The National Academy of Inventors (NAI) announced today the induction of 169 distinguished inventors to be NAI Fellows, which includes Hao Huang, a Distinguished Adjunct Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Cullen College of Engineering.
Election as an Academy Fellow is the highest professional distinction awarded to academic inventors. The full list of 2022 Fellows can be found here.
Huang joined the faculty in July 2021. He has more than 30 years of experience in the aviation industry, mostly at General Electric, and 80 patents related to electrification. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) in February 2021. He is also a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) as of 2013, and a Fellow of the Society of Automotive and Aerospace Engineers (SAE) as of 2014. He was also the winner of 2019 IEEE Transportation Technologies Award.
After retiring in 2020, Huang explained in a previous story his decision about joining the Cullen College of Engineering.
“After the retirement from GE and the election to the NAE, I thought a lot about what I should do for society in the rest of my retirement life,” he said. “Helping engineering education was the idea that jumped to the top of my list. When I was in industries, particularly at GE Aviation and Smiths Aerospace, I saw the great needs to fill some gaps to accelerate the young and just graduated engineers from universities to perform their jobs, to accelerate their industrial learning, and to grow their capabilities to serve the companies. I realize that if I am helping with teaching as well as research in one or two universities, I may be able to help the universities and industries to effectively narrow these gaps due to my experience, knowledge and vision in field.”
According to the NAI, the 2022 Fellow class hails from 110 research universities, governmental and non-profit research institutions worldwide. They collectively hold more than 5,000 U.S. patents. Among the new class of Fellows are members of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine; Fellows of AAAS; Nobel Laureates; other honors and distinctions as well as senior leadership from universities and research institutions. Their body of research and entrepreneurship covers a broad range of scientific disciplines involved with technology transfer of their inventions for the benefit of society.
“This year’s class of NAI Fellows represents a truly outstanding caliber of inventors. Each of these individuals have made significant impact through their work and are highly regarded in their respective fields,” said Dr. Paul R. Sanberg, FNAI, President of the NAI. “The breadth and scope of their inventions is truly staggering. I am excited to see their creativity continue to define a new era of science and technology in the global innovation ecosystem.”
The 2022 class of Fellows will be honored and presented their medals at the 12th Annual Meeting of the National Academy of Inventors June 27 in Washington, D.C. For more information, click here.