2025 Selection Committee

Elizabeth Lea Dougherty, J.D.
Member, Florida Inventors Hall of Fame Advisory Board
Eastern Regional Outreach Director
United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
Full bio

Sharon A. Heise, Ph.D.
Chief Research Officer Emerita
Institute for Human & Machine Cognition

Sharon Heise is Chief Research Officer at the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC), in Pensacola. As a member of IHMC’s Senior Leadership Team, Heise has overseen all aspects of IHMC research initiatives. Heise previously served 20 years in the U.S. Air Force, where she was most recently Director of Mathematics and Information Sciences at the Air Force Office of Scientific Research. Heise holds a Ph.D. in Control Engineering from Cambridge University, England. She is a graduate of the Program for Senior Executives in National and International Security at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.

James Howard
Executive Director
Black Inventors Hall of Fame
Full bio

Hetal Miranda
Manager
NASA Kennedy Space Center

Hetal Miranda is the manager of the NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC) Technology Transfer Office, ensuring that cutting-edge innovations developed for space exploration are made broadly available to the public. She holds a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering and an M.S. in Industrial Engineering from the University of Central Florida. Her professional background includes designing and developing KSC ground support systems for the Constellation program, as well as leading technology integration and partnership development in support of research and technology (R&T) endeavors. Additionally, during her time in private industry she led proposal development and the management of federally funded projects.

In her capacity as a member of the NASA civil service, Hetal created the R&T projects portfolio tool, a critical resource used to oversee and coordinate R&T projects at KSC. She also provided guidance to the researcher community throughout the proposal process. Moreover, she assumed leadership roles in driving innovation and strategic initiatives for the Center Chief Technologist and Exploration Research & Technology (ER&T) Programs at KSC. In her most recent role, she collaborated with the Capabilities Integration Team within the Exploration Systems Development (ESDMD) Technical Integration Office, where she assessed various capability gaps essential for advancing Moon to Mars exploration.

David P. Norton, Ph.D.
Vice President for Research
University of Florida
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Paul R. Sanberg, Ph.D., D.Sc.
Chair, Florida Inventors Hall of Fame Advisory Board
President, National Academy of Inventors
University of South Florida
Full bio

Sylvia Wilson Thomas
Professor, Electrical Engineering
University of South Florida
Full bio