Two LSU Professors Named as National Academy of Inventors Fellows

12/13/2016

BATON ROUGE – LSU Boyd Professor of Chemistry and SEC Professor of the Year Isiah Warner and Professor of Veterinary Surgery Mandi Lopez have been named Fellows to the National Academy of Inventors, or NAI. Warner and Lopez are two of the 757 NAI Fellows representing 229 research universities, governmental agencies and non-profit organizations. 

Warner is the Phillip W. West Professor of Chemistry and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor at LSU. His research aims to develop and apply chemical, instrumental and mathematical measurements to solve fundamental questions in chemistry. The Bunkie, La., native also serves as LSU’s Vice President for Strategic Initiatives, and he is considered to be one of the world’s experts in analytical applications of fluorescence spectroscopy.

Warner holds eight U.S. patents that specialize in spectroscopy and span a variety of different research areas. His spectroscopy studies have become mainstays for many leading manufacturers of commercially available fluorescence in analytical measurements. 

“I am truly excited about all of the recognition I have received for the year 2016. This is one of the most exciting years of my entire career,” Warner said. “In science, there is no greater honor than to be recognized by your peers.”

As a veterinarian surgeon, Lopez created a device for ACL reconstruction surgery that makes it easier to secure tissue to bone, while tension is simultaneously adjusted – a feat which could not previously be accomplished. The device could potentially be used in future bone and joint surgeries in both animals and humans. 

Lopez is the director of the Laboratory for Equine and Comparative Orthopedic Research in the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine. As laboratory director, Lopez has mentored numerous undergraduate, graduate and medical students. She has more than 75 original scientific publications and has shared research findings through hundreds of presentations in numerous public venues. She is an associate editor of a national scientific journal, as well as a member of many public and private grant review boards. She has been an active member of the LSU faculty senate for nearly a decade and also serves on the faculty senate executive committee

“The honor is beyond any accomplishment that I thought to achieve during my career. I’m incredibly humbled and genuinely grateful,” Lopez said. “Such an achievement would not have been possible without the support and confidence of others who believed in me and my inventions.”

Warner and Lopez were nominated by their peers for contributions in areas such as patents and licensing, innovative discovery and technology, and support and enhancement of innovation. Being elected as an NAI Fellow is a high professional distinction accorded to academic inventors who have demonstrated a prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible improvement on quality of life, economic development and the welfare of society.

 

 

LSU has a video uplink studio with live broadcast capabilities. Contact us to set up an interview.

 

 

Contact Ernie Ballard
LSU Media Relations
225-578-5685
eballa1@lsu.edu 

or

Alison Satake
LSU Media Relations
225-578-3870
asatake@lsu.edu