2021 Inductees

Rajiv K. Singh

2021 Inductees

Rajiv Singh

Rajiv K. Singh, Ph.D.

Vice President
Chemical Mechanical Polishing Slurries
Entegris, Inc.
Professor Emeritus
Department of Materials Science and Engineering
University of Florida

26 U.S. Patents

Rajiv K. Singh is the Vice President of Chemical Mechanical Polishing (CMP) Slurries at Entegris, Inc. He is Professor Emeritus at the University of Florida and former CEO and CTO of Sinmat, a start-up company he founded to focus on innovation and commercialization of CMP slurries. Singh is a leading expert in advanced semiconductor processing, including chemical mechanical polishing and innovative processing of next generation materials.

As CEO and CTO of Sinmat, Singh commercialized a number of his inventions that he developed over the course of his 30-year career at the University of Florida, most notably a unique, defect-free polishing process for mechanically hard advanced electronic materials such as silicon carbide, gallium nitride, sapphire and diamond. These processes are currently being used by leading global companies in some of the fastest growing markets involving manufacturing of smartwatches, smartphones, defense systems, advanced silicon carbide electronics for electric vehicles, and 5G communications infrastructure. Singh’s polishing technologies have been employed in more than 50 million smartwatches worldwide, a majority of the million-plus luxury electric vehicles, as well as advanced fighter aircraft and helicopter optical systems. Singh’s technology is also part of silicon carbide-based power modules (instead of traditional silicon-based electronics) that increase battery mileage of electric vehicles by nearly 10% (e.g., Tesla mileage extended by 30 miles) and enables 800V fast charging technology (e.g., Porsche EV achieves 250-mile charge in less than 20 minutes). In 2020, Entegris, Inc. acquired Sinmat for approximately $75 million.

Singh is a Fellow of IEEE, AAAS, ASM, the Materials Research Society, the American Physical Society, and the Electrochemical Society, and he is the winner of four R&D 100 awards for developing innovative CMP slurries for polishing metals and dielectrics.

David M. Kotick

2021 Inductees

David Kotick

David M. Kotick

Senior Science Technical Manager
Live, Virtual, and Constructive (LVC) simulation and training
Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division
Graduate, University of Central Florida

5 U.S. Patents

David M. Kotick is the Senior Scientific Technical Manager for Live Virtual Constructive at the Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division. A Florida native and double graduate of the University of Central Florida, Kotick the is one of the U.S. Department of Defense’s leading subject matter experts in the field of virtual communications.

With over 40 years of experience in the Navy Modeling and Simulation (M&S) Research and Development arena, Kotick has been at the forefront of designing and developing digital voice solutions to enable military forces to train as they would fight. Kotick holds multiple patents in the fields of digital communications and simulation technology. Among his many innovations, Kotick’s work on the family of systems comprising the Digital Radio Management System (DRMS) is foundational to Live-Virtual-Constructive (LVC) advancement, as it provides a single synthetic training communications system that enables realistic tactical communications across all warfare areas, classification levels, and releasable domains. Kotick further developed this technology to create the Virtual Tactical Bridge Embarked Synthetic Radio (VTBeSR), which enables voice and M&S data transport between a virtual training battle space and the live battle group, and supports live aircraft while underway and over the horizon. These innovations in digital communications and LVC have directly benefited the U.S. military’s readiness.

Kotick has been recognized with the 2016 Assistant Secretary of the Navy Dr. Delores M. Etter Top Scientist Award; Department of the Navy Meritorious Civilian Service Medal; the 2016 Commanders Excellence in Marine Air Ground Task Force Engineering Award for LVC Integration; and in 2017 was inducted into the National Center for Simulation’s Modeling and Simulation Hall of Fame. In 2013, he was named a NAVAIRSYSCOM Esteemed Fellow.

Susann Keohane

2021 Inductees

Susann Keohane

Susann Keohane

Global Research Leader for the Aging Initiative
Watson Health & Healthy Aging Innovation Leader
Master Inventor
IBM
Graduate, University of Florida

137 U.S. Patents

Susann Keohane is the IBM Watson Health Innovation Leader for Healthy Aging and Longevity and Emerging AI Product. Born in Fort Myers, she received her undergraduate degree from the University of Florida and has since become an expert in enabling human ability through emerging technologies with a strategic focus on accessibility research, aging-in-place Internet of Things (IoT) technology, and cognitive systems to deliver personalized insights and adaptive interfaces.

