The National Academy of Inventors (NAI), a global organization that serves to recognize the inventiveness and societal impact of academic inventors and to inspire and empower future innovators, recently announced its Class of 2023 NAI Fellows.
A Distinguished Program Created to Recognize and Inspire
Aiming “to create wider public understanding” of the impact of its members, the NAI established the Fellows Program in 2012. This program recognizes inventors “who have demonstrated a prolific spirit of innovation” and have made “a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development and the welfare of society” through their ingenuity. Eligibility requirements for election to the status of NAI Fellow are rigorous and include holding multiple patents (20 is the median for Fellows) and making “outstanding contributions to innovation.” 1*
Candidates are nominated by their institutions and peers and cannot self-nominate. Once nominated, candidates are evaluated by an illustrious committee comprised of university leaders, U.S. Patent & Trademark Office representatives, distinguished faculty and NAI Fellows, industry executives, and Smithsonian and National Science Foundation directors. Elected candidates are inducted into the community of Fellows at the annual meeting of the NAI.
The achievements of the 1,898 NAI Fellows certainly illustrate the magnitude of their contribution. Collectively, they hold 63,000 U.S. patents that have catalyzed 3,200 startups, created more than 1 million jobs, and generated $3 trillion in revenue. All told, it is no wonder that “election to NAI Fellow status is the highest professional distinction accorded solely to academic inventors.” 2*
Northeastern Researchers Honored as NAI Fellows
Northeastern University has the honor of recognizing two of its own esteemed researchers among the 2023 class of NAI Fellows: Dr. Yun Raymond Fu and Dr. Srinivas Sridhar. Their class of 162 elected inventors are responsible for 4,600 patents and includes “2 Nobel Laureates, 3 National Inventors Hall of Fame inductees, [and] 22 members of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.” 3*
Commenting on the 2023 Fellows, NAI President Dr. Paul R. Sanberg, declares: “This new class, in conjunction with our existing Fellows, are creating innovations that are driving crucial advancements across a variety of disciplines and are stimulating the global and national economy in immeasurable ways as they move these technologies from lab to marketplace. We are honored to welcome these highly regarded innovators to the Academy.” 4*
We asked Drs. Fu and Sridhar to reflect on their inventive journeys, what this accolade means to them, and how others can follow in their footsteps.
Dr. Yun Raymond Fu
College of Engineering, Distinguished Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Jointly Appointed, Khoury College of Computer Sciences
What motivates your quest for discovery?
I am always curious about unknown nature and enthusiastic for exploring new discoveries from practice. My primary motivation for inventing is to create disruptive technology and tools from fundamental research that benefit people and help save our planet.
What are the key characteristics, traits, or practices that contribute to your long-standing success as an inventor?
Curiosity, passion, diligence, and persistence are my key traits.
What does this achievement mean to you?
NAI is one of the highest points of recognition for a professor and professional distinction for an inventor. This honor means a lot to me. It recognizes my two decades of research and innovative achievements having broad impact. It also provides valuable encouragement that motivates my future endeavors.
Do you remember receiving your first patent? What was that experience like?
Yes, I still remember my first patent experience when I was an intern at Motorola. We invented an interactive kiosk through technology selecting and customized Avatars that can provide humanoid animation and interact with users sophistically.
The experience of filing the patent with an industry giant was fantastic. My mentor advised me to create the working demo and guided me through the whole process of patent filing and paper submission. I feel honored and satisfied with the results as our technology was adopted by an industry product line that now benefits millions of customers and user. This first experience triggered my passion to become a very productive inventor.
What invention are you most proud of?
I was the inventor of U.S. patent US20170076474A1 “System for Beauty, Cosmetic, and Fashion Analysis.” This technology represents a system and method used to detect, analyze and digitally remove makeup from an image of a face.
In 2016, I founded Giaran, a spinout from my Synergetic Media Learning Lab at Northeastern, which licensed this patent. Giaran is a research and development oriented company, focusing on developing AI based augmented reality and facial image processing technologies. Giaran was acquired by Shiseido in 2017, a global leader in cosmetics, and provided Shiseido with immediate expertise and advanced technologies to further expand Shiseido’s digital capabilities in the thousands-of-million market.
What advice would you give to aspiring inventors?
Aspiring inventors should always stay passionate and persistent in their field of study and research.
What’s next? What problem are you tackling now?
I am leading a research and development team working on the next generation of interactive AI. We are defining and creating human-AI systems that are transforming how we live and communicate.
Granted U.S. Patents
U.S. Patents in Process
First Patent
Latest Patent
Total Inventions
Licensed Inventions
Startups
Dr. Srinivas Sridhar
College of Science, University Distinguished Professor, Physics
Director of Nanomedicine Innovation Center and Nanomedicine Academy
What motivates your quest for discovery?
My motivation comes from both abstract curiosity and practical problem-solving. I have published on diverse fields from quantum chaos and superconductivity to addressing human health through nanomedicine and neurotechnology.
What are the key characteristics, traits, or practices that contribute to your long-standing success as an inventor?
Recognizing a better way to address a particular problem, never giving up, and also recording the solution to submit as an invention.
What does this achievement mean to you?
I am honored to be recognized by this election as Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. The NAI is the premier organization for inventors and is affiliated with the U.S. Patent Office. It is a satisfying recognition of my contributions by a national organization of inventors.
Do you remember receiving your first patent? What was that experience like?
It was exhilarating! I remember we celebrated that day.
What invention are you most proud of?
All my patents are my intellectual children and I am equally proud of all of them. The ones that are further along the path to commercialization and contributing to the welfare of society are more satisfying.
What advice would you give to aspiring inventors?
Inventing is an acquired skill that can be learnt. Always keep looking for better ways to improve the world, and never give up. You must also do the hard work of putting together and submitting the invention disclosure. An idea that you did not act upon and follow up with might as well never have occurred.
What’s next? What problem are you tackling now?
I am now fascinated and intrigued by the use of AI-powered data analytics for understanding how we see things through the brain-eye connection and developing inventions that can exploit the massive advancements in data handling and analysis.
I already have 3 awarded patents in this area which address the electrophysiological signal acquisition and analysis, and we have developed unique expertise in this area. I think we are on the cusp of dramatic breakthroughs which will lead to new advances in understanding and applications in brain wave technology.
Granted U.S. Patents
U.S. Patents in Process
First Patent
Latest Patent
Total Inventions
Licensed Inventions
Startups
Northeastern’s Community of NAI Fellows
Drs. Fu and Sridhar join their 5 active Northeastern colleagues who share the distinction of being an NAI Fellow: Drs. Kenneth Blank (2015), Ahmed Busnaina (2018), Vincent Harris (2022), Yiannis Levendis (2019), and David Luzzi (2020).
Congratulations, Dr. Fu and Dr. Sridhar on this momentous achievement.
Participate in Northeastern’s NAI Chapter
If you are interested in learning more about becoming an NAI Fellow or would like to connect with Northeastern’s NAI Fellows, explore Northeastern’s chapter of the National Academy of Inventors. Launched in 2023, the chapter “serves to empower inventorship and entrepreneurship across the innovation ecosystem” through keystone events, workshops, and mentoring. 5* Click here to learn more and join the chapter.
Citations
1* NAI Website
2* NAI Press Release | NAI Website
https://youtu.be/KilbXC4HtcU