson, SRI International

Nai Yuen Chen, University of Texas at Arlington

Stephen Z. D. Cheng, The University of Akron

Paul C. W. Chu, University of Houston

James J. Collins, Boston University

James G. Conley, Northwestern University

Joseph T. Coyle, Harvard University

James E. Dahlberg, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Roger J. Davis, University of Massachusetts Medical Center

Sandra J. F. Degen, University of Cincinnati

Hector F. DeLuca, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Donn M. Dennis, University of Florida

Akira Endo, Tokyo University of Agriculture & Technology

Howard J. Federoff, Georgetown University

Thomas J. Fogarty, Fogarty Institute for Innovation

Kenneth M. Ford, Institute for Human & Machine Cognition

Eric R. Fossum, Dartmouth College

Robert C. Gallo, University of Maryland

Alan N. Gent, The University of Akron

Morteza Gharib, California Institute of Technology

Ivar Giaever, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Barbara A. Gilchrest, Boston University

Richard D. Gitlin, University of South Florida

Leonid B. Glebov, University of Central Florida

D. Yogi Goswami, University of South Florida

Mark W. Grinstaff, Boston University

Greg Hampikian, Boise State University

Barbara C. Hansen, University of South Florida

Patrick T. Harker, University of Delaware

Martin E. Hellman, Stanford University

Nick Holonyak, Jr., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Leroy E. Hood, Institute for Systems Biology

Richard A. Houghten, Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies

Ernest B. Izevbigie, Jackson State University

Stephen C. Jacobsen, University of Utah

Eric W. Kaler, University of Minnesota

Linda B. P. Katehi, University of California, Davis

Joseph P. Kennedy, The University of Akron

Sakhrat Khizroev, Florida International University

Sung Wan Kim, University of Utah

George V. Kondraske, University of Texas at Arlington

John J. Kopchick, Ohio University

Roger D. Kornberg, Stanford University

Max G. Lagally, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Robert S. Langer, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Brian A. Larkins, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Victor B. Lawrence, Stevens Institute of Technology

Virginia M.-Y. Lee, University of Pennsylvania

Jean-Marie Pierre Lehn, University of Strasbourg

Shinn-Zong Lin, China Medical University

Thomas A. Lipo, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Barbara H. Liskov, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Alan F. List, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute

R. Bowen Loftin, Texas A&M University

Dan Luss, University of Houston

Robert Magnusson, University of Texas at Arlington

Richard B. Marchase, University of Alabama at Birmingham

Stephen W. S. McKeever, Oklahoma State University

Craig C. Mello, University of Massachusetts Medical Center

Shyam Mohapatra, University of South Florida

Theodore D. Moustakas, Boston University

George R. Newkome, The University of Akron

C. L. Max Nikias, University of Southern California

David P. Norton, University of Florida

Julio C. Palmaz, U. of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio

Thomas N. Parks, University of Utah

C. Kumar N. Patel, University of California, Los Angeles

Prem S. Paul, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

David W. Pershing, University of Utah

G. P. Peterson, Georgia Institute of Technology

Leonard Polizzotto, Draper Laboratory

Huntington Potter, University of Colorado Denver

Paul R. Sanberg, University of South Florida

Timothy D. Sands, Purdue University

Raymond F. Schinazi, Emory University

Dean L. Sicking, University of Alabama at Birmingham

Oliver Smithies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Solomon H. Snyder, Johns Hopkins University

Franky So, University of Florida

M. J. Soileau, University of Central Florida

Nan-Yao Su, University of Florida

Jack W. Szostak, Harvard University

Esther Sans Takeuchi, Stony Brook University

H. Holden Thorp, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Charles H. Townes, University of California, Berkeley

John Q. Trojanowski, University of Pennsylvania

Roger Y. Tsien, University of California, San Diego

James L. Van Etten, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

James W. Wagner, Emory University

John E. Ware, Jr., University of Massachusetts Medical Center

Herbert Weissbach, Florida Atlantic University

Shin-Tson Wu, University of Central Florida

A list of the NAI Charter Fellows, with biographies, is here http://www.academyofinventors.org/charter-fellows.asp.

About the National Academy of Inventors

The National Academy of Inventors is a non-profit member organization comprised of more than 45 U.S. and international universities and non-profit research institutes, with over 2,000 individual academic inventor members, and growing rapidly. It was founded in 2010 to recognize and encourage inventors with a patent issued from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, enhance the visibility of academic technology and innovation, encourage the disclosure of intellectual property, educate and mentor innovative students, and translate the inventions of its members to benefit society. The offices of the NAI are located in the University of South Florida Research Park of Tampa Bay.  The NAI edits the multidisciplinary journal, Technology and Innovation – Proceedings of the National Academy of Inventors, published by Cognizant Communication Corporation (NY). www.academyofinventors.org

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SOURCE National Academy of Inventors