Two faculty members at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor have been elected to the National Academy of Inventors, the highest professional distinction awarded solely to inventors.
Lynn Conway, professor emerita of electrical engineering and computer science, and Kevin Ward, executive director of the Weil Institute and professor of emergency medicine and biomedical engineering, were elected in December.
Conway and Ward were nominated for their work as researchers who were able to translate discoveries into new products and technologies to benefit the world.
“This is the highest honor our inventors can receive, and I am incredibly pleased for Drs. Ward and Conway,” says Kelly Sexton, associate vice president for research, innovation partnerships and economic impact at U-M. “Their acceptance into the 2023 class of NAI Fellows is a testament to their work, which has had an outstanding impact for the betterment of society.”
In addition to creating innovations that have resulted in multiple Food and Drug Administration-approved products, Ward founded U-M’s Max Harry Weil Institute for Critical Care Research and Innovation. It provides inventors in the critical care space with a platform to improve and transform clinical care through innovation, integration, and entrepreneurship.
Conway is a pioneer of microelectronic chip design for numerous high-tech companies. Additionally, she invented a method for issuing multiple out-of-order instructions per machine cycle in supercomputers and solved a fundamental computer architecture problem.
The NAI Fellows Program was established to celebrate academic inventors who have demonstrated a “prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating innovations that have made a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development, and the welfare of society.”
To be inducted, fellows must first be nominated by their peers. They must also be a named inventor on patents issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and affiliated with a university, a nonprofit research institute, or other an academic entity. The nominations are reviewed by a committee, which invites the nominee to join the next NAI Fellows class.
Since 2013, 13 U-M faculty members have been named NAI Fellows. U-M President Santa Ono also received the honor through the University of British Columbia in 2013.
