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INL Honors 117 Inventors at 11th Annual Honors Banquet

On Dec. 1 in Idaho Falls, 117 inventors were recognized for receiving 61 patents at the 11th Annual Honors Banquet held by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory.

Bruce Wilding was named Inventor of the Year and Woodrow "Woody" Russell was named Technician of the Year for 2006.

Sixteen inventors were honored for a lifetime of achievement for generating five or more patents during a career. Joel Hubbell, Peter Kong and James Sisson were recognized for generating 15 patents, while four other inventors accepted awards for generating 10 patents. Nine other inventors were inducted into the INL inventors “Hall of Fame” for generating five patents, the first plateau recognized in the honorary society.

INL's Chief Research Officer, Bill Rogers, also announced three new recognition awards, the first Laboratory Director's Awards for Exceptional Achievement in engineering, science and early career achievement. Troy Tranter was recognized for exceptional engineering achievement, Gary Groenewold for exceptional scientific achievement, and Christopher Wright for early career exceptional achievement.

“The inventors and discoverers honored here represent decades of the highest quality research,” said INL Laboratory Director John Grossenbacher. “They set a high standard for their fellow researchers at the new Idaho National Laboratory. Our discovery science and inventorship are the key products of our laboratory and the means by which we accomplish our mission of solving some of our nation's most challenging technical problems. This annual recognition banquet allows us to reinforce the importance of scientific discovery and invention, our most important products, and allows us the opportunity to congratulate colleagues and co-workers for their great work.”

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, four inventors have been recognized for being named on at least 15 U.S. patents, six inventors for having at least 10 U.S. patents and 38 for five patents.

To date, INL has inducted 48 inventors into the “Hall of Fame” who have amassed nearly 300 inventions and received about $300,000 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.

The three inventors at the highest level so far each received special recognition and $20,000 for 15 U.S. patents. Four Hall of Fame members were credited with 10 patents issued in Fiscal Year 2006 and received $10,000. Nine more received $2,500 for reaching the initial five-patent plateau.

Those achieving 10 patents include:

Those achieving five patents include:

Among the 61 patents recognized this year, several addressed environmental challenges with new technologies, processes and materials in energy research, national security, nuclear medicine, nano-materials, improved battery composites, plus 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.