STC.UNM hosts its 13th annual Innovation Awards Dinner on Wednesday, March 23, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the University of New Mexico Student Union Building (SUB) Ballrooms to honor 63 faculty, staff and students who have received issued patents and trademarks and registered copyrights within the past year.
Additionally, the 2016 STC.UNM Innovation Fellow Award will be presented to UNM Vice President for Research and Professor in the Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering Gabriel P. López, who will be recognized for his achievements as an outstanding UNM inventor.
Also recognized will be Distinguished Professors Steven Brueck and Jeffrey Brinker, who were recently elected as Fellows of the National Academy of Inventors.
The keynote speaker for the event will be Eddie Wang Rodriguez, a lawyer in the firm Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo PC. The San Diego law firm serves clients of all sizes and at all stages of growth. The firm represents Fortune 500 companies, entrepreneurs, emerging growth and established companies, government agencies, and nonprofits. Rodriguez is the managing member of Mintz Levin’s San Diego office. His practice is focused on a full range of corporate and securities matters, including corporate formation, mergers and acquisitions, venture financing, technology licensing, and general business counseling for both public and private companies.
Rodriguez has extensive experience with counseling public and private companies in the life sciences, healthcare services, telecommunications, software, hardware, ecommerce and information technology industries in a broad range of transactional matters. Mintz Levin was ranked among the best law firms in 2016 by U.S. News & World Report Best Law Firms, receiving first-tier national and regional rankings in 38 of its practices.
Sixty-three UNM faculty, staff and students received issued patents within the past year (April 1, 2015-Feb. 29, 2016), representing the largest number of UNM inventors to be recognized since the inception of the Innovation Awards event in 2004. The university inventors run the gamut from first-time inventors to experienced inventors and include UNM professors, research professors, distinguished and Regents’ professors, emeritus professors, staff members, and graduate, doctoral and postdoctoral students. The inventors represent departments and clinical/research centers across main, branch and HSC campuses that reflect a strong level of collaboration. Several inventors are being honored for multiple issued patents.
For a complete list of this year's invventors being recognized, visit 2016 Honorees.