Stony Brook Celebrates New National Academy of Inventors Chapter
On April 11 an Inaugural Dinner Gala was held in the Student Activities Center to celebrate the newly established Stony Brook University Chapter of the National Academy of Inventors (SBU-NAI).
Caption: The thirty inaugural members with SBU President Samuel L. Stanley Jr. (seated, center), SBU-NAI President Iwao Ojima (next to Dr. Stanley, left), Vice President for Research David Conover (next to Dr. Stanley, right), and Director of Technology Licensing/Industry Relations Peter Donnelly (seated, far right)
April 2016-Thirty Stony Brook faculty members — all of whom hold patents issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office — were inducted as inaugural members to the SBU-NAI. Their inventions cross into many scientific fields, such as chemistry, biomedical engineering, computer science, pharmacological science and mechanical engineering.
“Stony Brook University is very good at innovation,” said Stony Brook University President Samuel L. Stanley Jr., MD, during his opening remarks. “Over the last two decades, Stony Brook has accounted for 90 percent of all the revenues coming to SUNY from licensing and patents. That’s something we should be very proud of.”
Guest speaker Karen J.L. Burg, NAI Board of Directors, addressed the new Stony Brook inductees, and Distinguished Professor of Chemistry Benjamin Hsiao gave the keynote speech.
Distinguished Professor of Chemistry Iwao Ojima, NAI fellow and Stony Brook Chapter President, and Director of Technology Licensing and Industry Relations Peter Donnelly, Executive Director of the Stony Brook Chapter, discussed the importance of having an NAI chapter on campus to help build the research enterprise leading to marketable inventions.
“The Stony Brook University chapter of the National Academy of Inventors is very crucial for this University,” commented Professor Ojima. “It will bolster the importance of our scientist-inventors and also cultivate next-generation scientists who have new inventions in mind.”
“In terms of moving forward with commercialization, the faculty play a critical role there,” added Donnelly. “They are the world’s leading experts in their fields and in their inventions, and typically a company will want that expertise on hand as they move forward with product development and investment.”
The SBU-NAI will foster research that leads to academic inventions and entrepreneurship from faculty and students. The chapter will also help build a culture of invention across all campus disciplines and, as Professor Ojima stated, cultivate the next generation of academic inventors.
There are more than 200 university and research institution NAI chapters in the U.S. and around the world. The NAI-SBU chapter is open to all members of the University community who have received an issued patent from the USPTO.
SBU-NAI Inaugural Members
Marie Badalamente, Department of Orthopedics
Peter Brink, Department of Physiology and Biophysics
Wen-Tien Chen, Department of Medicine
Richard Clark, Department of Dermatology
Ira Cohen, Department of Physiology and Biophysics
Lorne Golub, Department of Oral Biology and Pathology
Vera Gorfinkel, Department of Electrical Engineering
Pelagia-Irene Gouma, Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Yusuf Hannun, Department of Medicine and Cancer Center
Dhadwal Harbans, Department of Electrical Engineering
Herbert Herman, Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Francis Johnson, Department of Pharmacological Sciences, Department of Chemistry
Arie Kaufman, Department of Computer Sciences
Kenneth Kaushansky, Department of Medicine
Israel Kleinberg, Department of Oral Biology and Pathology
Jon Longtin, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Benjamin Luft, Department of Medicine
Serge Luryi, Department of Electrical Engineering
Lucy Palmer, Department of Medicine
Kathlyn Parker, Department of Chemistry
Miriam Rafailovich, Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Jahangir Rasteger, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Clinton Rubin, Department of Biomedical Engineering
Maria Ryan, Department of Oral Biology and Pathology
Nicole Sampson, Department of Chemistry
Simon Sanford, Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Department of Pathology
Sanjay Sampath, Department of Material and Science Engineering
Steven Skiena, Department of Computer Sciences
Gerard Smaldone, Department of Medicine
Stanislaus Wong, Department of Chemistry
Click here for photos and more information about the SBU-NAI members
