Inventor of the Year

Inventor of the Year Award

The Inventor of the Year Award is presented each year in recognition of the contribution that the invention has and/or will make towards society as a whole.

For the Call for Nominations - Inventor of the Year rules and instructions, please click HERE. This year's winner will be awarded $5,000.00. For additional information, FAQ's.

 

2024 Inventor of the Year Award Winner

Dr. Eren Kurshan

Princeton University

 

 

Name Organization Recognized For Year
Dr. Eren Kurshan Princeton University

Recognized for multiple patents and published patent applications, including those issued in 2023:

  • US Patent No. 11,586,681, issued on Feb. 21, 2023, titled “System and Methods to Mitigate Adversarial Targeting Using Machine Learning”;
  • US Patent No. 11,669,713, issued on June 6, 2023, titled “System and Method for Online Reconfiguration of a Neural Network System”;
  • US Patent No. 11,777,990, issued on Oct. 3, 2023, titled “Machine Learning-Based Event Analysis for Customized Contract Generation and Negotiation in Enhanced Security Peer-to-Peer Interaction Applications”.
2024 
Dr. Andre S. Bachmann, Dr. Caleb P. Bupp, and Dr. Surender Rajasekaran Michigan State University Recognized for their methods and compositions to prevent and treat disorders associated with mutations in the ODC1 gene. U.S. Patent No. 11,273,137 B2.  2023 
Dr. Steven Carlson OptoDot Recognized for his dedication to pioneering safer separators using carbon material for lithium-ion batteries. His contributions lead to a reduced rate of hazardous conditions when implementing batteries into commonly used devices.  2022 
Drs. Yancopoulos and Kyratsous  Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc.   Recognized for their important work applying Regeneron’s antibody discovery technologies in rapid response fashion to address the  deadly COVID-19 pandemic, leading to an important investigational treatment for the novel coronavirus and shaping how drug developers will address future outbreaks.  2021 
Dr. Rajiv Joshi  IBM Thomas Watson Research Center  Recognized for his pioneering work in advancing the electronic industry and improving artificial intelligence capabilities.  2020 
Dr. Sharon Shacham  Karyopharm Therapeutics  Recognized for her significant research that led to the development of an oral cancer treatment, Selinexor

2019 

Dr. Michael Kass  NVIDIA  Contributions to the field of computer graphics 

2018 

Dr. Adrian Krainer
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Inventor of U.S. Patent No. 8,980,853, recognized for his research that led to the first-ever drug for the treatment of Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) in children and adults 2017 
Dr. Thaddeus Prusik Temptime Corp. Contributions to the development of low-cost temperature history indicators for use with vaccines and other biologics 2016 
Dr. Brian D'Andrade   Exponent, Inc. Disclosures relating to the field of technologies and materials for organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs)     2015 
Drs. Sadelain and Brentjens  Memorial Sloan-Kettering
Cancer Center
Disclosures relating to the design of chimeric antigen receptors, or CARs  2014
Drs. Schuchman and Desnick Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Work on Niemann-Pick Disease, leading to the discovery of the gene and subsequently the first genetic screening for the disease. Enzyme replacement therapy is currently under development in phase 2 clinical trials. 2013
Dr. Radoslav Adzic Brookhaven National

Laboratory
Extensive work in the field of nanocatalysts with reduced platinum loading for applications in hydrogen fuel cells 2012
Dr. Rajiv Laroia Qualcomm Flarion Pioneer work in the area of OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) 2011
Barber, et. al. High School Students NYIPLA Young Innovators award for invention related to a Curb Climbing Wheelchair 2011
Dr. Eric R. Fossum Thayer School of Engineering
at Dartmouth
Extensive portfolio of patents related to CMOS pixel image sensors 2010
Dr. Sadeg M. Faris Reveo Lifetime contributions with over 200 patents spanning diverse fields of technology such as superconductivity, electro-optics, energy, water technologies, DNA sequencing  and nanolithography 2009
Dr. James J. Wynne, Dr. Samuel E. Blum, and Dr. Rangaswamy Srinivasan IBM Significant invention in U.S. Patent No. 4,784,135 that led to the current success of LASIK and PRK laser vision correction procedures 2009
Dr. Bernard S. Meyerson IBM IBM Systems & Technology Group - groundbreaking research in Si/SiGe technology 2008
Dr. Pedro M. Buarque De Macedo Catholic University of America Research related to glass science resulting in variety of beneficial applications 2008
Chang Yi Wang, Ph.D United Biomedical Work in "UBITh Peptide Immunogens" 2007
Uzoh, et al. IBM U.S. Patent No. 6,709,562 – relating to copper interconnect technology for semiconductor integrated circuit chips 2006

