On October 26, UF Innovate | Tech Licensing hosted its annual event to recognize top innovations stemming from the University of Florida. Standing InnOvation, the best kind of “standing ovation” you can give to innovators, recognized the seven innovations of the year and the Innovator of the Year, Dr. William Hauswirth, a pioneer in gene therapy.
Jim O’Connell, assistant vice president of commercialization at UF and director of UF Innovate | Tech Licensing, emceed the event which had two components, the unveiling of a new mural, “The Flow of Innovation,” located in the lobby of UF Innovate | Accelerate @ The Hub, and the award ceremony that took place at Midpoint Park & Eatery, a food truck park located in the heart of Gainesville’s Innovation District.
The Innovator of the Year had the opportunity to share some words with the audience during the event while the seven innovations of the year, selected by the licensing teams out of 285 inventions disclosed in fiscal year 2021, were showcased in pre-recorded videos. The below awardees were from the Department of Computer & Information Science & Engineering (CISE).
In-Line Ticketing
Juan E. Gilbert, Ph.D., The Banks Family Preeminence Endowed Professor and CISE chair, was concerned about people standing in line waiting to vote on the 2020 elections in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. This inspired him to create a technology that could mitigate the situation and make it safer with a ticketing system that would tell an individual when to return to vote instead of waiting in line.
Precision Health Interventions Using Virtual Clinicians
Janice Krieger, Ph.D., a professor at the UF College of Journalism and Communications, and a multidisciplinary group of UF researchers created ALEX, a virtual health assistant that delivers precision messages to the diverse population in Florida. The virtual clinicians replicate real-life movements of what will occur in face-to-face interactions. CISE researchers on the team include Benjamin Lok, Ph.D., a professor, and members of his lab, the Virtual Experiences Research Group, such as Ph.D. candidates Mohan Zalak and Fatemah Tavassoli, and Ph.D. students Rashi Ghosh and Andrew Maxim.
Original story published on UF Innovate.
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