The College of Engineering and Tech Launch Arizona recognized 20 inventors for their hard work, creativity and courage at the first annual Patent Medallion Luncheon in early March. The engineers received medallions to commemorate their patented inventions — which ranged from a quantum-analogue computer to a cancer detection device to a technique to improve hypersonic flight.

Betsy Cantwell, senior vice president for research and innovation at the University of Arizona, said it takes courage to pursue entrepreneurship and go beyond what is traditionally expected of faculty members.

“[You are] adding to the plate that one of the things you want to do with your research is to have a different kind of impact,” she said. “That is a flavor of courage we are looking to support. … Thank you all for being courageous, whether you know it or not.”

With 82 invention disclosures, 95 patents filed and 25 patents issued in FY 2021, the College of Engineering is a leader at the University of Arizona in invention disclosures and patents. In its 2021 Annual Report, TLA noted that the College of Engineering was a standout in number of Asset Development awards and amount of total funding received to help advance early-stage inventions.

Doug Hockstad, assistant vice president of Tech Launch Arizona, thanked the inventors for their part in bringing the university to No. 28 in the world among universities granted U.S. utility patents. The position marks an 11-point jump from the previous year and a 38-point jump from the year prior.

“I’m very proud that our college is so innovative,” said David Hahn, Craig M. Berge Dean of the College of Engineering. “It’s certainly something that I value immensely. It’s about putting inventions out into the world and into the market. That’s impact, and that’s what engineers do.”

University of Arizona Provost Liesl Folks, Associate Dean for Research in the College of Engineering Mark Van Dyke, and Tech Launch Arizona Director of Licensing Rakhi Gibbons also spoke at the event.

The following faculty members received their medallions.

Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering

Hermann Fasel – Control of Hypersonic Boundary Layer Transition

Peiwen Li – Desalination of Water Using Thermal Energy

Biomedical Engineering

Arthur Gmitro – Dithered Fiber-Bundle High-Resolution Imager

Jennifer Koevary – Cardiac Electrophysiological Mapping

Urs Utzinger (fellow inventor Jennifer Barton already received her medallion) – Falloposcope and Method for Ovarian Cancer Detection

Jeong-Yeol Yoon – Droplet Actuation Inhibition Relief and Sensing and Device and Method for Performing a Diagnostic Test

Chemical and Environmental Engineering

Dominic Gervasio – Process for Leaching Metal and Storing Energy and High Temperature Reference Electrode

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Ali Bilgin – Tissue Characterization with Volume Correction

Tamal Bose, Min Liang, Michael Marefat and Hao Xin – Cognitive HF Radio With Tuned Compact Antenna

Wolfgang Fink and Mark Tarbell - Handheld Ophthalmic Examination Devices

Marwan Krunz – Preamble Waveforms to Support Wireless Networks and Fast Beam Sweeping in 5G Millimeter Wave

Mining and Geological Engineering

Jinhong Zhang – Fly Ash Based Construction Material

Materials Science and Engineering

Pierre Deymier and Keith Runge – Quantum Analogue Computer

Douglas Loy – Dihydropyridazine-Based Antioxidants and Antioxidant Polymer Foams and Uses Thereof

Pamela Vandiver and Douglas Loy - Coumarin-Modified Epoxy Adhesives