ASU’s chief of research and innovation appointed to National Academy of Inventors board

The National Academy of Inventors (NAI) has appointed Sethuraman “Panch” Panchanathan, executive vice president of Knowledge Enterprise Development and chief research and innovation officer at Arizona State University, to its Board of Directors for 2016-2017. Panchanathan is one of three NAI Fellows to have been named to the board.

“All three of our newest board members embody the spirit of honoring the inventive academic community and bring talent, expertise and energy to the table. We are very fortunate to have them by our side as we continue to grow and better serve our membership within the academy,” said Paul R. Sanberg, president of the National Academy of Inventors. 

The appointment is the latest in a growing list of honors for Panchanathan, who leads research, innovation, strategic partnerships, entrepreneurship, and global and economic development at ASU. In 2014, President Barack Obama appointed him to the U.S. National Science Board. Panchanathan also serves on the National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship, appointed by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker. In March 2016, Arizona Secretary of State Michele Reagan named him to the Technology, Transparency and Commerce Council.

“Both NAI and ASU believe in raising the visibility of academic research and innovation, and translating that intellectual property into meaningful benefits for the larger society,” said Panchanathan. “This appointment helps me join forces with my peers from other institutions to further advance that goal." 

In addition to serving as a professor and foundation chair in computing and informatics, Panchanathan is the director of the Center for Cognitive Ubiquitous Computing (CUbiC) at ASU. He was also instrumental in founding the School of Computing and Informatics as well as the Biomedical Informatics department at ASU.

Panchanathan’s research interests involve human-centered multimedia computing, haptic user interfaces, person-centered tools and ubiquitous computing technologies that enhance quality of life, especially for individuals with disabilities. 

The National Academy of Inventors is a nonprofit member organization comprising U.S. and international universities, and governmental and non-profit research institutes, with more than 3,000 individual inventor members and Fellows spanning more than 200 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. The nonprofit recently named ASU among the top 50 universities worldwide granted U.S. patents in 2015.