By Joyann Callender
Nine highly regarded University of Toronto scientists were honoured in the first-ever Inventor of the Year competition March 7. The awards were presented at a special ceremony at the MaRS Centre.
The awards recognize U of T inventors or teams of inventors who have made significant contributions in three areas:
• Information and Computer Technology • Social Sciences and Humanities• Biomedical and Life Sciences; Engineering and Physical Sciences
“The purpose of the Inventor of the Year program is to recognize the superb contributions U of T scientists make to global society through their inventions,” said Professor Paul Young, vice-president (research). “By tackling society’s most pressing problems, these inventors ensure a better world for us today and in the future.”
The event recognized a variety of seminal inventions ranging from high-performance earthquake resistant damping devices to a low-cost ultrasensitive microelectronic chip, used for disease diagnosis.
The 2011 Inventor of the Year award winners were:
Biomedical and Life Sciences Scott Tanner, Department of Chemistry Shana Kelley, Faculties of Pharmacy and MedicineAndrei Yudin, Department of Chemistry
Engineering and Physical Sciences Yu Sun, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Constantin Christopoulos, Department of Civil Engineering Geoffrey Ozin, Department of Chemistry
Information and Computer Technology/Social Sciences and HumanitiesNick Koudas, Department of Computer Science Ronald Baecker, Department of Computer Science V. Kumar Murty, Department of Mathematics
More detailed information about the winners and their work is available at http://www.news.utoronto.ca/campus-news/inventor-of-the-year-winners-list-2011.html .