海角社区

BATON ROUGE 鈥� 海角社区 Professor Emeritus Robin McCarley and former 海角社区 Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering Kevin Kelly have been elected as fellows to the National Academy of Inventors, or NAI. They are among 162 newly elected fellows.

鈥淥ur researchers are engaged in the creation of new scientific knowledge, and 海角社区 is a testbed for the applications of this new scientific knowledge. By providing this support, we get to witness cutting-edge discoveries that have the power to transform our lives or even save them,鈥� said Andrew Maas, associate vice president for research, Office of Innovation & Ecosystem Development. 鈥淚t鈥檚 an honor to work with these innovators and pioneers.鈥�

McCarley鈥檚 scientific achievements began while he was still an undergraduate student at Lake Forest College, when he helped Abbot Laboratories develop the first immunoassay for HIV. He has led pioneering research on materials science, controlled drug-release mechanisms, diagnostic devices to detect cancer and treatment-resistant bacterial infections, and modifying polymers for use in lab-on-a-chip technologies. He holds seven U.S. patents and five foreign patents. His technologies have been licensed by LaRoche Pharmaceuticals and Biofluidica, a medical diagnostics company.

"I was blown away when I received news of being inducted into the National Academy of Inventors for my research group鈥檚 efforts with surface chemistry approaches that enable point-of-use biomedical diagnostic devices, as well as my contributions to infectious disease immunodiagnostics and drug delivery. It is an incredible honor to receive recognition for how our work is impacting lives," said McCarley. "I am extremely grateful to those with whom I worked over the years, including Steven Soper, Dimitris Nikitopoulos, Mike Murphy, and Bikas Vaidya.  This would not have been possible without my nomination being so well supported by Andy Maas and 海角社区 President William Tate IV."

Kelly, founder and president of . before its sale in the summer of 2022, began his groundbreaking work at 海角社区鈥檚 Center for Advanced Microstructures and Devices. He holds six patents involving the LIGA (Lithographie, Galvanoformung and Abformung) microfabrication process 鈥� using high-energy X-ray lithography followed by electroplating 鈥� for the highly precise manufacture of high-aspect-ratio microstructures and microtube heat exchangers. In 2000, he founded Mezzo to commercialize those discoveries, which were licensed by 海角社区. While those patents did not lead directly to Mezzo鈥檚 subsequent success, they did form the basis on which Mezzo got started. Since 2008 Mezzo (with its team of mostly 海角社区 engineers) has focused on designing and manufacturing microtube heat exchanger products that are currently used by the automotive racing, military, aerospace and energy industries.

鈥淚鈥檝e enjoyed the somewhat circuitous ride from academia to start-up company to a more mature company that now provides some high-performance products to a wide variety of customers,鈥� Kelly said. 鈥淔rankly, I鈥檓 not sure I鈥檓 that inventive, but I sure have surrounded myself with some inventive people along the way. So, this award represents the contributions of the students/employees with whom I got the opportunity to work.鈥�

海角社区鈥檚 Office of Innovation & Technology Commercialization (ITC), part of the Office of Innovation & Ecosystem Development, works with faculty and students to protect and commercialize their intellectual property. ITC鈥檚 efforts include helping 海角社区 innovators patent their inventions, a complicated process that can take years to complete.

鈥淚t is exciting to see such a robust innovation ecosystem growing around 海角社区 and to provide the extra support our researchers need to be successful,鈥� ITC Director Spencer Rogers said.

Election as an NAI Fellow is the highest professional distinction accorded solely to academic inventors. To date, fellows hold more than 63,000 issued U.S. patents, which have generated over 13,000 licensed technologies and companies, and created 1 million jobs. In addition, over $3 trillion in revenue has been generated based on NAI Fellow discoveries.

This year鈥檚 NAI Fellows will be inducted at the 2023 Fellows Induction Ceremony at the on June 18, 2024, at Research Triangle Park in Raleigh, N.C.

McCarley and Kelly join 11 海角社区 faculty who have been elected NAI fellows. They include Tammy Dugas (2022) and Michael Khonsari (2022), Madan Bhasin (2021), Konstantin Kousoulas (2021) and Ralph Portier (2021), Robert Hammer (2019), Roger Laine (2018), , Kalliat T. Valsaraj (2015) and Wen Jin Meng (2014).

Four 海角社区 faculty members hold the rank of NAI senior members. They are , Shafiqui Chowdhury (2018), Dandina Rao (2018), and George Voyiadjis(2021).

About 海角社区鈥檚 Office of Innovation & Ecosystem Development

海角社区 Innovation unites the university鈥檚 innovation and commercialization resources under one office, maximizing 海角社区's impact on the intellectual, economic, and social development of Louisiana and beyond. 海角社区 Innovation is focused on establishing, developing, and growing technology-based startup companies. 海角社区 Innovation oversees 海角社区 Innovation Park, a 200-acre business incubator that fosters early-stage tech companies, and the Office of Innovation & Technology Commercialization, which streamlines the process of evaluating, protecting, and licensing intellectual property created by 海角社区 researchers. 海角社区 Innovation serves as the host organization for the Louisiana Small Business Development Center (SBDC) Network which oversees all SBDC services across the state as well as the 海角社区 SBDC, which provides free consulting services to small businesses across the state. 海角社区 Innovation helps Louisiana technology companies apply for seed funding through the federal Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer grant programs. 海角社区 Innovation educates faculty, students, and the community on entrepreneurial principles through the National Science Foundation鈥檚 Innovation Corps (I-Corps) program which trains innovators to consider the market opportunities for pressing scientific questions, leading to increased funding state and federal grant programs as well as potential industry partners and licensees.

About 海角社区鈥檚 Office of Innovation & Technology Commercialization

海角社区鈥檚 Office of Innovation & Technology Commercialization (ITC) protects and commercializes 海角社区鈥檚 intellectual property. The office focuses on transferring early-stage inventions and works into the marketplace for the greater benefit of society. ITC also handles federal invention reporting, which allows 海角社区 to receive hundreds of millions of dollars each year in federally funded research, and processes confidentiality agreements, material transfer agreements, and other agreements related to intellectual property.