This story was originally posted by Rob Schweers of the Office of the Senior Vice President and Provost.
Iowa State is ranked 70th in the world among universities granted U.S. utility patents in 2014, according to a report released this week by the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) and the Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO).
Iowa State researchers earned 31 U.S. patents in 2014, including patents for wind turbine tower systems, computer encryption logic, bioasphalt, use of mesoporous silicates for delivering biomolecules into plant cells and improved treatment of Parkinson’s disease. A list of the College of Engineering’s 2014 patents is below. A list with the 2014 university-wide patents can be found here.
“Iowa State faculty and scientists are extremely productive in creating new knowledge that leads not only to patents, but also helps address global challenges such as sustainability, food security and human disease,” said President Steven Leath. “The same intellectual property that earns patents also leads to student and faculty startup companies that generate economic development and embody our land-grant mission.”
The report, based on data obtained from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, recognizes the important role patents play in university research. The NAI and IPO compile the rankings each year by calculating the number of utility patents granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office that list a university as the first assignee on the printed patent.
The full report, Top 100 Worldwide Universities Granted U.S. Utility Patents 2014, is online.
Iowa State University College of Engineering patents awarded in 2014
| Name | Title | Patent No. |
| Anderson, Iver | Dispersoid Reinforced Alloy Powder and Method of Making | 8,864,870 |
| Bowler, Nicola | Concentric Coplanar Capacitive Sensor System With Quantitative Model | 8,791,707 |
| Fayed, Ayman | System and Method for Providing Power via a Spurious-Noise-Free Switching Device | 8,901,905 |
| Gleeson, Brian | Pt-Metal Modified (Gamma)-Ni+(Gamma Prime)-Ni3Al-Alloy Compositions for High-Temperature Degradation Resistant Structural Alloys | 8,821,654 |
| Grewell, David | Depolymerization of Polylactic Acid | 8,895,778 |
| Kamal, Ahmed | Network Protection Using Network Coding | 8,705,345 |
| Kumar, Ratnesh | Semantic Translation of Time-Driven Simulink Diagrams Using Input/Output Extended Finite Automata | 8,655,636 |
| Kumar, Ratnesh | Semantic Translation of Stateflow Diagrams into Input/Output Extended Finite Automata and Automated Test Generation for Simulink/Stateflow Diagrams | 8,849,626 |
| Russell, Alan | Aluminum/Alkaline Earth Metal Composites and Method for Producing | 8,647,536 |
| Sivasankar, Sanjeevi | System, Apparatus, and Method for Simultaneous Single Molecule Atomic Force Microscopy and Fluorescence Measurements | 8,656,510 |
| Somani, Arun | Depth-Optimal Mapping of Logic Chains in Reconfigurable Fabrics | 8,661,394 |
| Tyagi, Akhilesh | Reconfigurable Block Encryption Logic | 8,824,672 |
| White, David | Polymer Mortar Composite Pipe Material and Manufacturing Method | 8,672,666 |
| Williams, R. Chris | Asphalt Materials Containing Bio-Oil and Methods for Production Thereof | 8,696,806 |
Additional 2014 CoE patents issued for which the ISU Research Foundation is not the first assignee
| Shanks, Brent | Lewis and Bronsted-Lowry Acid-Catalyzed Production of 5-Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) From Glucose | 8,642,791 |
| Somani, Arun | Dynamic Advance Reservation with Delayed Allocation | 8,902,920 |
| Tirthapura, Srikanta | Computing Time-Decayed Aggregates in Data Streams | 8,908,554 |