Paul Chu Named Charter Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors
Three UH Faculty Members Honored
Paul Chu, a professor of physics and chief scientist of the Texas Center for Superconductivity at University of Houston (TcSUH), has been named a Charter Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) for his outstanding contributions to scientific and technological innovation. The NAI awarded Charter Fellow status to 101 innovators.
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. UH faculty members Benton Baugh, an adjunct professor in mechanical engineering, and Dan Luss, a professor in chemical and biomedical engineering, were also awarded NAI Fellow status.
The new Fellows represent 56 universities and nonprofit research institutes, and together they hold more than 3,200 U.S. patents. They include eight Nobel laureates, 14 presidents of research universities and nonprofit research institutes, 53 members of the National Academies (National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine), two fellows of the Royal Society, 11 inductees of the National Inventors Hall of Fame, five recipients of the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, four recipients of the National Medal of Science, and 31 AAAS Fellows, among other major awards and distinctions.
The NAI Charter Fellows will be inducted by Margaret A. Focarino, the U.S. Commissioner for Patents, at the Second Annual Conference of the National Academy of Inventors, on Feb. 22, in Tampa, Fla.
Academic inventors and innovators elected to the rank of NAI Charter Fellow were nominated by their peers for outstanding contributions to innovation in areas such as patents and licensing, innovative discovery and technology, significant impact on society, and support and enhancement of innovation.
Chu is founding director and chief scientist of TcSUH. In 1987, Chu and his colleagues achieved superconductivity at a temperature that would usher in a new era in materials science. Currently, Chu is actively engaged in the basic and applied research of high temperature superconductivity. His research activities also extend beyond superconductivity to magnetism and dielectrics. His work has resulted in the publication of more than 590 papers in refereed journals.
Chu has received numerous awards and honors for his outstanding work in superconductivity, including the U.S. National Medal of Science and the International Prize for New Materials. He also was elected as a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Beijing), the Academia Sinica (Taipei), the Third World Academy of Sciences, the Electromagnetic Academy, the Russian Academy of Engineering, and The Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas, and is a fellow of the American Physical Society and the Texas Academy of Sciences. In 1990, he was selected the Best Researcher in the U.S. by US News and World Report.
- Excerpted from UH News Release by Laura Tolley