Newswise — NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J.—Four Rutgers professors and two former faculty members were honored recently by the New Jersey Inventors Hall of Fame.
Scott Kachlany, associate professor in the Rutgers School of Dental Medicine, received the organization’s “Innovators Award” at its awards event earlier this month. Kachlany was honored for his work leading to new potential treatments for leukemia.
The “Inventor of the Year” award went to five individuals including Richard Mammone, professor in the Rutgers Business School and School of Engineering; Nicholi Vorsa, director of Rutgers’ Marucci Center for Blueberry and Cranberry Research; and Ximing Guo, shellfish geneticist and professor at Rutgers’ Haskin Shellfish Research Laboratory. Guo shared the award with Standish Allen, a former Rutgers faculty member now at the College of William & Mary. Former Rutgers professor Shirley Ann Jackson, president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, received the Trustees Award.
“These inventors illustrate the pioneering contributions that Rutgers makes in an amazing variety of fields, including computing technologies, health care, and life sciences,” said Kenneth J. Breslauer, Interim Vice President for Research and Economic Development and Linus Pauling Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology. “Going back to the invention of streptomycin, an antibiotic used worldwide, to the more recent development of many patented fruit and plant varieties at the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, Rutgers faculty members have made innumerable contributions to the economic development of our state, and beyond.”
Guo, a resident of Washington Township, and Allen were honored for their work in shellfish genetics, which the Hall of Fame said is “revolutionizing” the shellfish industry. Guo started in the field more than 20 years ago in China and holds several U.S. and international patents.
Kachlany, of Bridgewater, was honored for his research in discovering new agents for the treatment of leukemia, which has earned one U.S. patents with four pending. Kachlany founded of Actinobac Biomed Inc., located in North Brunswick. Next month he will receive the 2013 Edison Patent Award from the Research & Development Council of New Jersey. Read more here.
Mammone, of Warren, holds 17 U.S. patents. He was honored for his inventions in speaker verification and recognition technologies. The R&D Council of New Jersey awarded Mammone the 2010 Thomas Alva Edison Patent Award. He is co-founder of the Rutgers spin-off Speakez Inc. and co-inventor of its core neural network-based technology. Mammone also founded two other technology-based companies, including Clearview Diagnostics. Learn more here.
Vorsa, of Atco, holds six U.S. patents, an international patent, and two Canadian patents. He was honored for his scientific research and contributions to disease-resistant cranberries and the cranberry industry.
“What he’s done is a monumental contribution to the cranberry industry,” former cranberry grower Abbott Lee of Chatsworth, said. “Productivity will be much greater for it.” Read more here.
Vorsa received the Thomas Alva Edison Award from the R&D Council of New Jersey in 2008.
Established in 1766, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is America’s eighth oldest institution of higher learning and one of the nation’s premier public research universities. Serving more than 65,000 students on campuses, centers, institutes and other locations throughout the state, Rutgers is the only public university in New Jersey that is a member of the prestigious Association of American Universities. Rutgers was #1 nationally among public universities in terms of increased federal funding from FY2002 to FY2011, according to National Science Foundation data.
RSS