In her current role at IBM, she leads the Go-To-Market strategy and launch of new AI product, leveraging her AI/ML and IoT technical knowledge and experience in health research for the global aging population. Previously she headed a worldwide community of researchers, technologists, and academics who help governments, industries, and companies as they seek to develop solutions and technology-enabled services for consumers in the new ‘longevity economy.’ Harnessing her research on Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Healthy Aging and IoT Sensor Systems for Eldercare, Keohane also applies advanced analytics and Machine Learning (ML) techniques to model personal activities of daily living and generate new insights that reduce risk, reduce cost of care, and significantly improve quality of life for the elderly.

Keohane has been instrumental in rallying the world-wide teams, building strong partnerships with anchor clients, and establishing the IBM UCSD Center for Healthy Aging. She founded the IBM Aging-in-Place Research Lab which is designed to demonstrate IBM’s IoT-based AI solutions to support aging and create an environment to co-develop solutions with clients. She also served as a principal investigator for IBM’s collaboration with Rice University on cognitive sensor systems which led to the development of the IBM Multi-purpose Eldercare Robot Assistant (IBM MERA), a first-of-a-kind Watson-enabled robot prototype designed to assist the elderly and their caregivers.

She is an international speaker who has presented at the BBC World Changing Ideas Summit, MIT Future Innovators Forum, IBM World of Watson, and SXSW Interactive. She is an IBM Master Inventor and a member of the prestigious IBM Academy of Technology.

Dean Kamen

2021 Inductees

Dean Kamen

Dean Kamen

President
DEKA Research and Development
Founder
FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology)

440+ U.S. Patents

Dean Kamen is the President of DEKA Research and Development and part-time Florida resident. Internationally recognized as a disruptive innovator, entrepreneur, and a tireless advocate for science and technology, he is the inventor of such influential technologies as the Segway® and AutoSyringe™.

Kamen founded DEKA Research and Development Corporation in 1982 as a way to bring to market internally generated inventions as well as to provide research and development for major corporate clients. Kamen led DEKA’s development of the HomeChoice™ peritoneal dialysis system for Baxter International Inc., which allows patients to be dialyzed at home. Kamen also led the development of technology to improve slide preparation for the CYTYC (now Hologic Inc.) ThinPrep® Pap Test. Other Kamen-led DEKA teams have developed critical components of the UVAR™ XTS™ System, an extracorporeal photophereisis device marketed by Therakos, for the treatment of T-Cell lymphoma. Other notable developments include the Hydroflex™ surgical irrigation pump for C.R. Bard, the iBOT™ mobility device, an advanced prosthetic arm developed for DARPA known as the LUKE arm, and many more.

Prior to DEKA, Kamen was the founder of AutoSyringe, Inc., a medical device company that he built around his first breakthrough innovation—the novel portable drug infusion pump, AutoSyringe™. At age 30, Kamen sold AutoSyringe, Inc. to Baxter Healthcare Corporation.

Kamen also is the Founder of FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), an organization dedicated to motivating the next generation to understand, use and enjoy science and technology. Founded in 1989, FIRST has supported more than one million young people, ages 6 to 18, in more than 113 countries around the globe, and 10,000 students in Florida through notable programs like AMRoC Fab Lab in Tampa, the ROBOTICON FIRST Showcase held in Tampa each fall at the University of South Florida, and the Orlando Regional, one of the nation’s oldest FIRST Robotics Competition held each spring at the University of Central Florida in Orlando.

Kamen was awarded the National Medal of Technology in 2000 by President Clinton. He was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 1997. He was awarded the Lemelson-MIT Prize in 2002, and he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2005. He is a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical & Biological Engineering, as well as many other national and international engineering organizations.

Roberta D. Goode

2021 Inductees

Roberta Goode

Roberta D. Goode

Founder and President
Altrec, LLC
Graduate, University of Miami

4 Patents

Roberta D. Goode is the founder and President of Altrec, LLC in Coral Springs, Florida—a consultancy firm with the mission of sharing knowledge and improving patient outcomes through a unique collaboration with the US Food and Drug Administration to train the next generation of regulatory engineers. She holds adjunct faculty appointments at the University of Miami College of Engineering and George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences. A Florida native, Goode is a double graduate of the University of Miami, and her background spans both industry and academia, with broad experience in all aspects of medical device design, manufacturing and quality.

