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INL Honors 58 Inventors at the 10th Annual Inventors’ Recognition Banquet

Fifty-eight INL inventors were recognized for their 34 patents at the 10th annual Inventors’ Recognition Banquet held by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory on Dec. 2 in Idaho Falls.

Physicist Vance Deason was recognized for generating 15 patents, while seven other inventors accepted awards for generating five patents. Upon receiving their awards, the inventors were inducted into the INL inventors “Hall of Fame.”

“The inventors honored here represent decades of the highest quality research.” said John Grossenbacher, Laboratory Director. “They set an exceptional standard for their fellow researchers at the new Idaho National Laboratory. An active program of inventorship and patenting is an important element in demonstrating technical leadership as we set the course for transforming INL into a world-leading institution. This annual recognition banquet allows us to reinforce the importance of the inventive activity with our work force and, of course, it always feels good to pass out kudos for a job well done.”

Rewarding creative and cumulative performance, INL is the only national laboratory to recognize lifetime achievements for inventors who accrue 5, 10, 15 and 20 U.S. patented inventions. Established in 2002, the INL “Hall of Fame” provides public recognition and monetary awards based on levels of creativity. So far, five inventors have been recognized for being named on at least ten U.S. patents and 26 inventors for having at least five U.S. Patents.

To date, INL has inducted 39 inventors into “Hall of Fame” who have amassed more than 230 inventions and received about $177,500 in recognition as part of their lifetime achievement awards. These special awards are funded from licensing agreements that provide royalty income to the Laboratory. Efforts to advance technologies created at INL and license them continue to pay dividends for the inventors and the national laboratory.

Vance Deason, once a Peace Corps worker in Borneo, received special recognition and $20,000 for 15 U.S. Patents, mainly in ultrasonic sensors and optical imaging. He is the first in INL history to reach this milestone.

Kenneth Telschow reached the 10 U.S. Patent level in 2005 and received $10,000. He has worked at the Laboratory since 1984 and has contributed to the research and development of acoustic and ultrasonic properties of microstructures.

Seven Hall of Fame members were credited with five patents issued in fiscal year 2005 and received $2,500. They include: John Richardson, a retired INL employee, worked mainly in component-level design, engineering analysis, systems design and functional management. Daniel Branagan, who took entrepreneurial leave to form The NanoSteel Company, has contributed significant research to the nano-material industry. John Flinn, a retired INL employee, has five patents mainly in the area of metallic alloys. Larry Johnson and John Morgan, both retired INL employees, conducted distinguished research in nuclear technologies. John Morrison, who currently is an associate professor at Montana Tech in Butte, MT, has provided research and development in various fields such as environmental, nuclear, industrial processing and national security. Reed Hoskinson has provided extensive research and development in agricultural technologies.

Among the 34 patents recognized this year, a dozen patents involved environmental technologies, more than half a dozen in energy technologies, and several in the areas of national security, nuclear science and industrial processing.

Patents issued to the INL represent the Laboratory’s continuing success in applying scientific solutions to meet the grand challenges of industry and government. Patents generated at the INL will benefit industries in such varied fields as chemical, domestic and international, environmental cleanup and military and personal protection. The patents also have exceptional potential for application in health, manufacturing, environmental cleanup, national security, nuclear and fossil-fuel energy systems, renewable energy systems, and other areas.

Idaho National Laboratory is one of the Department of Energy’s ten multi-program national laboratories. The laboratory performs work in each of the strategic goal areas of DOE – energy, national security, science and environment. Specifically, INL is the nation’s leading center of nuclear energy research and development. Day-to-day management and operation of the laboratory is the responsibility of Battelle Energy Alliance.