UTSA professor David Akopian named Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors

Photo credit: Deborah Silliman
(December 13, 2016) – David Akopian, professor of electrical and computer engineering at The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), has been named a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). He is the second NAI Fellow for UTSA, following the appointment of C. Mauli Agrawal in 2015. The honor places Akopian among an elite group of professionals that includes presidents and senior leaders of research universities, Nobel laureates, National Inventors Hall of Fame inductees and National Academies members.
"I want to congratulate David Akopian, who is extremely well deserving of this recognition," said Agrawal, UTSA interim provost and vice president for academic affairs, who nominated Akopian for the distinction. "With 32 patents to his name, his own productivity as an inventor and researcher is exemplary."
Agrawal added: "What is not so easily measured—and perhaps far more impactful—is [Akopian's] legacy as a mentor to the hundreds of students who have had the great fortune of working and studying under him. Because of his industry background, he infuses a real-world, multidisciplinary perspective into his laboratory and classroom. UTSA is indeed fortunate that David Akopian has found his niche in academia."
Akopian's research interests are in a broad area of communication and navigation systems. He focuses on human-machine interactive mobile applications, wireless sensing, location-finding and software-defined radio technologies. His most recent research projects have focused on mobile interactive solutions for health promotion interventions.
Akopian is the founder and director of the Software Communications and Navigation Systems Laboratory at UTSA. Since 2004, his lab has trained more than 90 students who have gone on to successful careers at a variety of companies, including Apple, Google, Samsung, Cisco Systems, Amazon, Intel and Verizon.
In the course of his academic career, Akopian has acquired 25 issued and seven pending patents exploring various aspects of wireless localization systems, indoor wireless technologies and human-machine wireless concepts. Several of his patents have been used in Nokia products and UTSA testbed systems serving several federal and state projects. He has received four inventor awards from UTSA and Nokia.
His research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health (NIH), USAF, NAVSEA, ONR, Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, CPRIT-TX, among others. Current funding comes from NIH, CPRIT-TX, San Antonio Life Sciences Institute (SALSI) and the US Air Force Academy (USAFA).
A prolific author, Akopian's research has resulted in more than 200 publications, including three book chapters, eight edited proceedings, 44 journal papers and more than 150 invited and refereed conference papers and presentations. He served as associate editor for five periodicals, and he has chaired more than 10 mobile technology conferences.
Since 2003, Akopian has served as a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, where he also served as chair and vice-chair of the Central Texas Chapter of IEEE SMC Society for eight consecutive years. He is a member of the US Institute of Navigation (ION). In 2008 his team won the forth place (Honorable Mention) in national AT&T's "Big Mobile on Campus Challenge." In 2015, he co-supervised the students from the UTSA College of Engineering who successfully showcased their engineering skills and solutions in the Perseus III unmanned technology demonstration held at the United States Air Force Academy.
About the National Academy of Inventors Fellows
Election to NAI Fellow status is a high professional distinction accorded to academic inventors who have demonstrated a 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.
With the election of the 2016 class there are now 757 NAI Fellows, representing 229 research universities and governmental and non-profit research institutes. The 2016 Fellows are named inventors on 5,437 issued U.S. patents, bringing the collective patents held by all NAI Fellows to more than 26,000.
Included among all NAI Fellows are more than 94 presidents and senior leaders of research universities and non-profit research institutes; 376 members of the three branches of the National Academy of Sciences; 28 inductees of the National Inventors Hall of Fame; 45 recipients of the U.S. National Medal of Technology and Innovation and U.S. National Medal of Science; 28 Nobel Laureates, 215 AAAS Fellows; 132 IEEE Fellows; and 116 Fellows of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, among other awards and distinctions.
The 2016 Fellows will be inducted on April 6, 2017, as part of the Sixth Annual Conference of the National Academy of Inventors at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum in Boston, MA. U.S. Commissioner for Patents, Andrew H. Hirshfeld will provide the keynote address for the induction ceremony. In honor of their outstanding accomplishments, Fellows will be presented with a special trophy, medal, and rosette pin.
The 2016 NAI Fellows will be recognized with a full-page announcement in The Chronicle of Higher Education Jan. 20, 2017 issue, and in upcoming issues of Inventors Digest and Technology and Innovation.
The 2016 NAI Fellows selection committee included 19 members, comprising NAI Fellows, recipients of U.S. National Medals, National Inventors Hall of Fame inductees, members of the National Academies and senior officials from the USPTO, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Association of American Universities, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Association of Public and Land-grant Universities and the Association of University Technology Managers.
- Sarah Hada
-------------------------------
The National Academy of Inventors is a 501(c)(3) non-profit member organization comprising U.S. and international universities, and governmental and non-profit research institutes, with over 3,000 individual inventor members and Fellows spanning more than 240 institutions, and growing rapidly. It was founded in 2010 to recognize and encourage inventors with patents issued from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, enhance the visibility of academic technology and innovation, encourage the disclosure of intellectual property, educate and mentor innovative students, and translate the inventions of its members to benefit society.
Connect with UTSA online at Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram.
Events
Día en la Sombrilla, formerly Fiesta UTSA, is a festival hosted each spring as a part of Fiesta® San Antonio events. Sponsored by Roadrunner Productions, the event features music, food, confetti, games, event t-shirts, and more.
Sombrilla Plaza, Main CampusCovidence is a systematic & scoping review tool used to streamline the process of screening and reviewing articles. Using this software, research teams can easily import studies, perform automatic deduplication, and extract data using templates. This workshop will show attendees how to start a review in Covidence, add collaborators, and get started on screening.
Virtual (Zoom)In this workshop, attendees will be introduced to Pandas, a Python tool for working with data easily. It makes it simple to organize and analyze information when data is organized and categorized, like spreadsheets or tables.
Group Spot B, John Peace LibraryEach fall and spring semester, students convene at the Main Campus at UTSA with booths, ideas and prototypes. A crowd of judges, local organizations, students, faculty and sponsors walk around and talk to the students about their projects and ask questions. Students get the real-life experience of "pitching" their project with hopes of getting funding or support to move to the next level.
UTSA Convocation Center, Main CampusJoin the doctoral candidates for the Doctoral Conferreal Ceremony and celebrate their accomplishments.
Arts Building Recital Hall, Main CampusCelebrate the graduates from the Carlos Alvarez College of Business, College of Education and Human Development, Margie and Bill Klesse College of Engineering and Integrated Design and University College.
AlamodomeCelebrate the graduates from the College for Health, Community and Policy, College of Liberal and Fine Arts and College of Sciences.
Alamodome