Success Story

January 3, 2018

CBC affiliate Teresa Woodroof among three NU scientists named to National Academy of Inventors

Congratulations to the NU Engineering’s Walter Herbst, Mark C. Hersam, and Teresa K. Woodruff recently named 2018 fellows of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). Woodruff was closely affiliated with the CBC Spark (2009) team of Thomas O’Halloran and Vinayak Dravid (NU) and Jonathan Silverstein (UChicago). This Spark Award leveraged core funding from the W. M. Keck Foundation to purchase and install the Cryo STEM at NU.


Three Professors Named to National Academy of Inventors

Fellows elected by their peers for outstanding contributions to innovation

Northwestern University ENGINEERING NEWS   |   by AMANDA MORRIS   |   December 12, 2017


Northwestern Engineering’s Walter Herbst, Mark C. Hersam, and Teresa K. Woodruff have been named 2018 fellows of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI).

Election to NAI fellow status is a high professional distinction accorded to academic inventors who have demonstrated a prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development, and the welfare of society.

This year’s fellows will be inducted April 5 at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C. as a part of the seventh annual NAI Conference. US Commissioner for Patents Andrew H. Hirshfeld will deliver the ceremony’s keynote address.

Herbst, Hersam, and Woodruff are among 912 total NAI fellows, representing more than 250 research universities and governmental and non-profit research institutes.


CLICK HERE to read Herbst’s and Hersam’s bios.


Teresa K. Woodruff, NU

Teresa K. Woodruff, NU

Woodruff is the Thomas J. Watkins Memorial Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology in the Feinberg School of Medicine, professor of biomedical engineering in the McCormick School of Engineering, and dean of The Graduate School. She founded and directs the Women’s Health Research Institute and is director of the Center for Reproductive Science. An expert on ovarian biology and reproductive science, she is an internationally recognized leader in fertility research.

Woodruff coined the term “oncofertility” and invented clinical practice management strategies that merged two fields: oncology and fertility. Oncofertility is now a recognized field of medicine and provides reproductive options for young cancer patients around the globe. She has 11 issued patents related to her reproductive research, including for a novel method to connect reproductive tissues in a microfluidic device and a method to increase the fertilization potential of cells in the ovary.


Source:

Adapted (with modifications) from Northwestern University Engineering News by Amanda Morris, posted on December 12, 2017.


See also:

Teresa Woodruff, NU has been a part of research team at NU associated with a CBC Spark Award (2009).
 
 
CBC Awards:

CBC Spark Award (2009):
PIs: Thomas O’Halloran and Vinayak Dravid (NU) and Jonathan Silverstein (UChicago) for the project:
▸ Support for An Innovative CryoSTEM for Element Specific Imaging of Cells and Tissue