The UTRF Multi-Campus Office Innovation Awards ceremony was held in Knoxville on Monday, November 25th, 2024. Congratulations to all of the awardees!
Innovator of the Year
With great pride, we recognize Dr. Uday Vaidya, the UT-ORNL Governor’s Chair of Advanced Composites Manufacturing, as this year’s Innovator of the Year Award recipient!
Dr. Vaidya’s pioneering leadership in advanced composites and materials science has transformed lightweight, high-performance materials, driving innovation across industries. His work has fostered impactful partnerships between academia, government, and industry to tackle critical global challenges, resulting in numerous patents that underscore his ingenuity and influence.
A passionate mentor, Dr. Vaidya is deeply committed to shaping the future of engineering, science, and entrepreneurship. His graduate students have launched three successful startups, and he actively supports emerging ventures across the community. Beyond his research, he led the development of InnoCrate, an innovative educational toolkit designed to introduce K-12 students to the exciting world of composites, inspiring the next generation of engineers, designers, and innovators.
Please join us in celebrating Dr. Uday Vaidya, a visionary researcher, collaborative leader, and true innovator, as he receives UTRF’s 2024 Innovator of the Year Award!
Startups
Sustainable Logistics – Alex Scott
ThermaMatrix, Inc. – Ryan Spencer, Uday Vaidya
9+1AI – Robert Davis
Licensed Technologies
Attralus, Inc. – Jonathan Wall, Manasi Balachandran, James Foster, Emily Martin-Shuler, Angela Williams, Stephen Kennel
Endeavor Composites, Inc. – Hicham Ghossein, Uday Vaidya
Mazak Corporation – Tony Schmitz
SID Tool Company – Tony Schmitz
Orion Therapeutics, Inc. – Deidra Mountain, Richard Fisher, Oscar Grandas, Phillip West
Veterinary Social Work Certificate – Christy Hickman, Zenithson Ng, Sarina Manifold, Bethanie Poe, Ragan Schriver, Elizabeth Strand, Pamela Linden, Aviva Vincent
Wild Biosciences, Ltd. – C. Neal Stewart, Scott Lenaghan, Mst Shamira Sultana
TgMAT Antigen – Chunlei Su, Alycia Chapman, Richard Gerhold, Jr.
U.S. Patents Issued
11,705,720 – Fei Wang, Edward Jones
11,723,738 – Daniel Caleb Rucker
11,754,374 – Jimmy W. Mays, Ganajan Bhat, Vikram Srivastava, Josh Fogle
11,760,793 – J. Lannett Edwards, F. Neal Schrick, Louisa Rispoli
11,802,357 – Uday Vaidya, Hicham Ghossein
11,882,889 – Yilu Liu, He Yin
11,987,653 – Brian Long, Jordan Kaiser
11,754,637 – Fei Wang, Jingxin Wang, Yiwei Ma
11,923,666 – Fei Wang, Jingxin Wang
11,725,215 – Anna Katherine Furches
11,960,100 – Cary Dean Smith, Mark Gragston, Zhili Zhang
11,851,538 – Uday Vaidya, George Husman
11,845,848 – Toni Wang
11,964,387 – Daniel Caleb Rucker
12,018,270 – Tarek Hewezi, Sarbottyam Piya
11,996,229 – Daniel Costinett, Jie Li, Ruiyang Qin
11,851,545 – Brett Compton, Robert Pack, Madeline Wimmer, Samantha Maness
11,746,036 – Ryan Ginder
11,718,898 – Zachary Sims
11,761,061 – Zachary Sims
11,795,583 – Halie J. Martin