Accolades

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Professors Joachim Kohn, left, Kathryn Uhrich, center, and Richard Mammone, right, were recently named fellows of the National Academy of Inventors, which comprises 3,000 members selected from 200 institutions worldwide. It recognizes scientists who have been innovative in facilitating outstanding inventions that have benefitted society.

Photography: 

John Emerson; Nick Romanenko

Invent It—and They Will Come

Three professors—Joachim Kohn, Kathryn Uhrich, and Richard Mammone—were recently named fellows of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI), which comprises 3,000 members selected from 200 institutions worldwide. It recognizes scientists who have been innovative in facilitating outstanding inventions that have benefitted society.

Kohn and Uhrich, professors in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology in the School of Arts and Sciences, were cited for their work with polymers. Kohn, the founder and director of the New Jersey Center for Biomaterials at Rutgers, oversees a laboratory investigating new ways to develop biomaterials for tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, and drug delivery. Kohn holds 58 U.S. patents. Uhrich, who herself holds more than 50 U.S. and international patents, leads the Uhrich Group, a laboratory that designs biocompatible and biodegradable polymers for medical, dental, and personal-care applications.

Mammone, who is the associate vice president of innovation and partnerships at Rutgers, holds 17 U.S. patents. His inventions in the fields of laser eye surgery, speaker recognition, and detection of hazardous materials have led to several business ventures. Mammone also founded ClearView Diagnostics Inc., which is commercializing early-stage breast-cancer detection software. Last year, Mammone won the New Jersey Inventors Hall of Fame’s Inventor of the Year Award.

Preeminent Physicist Named to the Prestigious Science Academy

Physicist Daniel Friedan was recently selected as a new member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the nation’s most prestigious honorary societies and a leading center for independent policy research. A distinguished professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy in the School of Arts and Sciences, Friedan is a theoretical physicist, specializing in high-energy physics and in the quantum field theories of one- and two-dimensional materials.

Friedan joined Rutgers in 1989 as a cofounder of the Rutgers New High Energy Theory Center, an internationally recognized leader in developing and exploring string theory and quantum field theory, both of which aim to provide an understanding of the basic forces and fundamental particles in nature. Friedan is among 204 scholars, scientists, writers, artists, and civic, corporate and philanthropic leaders selected to join the academy this year. Members contribute to academy studies of science and technology policy, energy and global security, social policy and American institutions, and the humanities, arts, and education.