NAI Fellow status: Congratulations to Professors Steven Brueck and Jeffrey Brinker

April 22, 2016 - CHTM

NAI Fellow Award

UNM Distinguished Professors Steven R. J. Brueck and C. Jeffrey Brinker are among a cohort of 168 inventors from around the world who were chosen as 2015 National Academy of Inventors (NAI) Fellows. Election and induction into the NAI Fellow Program is considered a high professional distinction among academic inventors who have demonstrated a highly prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development, and the welfare of society.

U.S. Commissioner for Patents Andrew H. Hirshfeld provided the keynote address for the induction ceremony of the 2015 Fellows of the National Academy of Inventors at the NAI’s fifth annual conference, held this year in Washington D.C. on April 14-15. Over 325 inventors and academic leaders attended the conference, which featured presentations and panels by more than 30 distinguished scientists and innovators. At the ceremony held on April 15 at the US Patent & Trademarks Office (USPTO), Hirshfeld and Paul R. Sanberg, president of the NAI and Charter Fellow, presented the 2015 class of Fellows with a trophy, medal and rosette pin honoring their contributions as academic inventors. Of the 168 innovators elected to the 2015 class, more than 130 were in attendance.

The NAI Fellows Program has 582 Fellows worldwide representing more than 190 prestigious universities and governmental and non-profit research institutions. Collectively, the Fellows hold more than 20,000 issued U.S. patents.

NAI Fellow Steven R. J. Brueck

Steve R. J. Brueck, PhD, is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Director Emeritus of the Center for High Technology Materials at the University of New Mexico. Brueck has made significant contributions to nonlinear optics, nanoscale lithography, semiconductor lasers, infrared detectors, nanophotonics and nanofluidics. He was named the STC.UNM Innovation Fellow in 2010 and received the UNM Presidential Award of Distinction in 2013. He has published over 500 technical papers and has served as an Associate Editor  of Optics Letters, as Editor of the IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics and as Founding Editor of the IEEE Journal in Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics. He holds 61 US patents of which 63 licenses and options have been exercised by 24 companies. Brueck is a fellow of OSA, IEEE, and AAAS.

NAI Fellow C. Jeffrey Brinker

C. Jeffrey Brinker, PhD, is a Sandia National Laboratory Fellow, Distinguished and Regents Professor of Chemical & Biological Engineering at the University of New Mexico and member of the UNM Cancer Center. Brinker is internationally known for his pioneering work in sol-gel processing and evaporation-induced self-assembly; a robust process to create porous and composite thin film and particulate nanostructures. He also invented a lipid-bilayer encapsulated porous nanoparticle also known as protocell, a drug delivery platform. He is the recipient of numerous awards including the US Department of Energy Ernest O. Lawrence Memorial Award in Materials Science, the Materials Research Society (MRS) Medal, and five R&D 100 Awards. In 2002, he was elected as a member of NAE. Brinker is also a Fellow and member of the board of directors of the MRS. He has published over 300 papers and holds 43 US patents that have been licensed to several energy, microelectronics, and pharmaceutical companies.

NAI Fellows Induction Ceremony April 15, 2016

Fellows of the National Academy of Inventors
April 15, 2016


Related:
• NAI Press Release
• Official Program
• NAI Fellows announced (CHTM post)
• UNM inventors elected as NAI Fellows (UNM Newsroom)

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