OSU Kicks Off “Celebration of Research” Month by Naming Innovators of the Year Award Recipients for 2011

Dr. Caroline Whitacre, Ohio State’s vice president for research, kicked off the annual “Celebration of Research” month at OSU this week by announcing the recipients of the second annual Innovators of the Year awards. These awards were created last year to recognize outstanding accomplishments in promoting commercialization of university intellectual property and stimulating economic development in the state, region and nation.

The 2011recipient of the Innovator of the Year award is Dr. Yasuko Rikihisa, professor in the Department of Veterinary Biosciences in the College of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Rikihisa’s research career has focused on fundamental understanding and diagnostic platforms for a number of zoonotic tick-borne diseases that infect food and fiber-producing animals, companion animals, and humans. In addition to dogs kept as pets, companion animals for individuals with disabilities have also been shown to be susceptible to tick-borne disease, and in tick-infested areas, there is also a potential for humans to be infected. The commercial significance and impact of her work is evident through fees and royalties received from commercial licensing of her discoveries. Revenues from licenses of her intellectual property and assets portfolio have made the College of Veterinary Medicine the leading commercialization-producing college at Ohio State for the past five years.

Since arriving at Ohio State in 1986, Dr. Rikihisa has compiled an impressive record of translational research and commercialization activities. Her Ohio State patent portfolio consists of 11 invention reports, 10 issued U.S. patents, two U.S. patents pending, four issued foreign patents, and two pending foreign patent applications.

Dr. Yebo Li, assistant professor in the Department of Food, Agricultural, and Biological Engineering at the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC) and a specialist with Ohio State extension was awarded the 2011 Early Career Innovator of the Year.  Dr. Li has developed a successful research and extension program in bioproducts and bioenergy. He is developing a novel renewable source of polyurethane foam for use in a variety of products including automotive seats, headrests, and bumpers; sealants and thermal insulation systems for refrigerators; insulation boards; and packaging materials. The product, known as bio-polylol, is made from crude glycerin, a byproduct of biodiesel production that is considered waste and has little commercial value. When mixed with biomass through a patent-pending process that he developed, the crude glycerin becomes the foundation for making the polyurethane foam. His product is comparable to petroleum-based foam in quality; however, bio-polylol is renewable and is less expensive to produce than petroleum-based foams.

Dr. Li’s technology has been licensed to Poly-Green Technologies, a startup company, for commercial production. Poly-Green and its collaborators have the potential to displace the petroleum domination of the polyurethane market with a sustainable, environmentally-friendly bio-based polymer material and move Ohio closer to becoming a leader in renewable polyurethane foam production.

The 2011 Student Innovator of the Year is Christopher Jaworski, a doctoral student in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering in the College of Engineering. This inventive and talented young researcher is interested in the study of thermoelectricity – the direct conversion of heat into electrical power – and the study of thermally “pumped” spin polarization in semiconductors. His research has contributed prominently to OSU’s fundamental understanding of the thermal properties of matter, and he has applied his discoveries to invent new and practical materials that have potential worldwide impact on energy conservation.

The entrepreneurial focus of his work is aimed at developing new metal alloys with improved thermoelectric efficiency. He has been working closely with ZT Plus, a high-technology startup company in California, to commercialize new bulk thermoelectric materials for use in automotive air conditioning and waste heat recovery systems. A substantial portion of ZT Plus’ intellectual property portfolio is based on disclosures that he has been an inventor on.  He has co-authored at least 12 invention disclosures, five of which have resulted in patent applications being filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

For more information on these innovators and on the Innovator of the Year awards program, see:  http://research.osu.edu/