Buckeye engineers named 2014 Innovators of the Year

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Dean David Williams congratulates 2014 Innovators of the Year award winners, doctoral student David Maung and Assistant Professor Kubilay Sertel.
Dean David Williams congratulates 2014 Innovators of the Year award winners, doctoral student David Maung (left) and Assistant Professor Kubilay Sertel.
The Ohio State University Office of Research recognized two Buckeye engineers—Assistant Professor Kubilay Sertel and doctoral student David Maung—as 2014 Innovators of the Year.

The university-wide innovator awards recognize research creativity and entrepreneurship among Ohio State researchers by honoring the university’s most successful faculty, staff and student entrepreneurs. Since the Innovator Awards were established in 2010, College of Engineering faculty and students have received nine of the 14 awards given.

Early Career Innovator of the Year: Kubilay Sertel

The 2014 Early Career Innovator of the Year is Kubilay Sertel, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering. His research focuses on terahertz-frequency sensing, imaging and communications. He developed and helped commercialize the first real-time, high sensitivity terahertz camera used for medical, communications and security applications.

“Dr. Sertel's terahertz camera represents a major innovation in utilizing this previously untapped portion of the electromagnetic spectrum,” said Joel Johnson, chair and professor of electrical and computer engineering. 

Sertel’s video camera “sees” in terahertz wavelengths. Unlike commercial optical cameras that capture light photons using semiconductor-based sensors, the much longer terahertz wavelengths use microscopic-scale antennas to capture incident power for detection.

"I am humbled to be recognized as the Early Career Innovator of the Year,” said Sertel. “The support I continue to receive from the College of Engineering and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering enables me to advance my research and incorporate it into the classroom."

Terahertz offers the capability to not only image through materials, but also to determine their composition. Unlike X-rays, terahertz waves are safe because of their low-energy, non-ionizing nature. Terahertz waves contain a wealth of information that allow for immediate applications such as security screening through clothing, identification of explosive compounds and life-changing applications such as breast cancer detection.

The new terahertz camera has been commercialized by Traycer Systems Inc. Traycer has attracted over $7.5 million in venture-backed private equity and $3.5 million in supporting infrastructure.

Sertel has one issued U.S. patent and two U.S. patents pending, two books and over 250 peer-reviewed journal articles, proceedings and book chapters. He is a co-principal investigator on a $6 million Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) grant from the Office of Naval Research.

Sertel’s new start-up company, TeraProbes Inc., an Ohio State spin-off founded in 2014, recently received $100,000 in funding from the Ohio Third Frontier Technology Validation Start-up Fund to enable commercialization of a novel method for non-invasive testing of next generation electronic chips.

Student Innovator of the Year: David Maung

The 2014 Student Innovator of the Year is David Maung, a doctoral student in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering. He was the chief architect and software developer for an at-home gaming program for stroke patients who experience motor weakness from hemiparesis – an inability to move one side of the body. Hemiparesis, which can be debilitating, affects 325,000 individuals each year. Yet, less than one percent of those affected receive constraint-induced movement therapy (CI therapy), the most common form of therapy to improve motor function.

Recognizing the need for a low-cost, accessible therapy to improve arm function, David led the software development for “Recovery Rapids,” an innovative 3D computer-gaming version of CI that provides in home, high repetition motor exercise that targets the affected hand, arm and shoulder and encourages use of the weaker arm to perform routine daily activities.

“David was instrumental in taking a concept, working with a disparate group of scientists and developing a working product in a short timeframe,” said Maung’s advisor Roger Crawfis, an associate professor of computer science and engineering. “His gesture system allowed for defining complex movements that could be shaped to each individual’s needs.”

The software was developed in collaboration with a team of clinicians, computer scientists, an electrical engineer and a biochemist from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, the Wexner Medical Center and Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Next steps will be the formation of a corporation called “Games That Move You” to disseminate this therapy.

The Innovator of the Year and Early Career Innovator of the Year awards recognize Ohio State researchers who are working actively to promote commercialization of university intellectual property, through invention disclosures filed, patents applied for and/or received, technologies licensed or spin-off companies formed. These activities support economic development in the central Ohio region, and serve to attract companies that create a base of operations within the state. The creation of separate categories for more established researchers and for early career researchers allows cultivation of an entrepreneurial spirit among all of our investigators.

The Student Innovator of the Year award recognizes innovation and entrepreneurship among our students that has contributed to the development or commercialization of a new technology. This year’s Student Innovator of the Year award is sponsored by Sigma Xi, the scientific research society honoring excellence in scientific investigation.

The 2014 awards were presented by Caroline Whitacre, vice president for research, during the annual State of Research Address. Learn more about Ohio State Research and Innovation on the Office of Research website.