Novel Time Stamp, Flu-Neutralizer & Nano-Based Sensor Win UMD 25th Invention of the Year Awards

COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- This year's winning inventions in the University of Maryland's 25th Annual Invention of the Year Awards are a novel time stamp for audio and visual recordings created by Ravi Garg, Avinash L. Varna and Min Wu; a new mechanism to neutralize the influenza virus created by Xiaoping Zhu; and a nano-engineered chemical sensor for low-cost detection of explosives, pollutants, and other targeted applications, created by Abhishek Motayed, Geetha Aluri, Albert V. Davydov, Mulpuri V. Rao, Vladimir P. Oleshko.

Winners were selected by an independent panel of judges consisting of representatives from on and off campus, who vote for the Invention of the Year in three different categories: Information, Life, and Physical Sciences. The University of Maryland's Office of Technology Commercialization (OTC) hosted the 25th Annual Invention of the Year Awards ceremony on April 17 to honor the promising faculty innovations represented by the winning and runners-up inventions and their inventors.

UMD's innovations help to stimulate the local economy, provide valuable products for public use, and help fuel research and entrepreneurial initiatives through inter and intra-university collaborations, according to university officials. The Invention of the Year Awards reception is organized annually by the Office of Technology Commercialization, part of the Division of Research at the University of Maryland.

Speakers at the reception included University System of Maryland Chancellor William "Brit" Kirwan, UMD President Wallace Loh, Vice President for Research Patrick O'Shea, and OTC Director Gayatri Varma. The event was part of the University of Maryland's 30 Days of EnTERPreneurship, a month-long celebration and exhibition of innovation and entrepreneurship on the College Park campus.

A complete list of Invention of the Year finalists is included below, by category:

INFORMATION SCIENCE CATEGORY:

Pictured (left-right) Executive Director of OTC Gayatri Varma, Winner - Min Wu, USM Chancellor William E Kirwan, UMD President Wallace Loh, UMD Vice President for Research Patrick O'Shea and Winner - Ravi Garg

Winner:
Environmental Signatures for Forensic Analysis and Alignment of Media Recordings
Ravi Garg, Avinash L. Varna, Min Wu
University of Maryland researchers have devised a novel natural timestamp for audio and visual recordings. By detecting the natural interference caused by the 50/60 Hz electrical network frequency (ENF), an audio/visual recording can be authenticated in time and even location. This system will also allow users to determine if a recording has been tampered with or edited in any fashion. Furthermore, this technology will enable new alignment and stitching methods in professional A/V editing software, creating an easy way to synchronize various recordings.

Runners Up:
Next Generation Image Sensors
David Sander, Pamela Ann Abshire
Researchers at the University of Maryland have developed an approach for next generation image sensors that allows arbitrary programming characteristics on a pixel-by-pixel basis via an innovative optimization technique. As a result, performance metrics such as signal-to-noise ratio, bit-energy, and minimized thermally generated dark current are vastly improved and optimized.

Functional Dataflow Interchange Format (Functional DIF)
Shuvra S. Bhattacharyya, Chung-Ching Shen, William Plishker
Researchers at the University of Maryland have developed software that enables enhanced dynamic dataflow modeling and simulation capabilities by introducing a new dataflow model of computation called enable-invoke dataflow (EIDF). An outcome of this improved software architecture is much more efficient data processing for embedded software systems. This increased efficiency can be applied to reduce power consumption and increase battery life, or increase the data rates at which signals are processed and increase sound or video quality.

LIFE SCIENCE CATEGORY:

Pictured (left-right) Executive Director of OTC Gayatri Varma, USM Chancellor William E Kirwan, UMD President Wallace Loh, UMD Vice President for Research Patrick O'Shea and Winner - Xiaoping Zhu

Winner:
Intracellular Neutralization Strategy Against the Influenza Virus and a Broad Spectrum of Pathogens
Xiaoping Zhu
Researchers at the University of Maryland have developed a novel antibody-mediated neutralization mechanism that can neutralize the influenza virus and other pathogens by targeting them inside the infected cells. This molecular mechanism is similar to the antibody-antigen method utilized by the body's natural defense system to target pathogens that have already invaded and overcome the body's first line of defense. This revolutionary technique will potentially broaden antibody treatment in a wide-range of diseases and provide more prophylactic and therapeutic applications like vaccine development against infectious diseases.

