A celebration of the University of Missouri’s achievements in business creation, invention and economic development was held April 30 in Reynolds Alumni Center.
In fiscal 2014, 25 U.S. patents were issued to MU faculty who designed novel devices, developed innovative methods or created something wholly unique. Also, 38 inventors licensed 18 technologies, of which six became startup companies.
More than 100 faculty received awards for their work at the 2015 Innovation & Entrepreneurial Recognition event. The speakers were Hank Foley, senior vice chancellor for research and graduate studies at MU and executive vice president for academic affairs, research and economic development for the University of Missouri System; Provost Garnett Stokes; and Steve Wyatt, associate vice chancellor and vice provost for economic development.
Stokes said MU was focused on building strategic collaborations with businesses to grow research and service contracts. “MU has made great strides over the last 10 years,” Stokes said. “But tonight, as we celebrate the accomplishments of 2014 [innovation], we are looking forward to the future with anticipation of even greater accomplishments.”
• The 2015 UM System President’s Student Entrepreneurial Award, which includes a $2,500 prize, went to Dustin Stanton, a December 2014 graduate in agribusiness management at MU. Stanton created Stanton Brothers Eggs, the nation’s largest independent, free-range egg operation that boasts more than 20,000 laying hens.
Dustin Stanton, right, walks with his brother Austin on the Stanton farm in Centralia, Missouri. Dustin won the 2015 University of Missouri System President’s Student Entrepreneurial Award. Photo courtesy of CAFNR.
• The 2015 UM System President’s Economic Development Award, which includes a $5,000 prize, was awarded to David Patterson, a professor of animal science. Based on his research, Patterson developed the Show-Me-Select Replacement Heifer Program and works with regional extension livestock specialists, herd owners and veterinarians to improve herd genetics.
• The Mizzou Advantage Entrepreneurial Award went to Chung-Ho Lin, a research assistant professor of forestry. Through a Mizzou Advantage-funded interdisciplinary project, Lin discovered that the Eastern red cedar tree contains compounds that can fight MRSA, a flesh-eating bacterium.
• Ten MU inventors were inducted as founding members into the Mizzou Chapter of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). NAI membership goes to academic inventors who have demonstrated a prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development and the welfare of society.
Founding members of the NAI Mizzou Chapter are:
- James Birchler, Curators Professor of Biological Sciences; NAI fellow
- Hank Foley, senior vice chancellor for research and graduate studies at MU and executive vice president for academic affairs, research and economic development for the UM System; NAI fellow
- Shubhra Gangopadhyay, C.W. LaPierre Endowed Chair Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering
- Sheila Grant, professor of biological engineering
- M. Frederick Hawthorne, director of the International Institute of Nano and Molecular Medicine at MU
- Kattesh Katti, Distinguished Professor of Radiology and Physics; NAI fellow
- R. Bowen Loftin, chancellor; NAI fellow
- Randall Prather, Curators Professor of Animal Sciences
- R. Michael Roberts, Curators Professor of Animal Sciences
- Peter Sutovsky, professor of reproductive physiology
“We are committed to being included among the very best when it comes to converting the products of our research and scholarship into innovations that will improve life,” Foley said at the event.