The UC Irvine campus community will honor 16 faculty members this week for their significant contributions to the university as inventors and creators. The event is being hosted by the Office of Technology Alliances and UCI's 40th Anniversary Committee. Chancellor Michael Drake will join the celebration, which also honors the university's 40 years of innovation, as well as OTA's 10th anniversary. Faculty from six schools will be presented Innovation Awards for their work in areas such as new sources of electric power, catalysts for making high-performance plastics, stem cell therapies for spinal cord injuries and even educational software. Awards also will be given for faculty entrepreneurship, start-up company innovation and industry partnerships that generated the highest levels of revenue for research and from technology licensing. For more information, including the names of honorees, visit: www.ota.uci.edu/innovation/awards.pdf
WHEN:
5:30-7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 9
WHERE:
Beckman Center of the National Academies of Sciences and Engineering, UCI. Map and directions: www7.nationalacademies.org/beckman/Beckman_Directions_Parking.html
INFORMATION:
This event is open to the campus community, invited guests and the media. Press that wish to attend should contact either Jim Cohen or Maria Agacita, (949) 824-7295, magacita@uci.edu
BACKGROUND:
The Innovation Awards are a new honor, presented during the 40th anniversary of the university and the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the Office of Technology Alliances. Over 600 intellectual properties were evaluated by OTA for their innovation, commercial potential, novelty and creativity of approach. Properties were required to be the product of a current UCI employee who is responsible for a technology patented or copyrighted and owned by UCI. From more than two dozen final candidates, honorees were selected by an advisory committee that included:
- James McGaugh, School of Biological Sciences (Chair)
- Ramesh Jain, Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences
- Sherwood Rowland, School of Physical Sciences
- Scott Samuelsen, The Henry Samueli School of Engineering
- Doug Wallace, School of Medicine