Runners Up:
A Functional High Throughput Screen for Compounds that Modulate Heme Transporters
Iqbal Hamza, Richard Bruick
Researchers at the University of Maryland, in collaboration with the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, have successfully developed and performed a high throughput screening technology that interrogates tens of thousands of small molecules and identifies lead compounds that can be used to target drug-resistant parasitic worms. This has led to the identification of potentially effective anti-parasitic drugs that do not affect human or host cells.

Environmentally Safe Anti-Malarial and Bio-Containment Strategies for Biological Pest Control Agents
Raymond J. St. Leger, Weiguo Fang, Marcelo Jacobs Lorena, Angray Singh Kang, Sibao Wang
Researchers at the University of Maryland have developed unique technologies in the fields of malaria eradication and pest control and management. Researchers studied the role of genetically modified or transgenic fungi as a biological control agent in controlling the malaria parasite in mosquitoes. They also developed unique techniques to control and manage the persistence of these transgenic fungi in the environment. These novel approaches not only resolve the issue of insect resistance to pesticide, when collectively utilized, but also provide an environmentally safe approach that can be contained and managed.

PHYSICAL SCIENCE CATEGORY:

Pictured (left-right) Winner - Abhishek Motayed, Executive Director of OTC Gayatri Varma, USM Chancellor William E Kirwan, UMD President Wallace Loh, UMD Vice President for Research Patrick O'Shea and Winners - Mulpuri V. Rao and Geetha Aluri

Winner:
Nanoengineered Chemical Sensors that offer Superior Detection of Environmental Pollutants, Hydrogen, and other Industrial Chemicals
Abhishek Motayed, Geetha Aluri, Albert V. Davydov, Mulpuri V. Rao, Vladimir P. Oleshko
University of Maryland, in collaboration with the National Institute for Standards and Technology and George Mason University, have developed a novel chemical sensor architecture by combining the sensitive transduction capability of semiconducting nanostructures together with the enhanced catalytic efficiency of metal and metal-oxide nanoclusters. This new technology can produce sensors whose selectivity can be precisely tuned to any small set of chemicals through the design of the nanocluster, something currently not possible with any other technology. These new sensors offer the best of both worlds: the sensitivity and selectivity of the desktop laboratory systems while consuming significantly less power than current solid state devices. Furthermore, this new technology promises to achieve parts-per-trillion sensitivity, satisfying the need for low cost, on-demand trace explosives detection. These combined attributes promise to make a sensor technology that is unmatched in terms of sensitivity, selectivity, size, power, and cost.

Runners Up:
Phonitons as a Sound-based Analogue of Cavity Quantum Electrodynamics
Charles George Tahan, Rousko Todorov Hristov, Oney O. Soykal
Researchers at the University of Maryland and the National Security Agency (NSA) have developed the analog of cQED using phonons, the quantum particle of sound. Despite the added complexities of trapping a phonon in a host material, the research has shown that it is possible to couple a phonon and an electrically charged particle into what is now called a phoniton. The phoniton could revolutionize various systems, both academic and commercial. Traditional MEMS sensors could be replaced by highly sensitive and extremely low power phoniton based sensors, phonitons could mediate interactions between distant qubits in quantum computers, and proposed sound lasers could become a reality with this technology.

High-Density Thermal Storage Based Heating, Ventilation & Air Conditioning (HVAC) System
Reinhard K. Radermacher, Omar Abdelaziz Ahmed Abdelaziz
Researchers at the University of Maryland have developed a hybrid thermal storage system by integrating a proprietary hot/cold storage system and vapor compressor heat pump system. This innovative technology provides optimal hybrid electric/thermal storage capability, resulting in a revolutionary, cost effective high-density thermal storage based HVAC system. The increased performance of the hybrid electric/thermal battery leads to a significantly improved performance level in high-density storage at a lower cost. In addition, the combined systems have reduced weight and volume requirements.

Media Contact
Lee Tune
Associate Director
Office of Public Affairs
University of Maryland
301-405-4679
ltune@umd.edu

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