A highly successful entrepreneur, inventor, and biomedical engineer, Goode’s medical device inventions have transformed minimally invasive cardiac surgical and diagnostic procedures around the world. She discovered a novel application for elastomeric material, resulting in her four U.S. patents. Her pioneering designs focused on sheath introducers—the catheter surgeons use as a “tunnel” through which they can access cardiac systems to repair valves or insert stents or catheters, etc. Prior to Goode’s inventions, these procedures held a high degree of risk. Goode’s novel designs for sheath introducers significantly advanced cardiac surgery and diagnostics, in a minimally invasive manner, while also protecting the health of the patient by reducing blood loss. Her design was incorporated into the Cordis AVANTI Sheath Introducer, which continues to be sold today. More than 1 million catheterizations per day are performed in the U.S.

Goode has been recognized by the University of Miami with the Ozcan Ozdamar Biomedical Engineering Distinguished Alumni Award, and the Toppel Award for Excellence in Career Education. She was also named winner of President G.W. Bush’s High Growth Job Training Initiative, biotechnology curriculum contract.

Mark E. Dean

2021 Inductees

Mark Dean

Mark E. Dean, Ph.D.

Professor Emeritus
Tickle College of Engineering
University of Tennessee
Former Chief Technology Officer of the Middle East and Africa, and Fellow
IBM
Graduate, Florida Atlantic University

43 U.S. Patents

Mark E. Dean is Professor Emeritus and former Interim Dean of the Tickle College of Engineering and John Fisher Distinguished Professor at the University of Tennessee. Former Chief Technology Officer of the Middle East and Africa for IBM, IBM Fellow and a graduate of Florida Atlantic University, Dean’s research focuses on advanced computer architecture, data centric computing and computational sciences.

Dean has been the driving force behind a number of revolutionary computer system advances, from embedded systems to supercomputers, including testing of the first gigahertz CMOS microprocessor, and establishing the team that developed the Blue Gene supercomputer. He was also chief engineer for the development of the IBM PC/AT, PS/2 Model 70 & 80, the Color Graphics Adapter in the original IBM PC, and holds three of the nine patents for the original IBM PC. Most notably, he is named as the co-inventor of the Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) “bus,” which permitted add-on devices like the keyboard, disk drives and printers to be connected to the motherboard.

Over the course of his nearly 40-year career at IBM, Dean was responsible for technical strategy, technical skills development and exploring new technology-based solutions for the region. These responsibilities included the development of solutions specific for the emerging needs of the businesses in industry segments such as mobile services (banking, healthcare, education, government), natural resource management (oil, gas, mining, forest, water), cloud-based business services, and security (fraud protection, risk management, privacy, cybersecurity).

Dean’s most recent awards include: National Institute of Science Outstanding Scientist Award, member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, member of the National Academy of Engineering, IEEE Fellow, Black Engineer of the Year, the University of Tennessee COE Dougherty Award, member of the National Inventors Hall of Fame, and recipient of the Ronald H. Brown American Innovators Award.

Norma A. Alcantar

2021 Inductees

Norma Alcantar

Norma A. Alcantar, Ph.D.

Professor of Chemical, Biomedical & Materials Engineering
College of Engineering
University of South Florida

23 U.S. Patents

Norma A. Alcantar is a Professor of Chemical, Biomedical & Materials Engineering at the University of South Florida. Internationally known for her breakthroughs using plant-based technology to decontaminate water, Alcantar’s applications are imperative to future global sustainability and advances in biomedical applications for Alzheimer’s and cancer.

Over the course of the last 20 years, Alcantar has harnessed her research to invent new technologies using biomaterials derived from cactus plants that can expand the molecular removal of heavy metals, bacteria, sediments, radioactive isotopes, volatile organic compounds, and hazardous concentrations of fluoride and ammonia from water and soil. She has successfully demonstrated its use in many applications around the world, including Mexico, Bangladesh and notably in Port-au-Prince, Haiti after the 2010 earthquake. She has further applied this technology for sustainable soil systems that renew ground nutrients and enhance crop production. Alcantar has also developed a series of patents pertaining to improving capabilities of fish farming by enabling faster and more efficient removal of the bacteria that forms in the water tanks, and greatly reducing the amount of water and time previously required for mitigation. All of these innovations are playing a critical role in the global food-water-energy nexus.

Alcantar’s recent patents are biomedical applications of her technology for novel therapies to fight a number of disease processes. She designed new methods to treat amyloid diseases such as Alzheimer’s, by disrupting the formation of the plaques that can cause damage to brain tissue and function, and she developed a transformative drug delivery system to enhance treatment of brain and ovarian cancers.

Alcantar is a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, and an NAI Senior Member. She has received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award, Jewish National Fund Fellowship, Excellence in Innovation Award, and USF NAI Chapter Outstanding Faculty Award.