Dr. Leendert Dorst

Dr. Karen Trovato  

Philips Electronics
North America

Work was for Method and Apparatus for Path Planning 2005
Bonnie Bassler, Ph.D     2004
Dr. Jurg Zimmermann Novartis Inventor of the drug imatinib mesylate (STI-571), the active ingredient in anti cancer drug “Gleevec,” an oral treatment for chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) - Novartis 2002
Jay Walker Priceline.com Found priceline.com 2000
Dr. David C. Auth Heart Technology, Inc. Inventor of the ROTABLATOR® device 1994
David T. Green     1991
Dr. John E. Anderson Union Carbide   1989
Dr. Jack Riseman IBM   1988
Dr. Leo H. Sternbach   Inventor of LIBRIUM and VALIUM 1987

 


   

CALL FOR NOMINATIONS
2024 NYIPLA
INVENTOR OF THE YEAR AWARD
Submission Deadline: January 30, 2024             

FAQ’s for the Inventor of the Year Award

(1) I have a revolutionary patent application – can someone nominate me?

Only issued patents will be considered for this award. 

(2) Does my invention have to be commercialized?

No. 

(3) Do I need to submit materials in addition to the Nomination form?

The nomination form is the only requirement. However, you should submit as much information as you deem necessary to effectively, but efficiently, represent your nominee. 

(4) Who can nominate me?

Anyone, including but not limited to:
Yourself
Outside Counsel
In-House Counsel
Employer (company, university, etc.) 

(5) I am an inventor located outside of the NY, NJ, CT area – can I be nominated?

NYIPLA reviews submissions from inventors throughout the U.S. Please see the list of prior winners here. 

The only geographic requirement is that the winner(s) can attend the award dinner in New York City in May of that year. 

(6)  Does it matter (in a positive or negative manner) if the nominee is in the same area of science as a recent award recipient?

No. Areas of science of past award recipients are considered. 

(7)  Do you have a good example of an effective, past submission, maybe from a previous award recipient, to assist in preparation of my submission?

Portions of previous winning submissions are posted here

Also, by example, you may list multiple representative patents for your submission, but no more than 5 patents should be attached to the physical submission. 

(8)  Will I get confirmation of acceptance of my submission?

If completely submitted by e-mail, an e-mail confirming receipt will be generated. If sent via snail mail, please follow up with an e-mail to confirm receipt. 

(9) Will I be contacted if the committee requires additional information?

Typically no. All submissions should be as complete as necessary to understand the technology and patents to be considered. In the event the committee believes that there is something missing or something specific that the nominee may possess that could help the committee better understand the submission, you will be contacted by the committee.  

(10) Is the nomination made public?

Not necessarily. However, DO NOT submit any information that should be kept confidential for any reason. Rather, treat all information submitted as being made "publicaly available." By submitting a nomination, you consent that the nomination will become the property of the NYIPLA (with a grant of permission to use the nomination), and that the NYIPLA may use the image and likeness of the nominee(s), if named as the award recipient(s). 

(11) Will the nominee be contacted by the NYIPLA before a winner is announced?

The award recipient will be notified sometime in March. 

The website will announce the award recipient's name shortly thereafter.

(12)  Will the committee provide feedback about the quality of my nomination or how my nominee fared during consideration by the committee?

In order to maintain the integrity of the committee, the committee will not be able to provide feedback concerning the contents of a nominating submission or its internal deliberations concerning that submission.

 

 


 Committee members have access to view materials, e-mail fellow members, and participate in the discussion board.