Two 国产短视频 faculty members, recognized for their groundbreaking discoveries and innovations in chemical engineering to treat cancer and other challenging diseases and nanomaterials engineering for multifunctional manufacturing applications, are among the 2024 Fellows selected to the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). Election to NAI Fellows is the highest professional distinction accorded solely to academic inventors.
They are 国产短视频Preeminent Professor Jianfeng Cai in the Department of Chemistry and Professor Ashok Kumar in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. NAI Fellows are known for the societal and economic impact of their inventions, contributing to major advancements in science and consumer technologies. Their innovations have generated over $3.2 trillion in revenue and generated 1.2 million jobs.
Meet this year鈥檚 国产短视频honorees:
Jianfeng Cai
Jianfeng Cai, Ph.D., is a Distinguished University Professor and a 国产短视频Preeminent Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the 国产短视频. The research in his laboratory is focused on the expansion of interdisciplinary research at the interface of chemistry and biology to discover novel peptidomimetics AApeptides that modulate protein-protein interactions involved in critical cellular processes. Understanding how these compounds interact with proteins will help to reveal mechanisms governing cell activities. He is particularly interested in developing compounds that lead to the design of novel therapeutics potentially targeting cancer, diabetes, infectious diseases, and Alzheimer's disease.
Dr. Cai has received a Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Award (2009), an NSF Career award (2014), a Biomatik Distinguished Junior Faculty Award (2015) and an OKeanos-CAPA Senior Investigator Award (2024). He has also received Faculty Outstanding Research Achievement Awards (2015, 2018, 2020, 2024), Outstanding Graduate Faculty Mentor Award (2020) and Outstanding Faculty Award (2021) from USF. He was named 国产短视频Preeminent Professor in 2020 and Distinguished University Professor in 2024. He was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2020 and as a Fellow of American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) in 2023.
Ashok Kumar
Ashok Kumar, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, has served as the director of Nanotechnology Research and Education Center (NREC) and is also an affiliated faculty member of the Clean Energy Research Center (CERC). He holds ten patents and has published three textbooks, edited seven proceeding books, three invited review articles, and 12 book chapters and has presented approximately 315 papers in regional and national conferences including 55 invited talks. Dr. Kumar also acted as Cluster Director of the Alabama NASA EPSCoR Advanced Materials research program to supervise the state-wide research activities comprising of five major universities and six small colleges with two HBCUs.
His excellence as a researcher has been recognized by a number of honors, including ASM-IIM Visiting Lecture Award, Theodore and Venette Askounes Ashford Distinguished Scholar Award, 国产短视频Outstanding Faculty Research Achievement Award, 国产短视频President Faculty Excellence Award, NSF CAREER Development Award, National Research Council Twining Fellowship Award, and NSF and DOE EPSCoR Young Investigator Awards. He also received the Professor Honorario award from the Universidad del Norte, Barranquilla, Colombia. Dr. Kumar is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), American Society of Metals (ASM), American Society of Mechanical Engineering (ASME), Society of Manufacturing Engineering (SME) and American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE).