{"id":4172,"date":"2023-11-28T15:04:15","date_gmt":"2023-11-28T20:04:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magazine.alumni.ncsu.edu\/?p=4172"},"modified":"2024-02-01T15:38:41","modified_gmt":"2024-02-01T20:38:41","slug":"mother-of-invention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/2023\/mother-of-invention\/","title":{"rendered":"Mother of Invention"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n
A wall of clear, honeycomb-shaped plaques bearing the names of America\u2019s top inventors is part of a display at the National Inventors Hall of Fame, a museum outside Washington, D.C. John Deere\u2019s plow (Patent #46,454) is among the first, followed by Thomas Edison\u2019s lightbulb (223,898) and the Wright Brothers airplane (821,393). There\u2019s Henry Ford\u2019s engine (1,005,186), Walt Disney\u2019s multiplane camera (2,201, 689), and the iPod user interface invented by Steve Jobs (7,166,791).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While their names may not be as familiar as Disney or Edison, NC State researchers are on that wall, too, joining the other luminaries whose inventions have had a lasting impact. The latest, NC State researcher Rodolphe Barrangou \u201900 MS, \u201904 PHD, will be added to the museum\u2019s \u201cGallery of Icons\u201d this fall for his discoveries using CRISPR gene editing to enhance dairy products (patents #9,879,269; #9,951,342). That will bring to eight the number of inventors from NC State who have been inducted into the hall, which is housed at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here\u2019s some perspective: Duke University has three inductees and UNC-Chapel Hill has one. Purdue University has five and Princeton University has 13. NC State hall of famers have helped measure atoms in space, improved how we watch TV and reduced our carbon footprint. They\u2019ve developed biosensors for the battlefield and robots for warehouses. Wade Fulghum, assistant vice chancellor for research commercialization, says the impressive number of inductees and the breadth of their contributions \u201cspeaks to the inventive spirit of the Wolfpack. . . . It helps elevate the reputation of NC State globally.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
NC State regularly ranks among the top 100 universities for the number of patents issued\u2009\u2014\u200970th place in 2022, with 46 patents\u2009\u2014\u2009according to the National Academy of Inventors. The success is no accident, Fulghum says. NC State supports researchers through the patent process and beyond by fostering startup companies. Barrangou, who holds 26 patents and has co-founded four companies, says translating theory to practice is central to NC State\u2019s ethos, and one of the reasons he chooses to work here. \u201cTaking things from academia to the real world is very much what NC State does well,\u201d says Barrangou. \u201cThe process of inventing things is where creativity meets practicality, where the idea meets reality.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n