The Stony Brook Chapter of National Academy of Inventors Honors Outstanding Innovators
The Stony Brook University Chapter of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) seventh Annual Meeting and Induction Ceremony was held on May 12, 2022. The occasion enabled the Stony Brook innovation community to get together – at least virtually – to greet and honor the outstanding inventors elected to become the NAI-SBU Chapter members this year. NAI Assistant Program Director, Diana Jerome joined the virtual event from Florida to deliver the congratulatory message from the President of NAI, Dr. Paul Sanberg, who was unable to attend. She also led the traditional NAI Pin Ceremony.
This year, five stellar SBU inventors working in different areas of research – chemistry, computer science, neurobiology, and biomedical engineering – joined the NAI-SBU Chapter. All of them have received patents from the US Patent and Trademark Office that represent the great innovation of the university community. The Chapter also welcomed one honorary member, a Partner of Hoffmann & Baron, LLP, in recognition of his constant support and contributions to the SBU academic community.
Traditionally, along with recognizing the new members, the NAI-SBU Chapter announced the names of the early-career innovators receiving the Young Academic Inventor Award 2022. This year’s awardees are two outstanding researchers in chemistry and in electrical and computer engineering, Dr.’s Lei Wang and Yasha Karimi. They were honored with a certificate and a check for $1,000. They will appear in person at the Young Academic Inventor Symposium held later this year to present an overview of their research.
In her introductory remarks, SBU President Maurie McInnis highlighted “the importance of forward-thinking inventions during this bedrock changing era.” She added “this is another moment when we, the SBU chapter of the NAI, can lead the way into the next century of discovery and ambitions; where we will send our sights high, both because we can and because we must.”
This year the outstanding keynote lecture was given by Stanislaus Wong, distinguished professor of chemistry at Stony Brook University, NAI Fellow, and the holder of numerous patents. The topic of his lecture was "Rationally Designed Nanowires as Catalysts for Energy Applications”; he shared insights of his groundbreaking and profound research.
Dr.’s Iwao Ojima, Distinguished Professor in Chemistry and President of the NAI-SBU chapter, and Sean Boykevisch, Director of Intellectual Property Partners and Executive Director of the NAI-SBU Chapter, introduced the new members and provided their congratulations as well.
NAI:
The NAI mission is “to enhance the visibility of academic technology and innovation; to encourage the disclosure of intellectual property; to educate and mentor innovative students; and to translate the inventions of its members to benefit society”. The NAI has more than 4,000 individual members and over 200 member institutions throughout the world.
The Stony Brook University Chapter of NAI:
The Stony Brook University Chapter of NAI was established in 2016, and prides itself in fostering the Stony Brook inventor’s community, and in increasing visibility of the Stony Brook innovations and research both nationally and internationally. Today, the Stony Brook University NAI chapter includes 125 members.
Congratulations to:
New members of the National Academy of Inventors
Dr. Andisheh Abedini, Department of Chemistry
Dr. Joel Levine, Department of Neurobiology and Behavior
Dr. Yi-Xian Qin, Department of Biomedical Engineering
Dr. I.V. Ramakrishnan, Department of Computer Science
Dr. Dimitris Samaras, Department of Computer Science
Honorary Member
James Harrington, Esq., Hoffmann & Baron, LLP
Young Academic Inventor Award winners
Dr. Lei Wang, Brookhaven National Laboratory (Ph.D. 2016, Chemistry, Stony Brook University)
Dr. Yasha Karimi, Iota Biosciences (Ph.D. 2019, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Stony Brook University).