When university scholars pursue questions like the structure of a cell, they unlock new ways of understanding the world. Basic research, conducted without an immediate objective, has lasting value for science – and it fuels the economy. Discoveries that began in the lab include X-rays, the World Wide Web, birth control pills, mRNA vaccines, and Google’s search engine, to name a few.

Read more about Technology Licensing Boosts Academic Productivity at Stanford.

The NAI Fellows Program highlights academic inventors who have demonstrated a spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on the quality of life, economic development, and the welfare of society. Election to NAI Fellow is the highest professional distinction accorded solely to academic inventors.

To date, NAI Fellows hold more than 48,000 issued U.S. patents, which have generated over 13,000 licensed technologies and companies, and created more than one million jobs. In addition, over $3 trillion in revenue has been generated based on NAI Fellow discoveries.

The 2021 Fellow class hails from 116 research universities and governmental and non-profit research institutes worldwide. They collectively hold over 4,800 issued U.S. patents. Among the new class of Fellows are 33 members of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, and three Nobel Laureates, as well as other honors and distinctions. Their collective body of research and entrepreneurship covers a broad range of scientific disciplines involved with technology transfer of their inventions for the benefit of society.

Before it gets too bad, one local city is taking steps to take out as many mosquitos as it can.

Crews are putting up INZECTO mosquito traps in Atlantic Beach that were actually created by a University of Florida professor.

The Urban Entomology Department at the University of Florida was contacted by the U.S. military to create a device to keep mosquitos away while troops are overseas.

Now, Inzecto is putting the traps up in Atlantic Beach at places like Jack Russell Park to see how they work in our area.

“The insecticide is embedded in a polymer on the inside of the trap, and it slowly releases after it’s activated with water,” said Phil Koehler, the UF professor emeritus who invented the traps. “There is no spraying of materials onto vegetation and possibility of harming pollinators.”

Koehler said his team took what they know about mosquitos and what attracts them to create the perfect trap for the pests.