3 UMD Researchers Elected to National Academy of Inventors

Three longstanding University of Maryland researchers and leaders will join the ranks of the nation’s most creative academic innovators as new fellows of the National Academy of Inventors’ (NAI) Class of 2025.

UMD President and Glenn L. Martin Professor of Aerospace Engineering Darryll J. Pines, Department of Veterinary Medicine Professor Daniel J. Nelson, and Patrick and Marguerite Sung Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Srinivasa Raghavan were elected to a class of 185 inventors who collectively hold more than 5,300 U.S. patents. 

NAI fellowship is the highest professional distinction currently awarded to inventors in the U.S., and it is meant to recognize individuals whose patented innovations have made an enduring and profound economic and societal impact. “Their success in translating research into products and services that improve lives demonstrates the continuing importance of the U.S. patent system,” the NAI said in its announcement.

The UMD trio joins 16 other current faculty and staff members from the university who were previously elected to the NAI.

"It's a tremendous honor to be selected as an NAI fellow," Pines said. "I am proud of the research and innovation that thrive on our campus, and I'm grateful to be recognized among these talented faculty members working to educate and inspire future scholars and inventors."

He holds seven co-authored patents with his students and collaborators, including one for a navigation system that uses pulsars—rapidly rotating celestial objects that blast out pulses of radiation—to determine a spacecraft’s position, velocity and orientation. 

His research has focused broadly on structural dynamics, including structural health monitoring and prognosis; smart sensors; and adaptive, morphing and biologically inspired structures, as well as the guidance, navigation and control of aerospace vehicles. 

Pines began his career at UMD as an aerospace engineering professor. During a leave of absence from UMD from 2003-06, he served as a program manager at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, where he initiated five new programs primarily related to aerospace technologies. He also held positions at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Chevron Corp. and Space Tethers. At LLNL, Pines worked on the Clementine spacecraft program, which discovered water near the south pole of the moon.

He later served 11 years as dean and Nariman Farvardin Professor at the A. James Clark School of Engineering, then became president of the university in 2020. 

Pines has received numerous awards and distinctions, including the National Science Foundation Career Award, the Department of Defense Distinguished Service Medal and the State of Maryland House of Delegates Speaker's Medallion. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, American Society of Mechanical Engineers and Institute of Physics, and served as co-chair of the National Academies’ Government-University-Industry Research Roundtable.

In addition, he is the principal investigator for Engineering for Us All (e4usa), leading efforts to expand engineering education to new generations of high school students and teachers.

Nelson is a microbiologist and protein engineer whose work focuses on understanding and engineering natural enzymes from viruses that kill bacteria. He helped establish a new class of antimicrobials, and his contributions have shaped the field and influenced how advanced biologics are engineered. The therapies his work advances address one of the most urgent global health threats, antibiotic resistance.

“I am deeply honored and grateful to be named a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors,”  said Nelson, who holds a joint appointment at the Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology. “It is not only validation of my own efforts, but of the exceptional capabilities and efforts of the students, postdocs and collaborators who contributed to these discoveries over many years.”

His work spans multiple disciplines and sectors including human health, through the development of biologics to treat multidrug-resistant infections and sepsis; animal health, through veterinary diagnostics and therapeutics; public health and biodefense, through partnerships with the National Institutes of Health, Department of Defense and the Department of Agriculture for applications against high-concern pathogens; and food safety and agriculture, through enzyme-based decontamination and microbial control platforms.

Nelson collaborates frequently with industry and in 2019 co-founded ExoLytics, a biotechnology startup developing next-generation therapeutics from antibacterial enzymes.

He holds 12 U.S. patents and over 10 additional patent filings, which have been licensed to three companies. One of his patents describes a specially engineered enzyme that fuses two bacterial-cell-wall-cutting parts into one protein, giving it much stronger ability to kill bacteria, and another patent applies that to an enzyme that kills drug-resistant methicillin‑resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). 

He is a recipient of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources’ Excellence in Research Award and Faculty Research Award, and is a three-time finalist for the university’s Invention of the Year. Nelson is the college’s first faculty member elected to the NAI.

“Dr. Nelson’s leadership, translational insight and commitment to education make him a vital contributor to the broader innovation ecosystem and an advocate for developing the next generation of scientific entrepreneurs,” said Xiaoping Zhu, chair of the Department of Veterinary Medicine at UMD.

Raghavan is the principal investigator of the Complex Fluids and Nanomaterials Group, with research focused on creating new biomaterials and soft materials. 

“I am very grateful for this honor, and am fortunate to work with brilliant students whose creativity drives our inventions,” he said. “Some of these inventions—including our materials that stop bleeding—are already making a tangible difference in the real world, and that is deeply gratifying.”

Earlier this year, his group discovered that “electroadhesion,” a method that adheres materials by applying electricity, was achievable for nearly any biological tissue, whether human, animal or plant-derived. 

This discovery builds from the group’s 2021 study of electrically-induced adhesion between soft materials (gels and animal tissues), which led to a suture-free repair method for surgery, cuts and wounds that earned the 2022 UMD Invention of the Year award in the life sciences category. He also received this recognition in 2009 for a technology capable of providing nearly immediate, lasting and cost-effective hemorrhage control for wounds. 

Raghavan’s additional accomplishments include the UMD Distinguished Scholar-Teacher in 2017, Outstanding Researcher at the Clark School in 2022, and his elected fellowship into the Society of Rheology in 2023. 

He is the scientific co-founder of five startups based on technologies born in his laboratory. One of these, Medcura, commercialized a product that stops bleeding in seconds, available in pharmacies across the country. Another company is advancing a suture-free surgical technique that uses electroadhesion to seal a gel over wounds. A third is developing impact-absorbing soft materials for protecting delicate objects and cushioning footwear and protective gear.

“Professor Raghavan embodies the type of scholar who is able to work from the fundamentals of science and engineering to create new innovations that translate and impact society,” said Clark School Dean Samuel Graham. “His NAI induction demonstrates that his peers also see what a difference he is making through his discoveries. We are fortunate that he is a member of our community and look forward to the future impact of his leadership, scholarship and research.”