Department Head and Professor Michele Marcolongo has been elected as a 2017 National Academy of Inventors (NAI) Fellow. Marcolongo is one of 155 new Fellows elected this year, which brings the total number of Fellows to 912 elected since 2012.
The founder of three start-up companies, Marcolongo holds 14 patents, 13 of which have been commercially licensed. She has recently published a book, Academic Entrepreneurship: How to Bring Your Scientific Discovery to a Successful Commercial Product (Wiley).
Marcolongo joins Drexel Materials Professor Wei-Heng Shih (2013) and affiliated faculty member Professor Wan Shih (2014) of the School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems as a Fellow.
NAI Fellows are selected on the basis of having “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.” It is the highest professional honor conferred upon academic inventors. The 2017 Fellows Induction Ceremony will take place on April 5, 2018 as part of the Seventh Annual NAI Conference at The Mayflower Hotel in Washington, DC. Andrew H. Hirshfeld, U.S. Commissioner for Patents, will provide the keynote address for the ceremony.