2025 Awardees

 The Office of Technology Transfer hosted the 8th Annual Innovation of the Year Awards on Tuesday, March 10, 2026, in the University Student Center. This year’s celebration recognized Morgan’s innovation journey that continues to lead to noteworthy accolades in intellectual property disclosures, start-up companies, published patent applications, and issued patents.
 
The Office of Technology Transfer also highlighted innovators who have made substantial impact in their respective fields since the office was established. These innovators, awarded the Innovation Leader awards, were recognized for setting the standard among their colleagues and taking innovation and experiential learning opportunities for their students to new heights.
 
Innovation Leader Awardees
Innovation Leader Awardees are recognized for setting the standard among their peers and for advancing innovation and experiential learning opportunities for their students—helping to shape the next generation of innovators. These honorees are leaders among their colleagues in intellectual property disclosures and issued U.S. utility patents. Each has submitted the highest number of intellectual property disclosures in their respective category, with 15 or more new innovations, and has included students on more than 50% of those innovations.
 
Innovation Leader in Physical Science
Dr. Mansoureh Jeihani
 
Innovation Leader in Information Science
Dr. Kevin Kornegay
 
Intellectual Property Innovation Award Winners - These awards recognize individuals who have created innovations in their respective research fields.
 
Physical Science - TIE
Two-Step Method to Establish Scalable Growth of WSE2 Films on Silicon Substrates
Dr. Rohit Srivastava, Dr. Ramesh Budhani
This invention enables large-area synthesis of atomically thin tungsten diselenide (WSe₂) films with precise thickness control for scalable optoelectronic devices.
 
Plasmonic Applications of Semimetal, Semiconductor Interfaces
Dr. MVS Chandrashekhar, Dr. Michael Spencer, Dr. Joshua Burrow, Daniel Harrison, 
Ahamed Raihan, Astrid Dzotcha Kengne
This invention enables the large-area fabrication of uniform phototransistor arrays using tungsten trioxide (WO₃) films converted into tungsten diselenide (WSe₂).
 
Information Science 
Zero Trust Authentication Method
Dr. Kevin Kornegay, Dr. Vinton Morris
This invention enables Internet of Things (IoT) device authentication by generating and matching network-traffic fingerprints to control access via software-defined networking (SDN) switches.
 
Life Science
Method for Detection of HGMA2 RNA Isoforms in Prostate Cancer Tissue
Dr. Valerie Odero-Marah, Dr. Fahmi Khalifa, Dr. Bor-Jang Hwang, 
Shay-Oluwatunmise Akinniyi
This invention enables automated, spatially resolved detection and quantification of HMGA2 isoforms in cancer tissues using a machine learning–enhanced RNA in situ hybridization platform.
 
Morgan Community Innovation Award Winners
 
Student Innovator of the Year
Clyde Tandjong
Computer Science
 
Instructional Innovator of the Year
Dr. Naja Mack
Assistant Professor, Transportation & Infrastructure Studies
 
Staff Innovator of the Year
Claton Lewis
Assistant Director, Career Readiness
Center for Career Development
 
Patent Award Recipients - 10 Issued Patents in CY2025
 Fluorescent Turn-on Chemosensors for Detection of Aluminum Ion and Azide
U.S. Patent #12,287,326
Dr. Fasil Abebe
 
Engineered Cyanobacteria with Enhanced UV Tolerance
U.S. Patent #12,331,336
Dr. Viji Sitther, Dr. Samson Gichuki
 
Method and Device for Fellow-Eye Corneal Topography
U.S. Patent #12,364,392
Dr. Shiva Mehravaran
 
Ensemble Intrusion Detection System for IoT Platforms
U.S. Patent #12,399,994
Dr. Kevin Kornegay, Otily Toutsop
 
Manufacturing of a Flexible Piezoelectric Fil-based Power Source
U.S. Patent #12,414,469
Dr. Birol Ozturk, Dr. Peker Milas 
 
Attack Detection and Countermeasures for Autonomous Navigation
U.S. Patent #12,438,890
Dr. Md Tanvir Arafin, Dr. Kevin Kornegay
 
Silver Nanoparticle Surface Enabled Self-Assembly of Organic Dye Models
U.S. Patent #12,455,217
Dr. Hua Deng, Dr. Hongtao Yu
 
Image Deblurring Using a Multi-Layer LSTM Network
U.S. Patent #12,475,532
Dr. Arlene Cole-Rhodes, Dr. Greig Richmond
 
Unmanned Vehicle Safety Assurance System
U.S. Patent #12,487,610
Dr. Kevin Kornegay, Dr. Denzel Hamilton
 
System and Method for Synchronization of Asynchronous Datasets
U.S. Patent #12,499,118
Dr. Mansoureh Jeihani, Snehanshu Banerjee, Mahmoud Ayman Sayed