NC State Celebrates Innovation and Entrepreneurship
NC State held its 27th Celebration of Innovation and Entrepreneurship to recognize the outstanding achievements of its faculty inventors over the last year. With over 500 products to market and over 125 startups launched, NC State continues to contribute to the economy of North Carolina and the nation as a whole. In 2016, the Office of Technology Commercialization and New Ventures worked with NC State faculty to launch 12 startup companies, execute 164 commercialization agreements, issue 65 patents, generate $3.8 million in licensing revenue, and select 7 Chancellor’s Innovation Fund projects.
In addition to honoring inventors that received a patent or launched a startup company in 2016, Chancellor Randy Woodson presented the Innovator of the Year and Dr. John S. Risley Entrepreneur of the Year awards to Dr. Michael Escuti and Dr. Rodolphe Barrangou, respectively.
Innovator of the Year
Dr. Michael Escuti
Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of Engineering
Dr. Michael Escuti is a leading liquid crystal and photonics expert pioneering the development of polarization gratings and geometric phase holograms. He has been recognized by the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers and has received the Alcoa Foundation Engineering Research Achievement Award. Dr. Escuti is a named inventor on 47 issued patents. A number of his technologies have been successfully commercialized by ImagineOptix, an NC State startup company that is revolutionizing the field of optics within telecommunications and consumer electronics. Additionally, Dr. Escuti’s technology is currently installed in two of the world’s largest telescopes, enabling high contrast direct imaging and spectral characterization of exo-solar planets.
Dr. John S. Risley Entrepreneur of the Year
Dr. Rodolphe Barrangou
Department of Food, Bioprocessing, & Nutrition Sciences, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Dr. Rodolphe Barrangou returned to NC State in 2013, following a prolific 10-year career providing leadership to global innovations at Danisco and DuPont. He is widely recognized for paving the way for scientific breakthroughs involving CRISPR-Cas systems. The extent and impact of the CRISPR lab has resonated worldwide, with over 100 manuscripts published to date. Dr. Barrangou has received numerous awards, including the Warren Alpert Prize from the Harvard Medical School and the Canada International Gairdner Award. Dr. Barrangou also received funding from the Chancellor’s Innovation Fund in 2015. Dr. Barrangou has shown entrepreneurial commitment and impact with his involvement in three game-changing CRISPR startup companies, serving as:
Chairman of the Board of Directors for Caribou Biosciences, which is valued at over $100M.
Co-founder of Intellia Therapeutics, which had an IPO within two years of launch and now has a valuation approaching $1 billion.
Co-founder and current Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board for Locus Biosciences, an NC State startup which has successfully raised $1.5M in seed funding.
Chancellor Woodson also recognized NC State’s startup companies, Chancellor’s Innovation Fund awardees, and faculty inventors who had been issued a patent in 2016.
Startups
STEM Teacher Learning
Third Floor Materials
Smart Material Solutions
RiboWiz Scientific
Learning Sciences Group
InsightFinder
Lupine Materials Technology
Custom Nano
BenD
Q-Carbon, LLC
Eagle Power Technologies, Inc.
Locus Biosciences
The Chancellor’s Innovation Fund
Seven projects were selected for funding in 2016-2017.
A Hydraulic Battery for Portable Microfluidic Devices – Glenn Walker, Frances Ligler, Brian Cummins
Enabling Synthetic Biology via Genetically Encoded Biosensors – Gavin Williams
Editing and Engineering the Chloroplast Genome in Plants – Chase Beisel, Heike Sederoff
Light-activated Anti-infective Coatings: Photosensitizer Embedded Nanofibrillated Cellulose – Reza Ghiladi, Dimirtris Argyropoulos, Frank Scholle
Network Extensible Spreadsheet Software (NExS) – Tom Miller, John Bass
Stateful SMS Opens Doors for Billions – John Bass, Duarte Morais, Ryan Kilby
Development, characterization and scale-up of novel dendrimeric polymer particles for coatings, nonwovens and rheology modifiers – Orlin Velev
Patent Recipients
Amith Naik – 9,162,223
Darren Touchell – PP25941
Daryl Bowman – 201500218; 201200404; 201200406
David Ritchie – 9,351,491
Gregory Buckner – 9,316,189
Jihwan Kim – 9,335,586; 9,195,092
John Cavanagh – 9,351,491; 9,084,423
Mehdi Afshari – 9,080,258
Ralph Dewey – 9,096,864
Ramsey Lewis – 9,247,706
Roberta Melander – 9,295,257
Ruben Carbonell – 9,091,006
Shaphan Jernigan – 9,308,350
Stefano Menegatti – 9,162,223
Susana Milla-Lewis – 201500288; 201500287
Wallace S Pitts – 9,252,501
Alex Q. Huang 9,362,814; 9,331,482
Alexei Saveliev – 9,291,610
Anka N. Veleva – 9,198,975
Behnam Pourdeyhimi – 9,284,663
Christian C. Melander – 9,351,491; 9,295,257; 9,221,765; 9,145,395; 9,125,408; 9,084,423
Dennis James Werner – PP26581; PP26547
Dimitris Argyropoulos – 9,340,426
Gregory D. Buckner – 9,308,350
Jason C. Shih – 9,253,994
John Muth – 9,203,524
Jonathan S. Lindsey – 9,365,722; 9,303,165
Joseph B. Tracy – 9,314,849
Joseph P. Murphy – 201500218; 201200404; 201200406
Josip Simunovic – 9,332,781
Linda K. Hanley-Bowdoin – 9,102,705
Matthew Breen – 9,090,945
Medwick Vaughan Byrd Jr. – 9,339,058
Michael J. Escuti – 9,335,586; 9,298,041; 9,195,092
Orlin D. Velev – 9,217,211; 9,217,210
Patrick Gurgel – 9,091,006
Paul Franzon – 9,252,501; 9,077,245
Ralph E. Dewey – 9,247,706; 9,228,194; 9,228,195; 9,187,759
Ramsey S. Lewis – 9,096,864
Richard Kotek – 9,080,258
Ruben G. Carbonell – 9,162,223
Samuel M. Hudson – 9,259,357; 9,226,988
Thomas G. Isleib – 201500288; 201500287
Thomas G. Ranney – PP26539; PP26542; PP26387; PP26000; PP25916; PP25941; PP25813;
Tiegang Fang – 9,316,189
Todd R. Klaenhammer – 9,340,792
The Office of Technology Commercialization and New Ventures congratulates all who have contributed to NC State’s success in innovation and entrepreneurship in 2016.
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