On April 6, 2017, UNM Vice President for Research Gabriel P. López was inducted into the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) as a 2016 NAI Fellow. The induction ceremony and banquet were held at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston and were part of the NAI’s sixth annual conference. They keynote speaker for the event was U. S. Commissioner for Patents Andrew H. Hirshfeld.
Election and induction into the NAI Fellow Program is considered a high professional distinction among academic inventors who have demonstrated a highly 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.
Dr. López is also a professor of chemical and biological engineering, and founding director and member of UNM’s Center for Biomedical Engineering. His advances in micro/nanomaterials and devices have led to innovations in biointerface engineering, biosensing for diagnostics and drug discovery, flow cytometry, bioseparations, drug delivery and antimicrobial coatings to disinfect medical devices, naval equipment and filtration systems. Dr. López holds 42 patents for his work at UNM, Harvard, and the University of Washington. He is a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical & Biological Engineering, an STC.UNM Innovation Fellow and the recipient of the W. Moulton Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Washington, the Stansell Family Distinguished Research Award from Duke University’s Pratt School of Engineering, an NSF Faculty Early Career Development Award, and an Outstanding University Inventor Award from the Semiconductor Research Corporation.
Dr. López was nominated by the STC.UNM Board of Directors for this national honor. To view the induction ceremony and event presentations, go to http://www.academyofinventors.org/conference/2017-videos.asp.