Carnegie Mellon University
December 16, 2014

José M. F. Moura Named Fellow of National Academy of Inventors

By Krista Burns / 412-268-5316

Jose MouraJosé M. F. Moura of Carnegie Mellon University's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering has been named a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI).

Election to NAI Fellow status 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 impact on quality of life, economic development, and the welfare of society.

"I'm honored to have been elected to the rank of NAI Fellow. This award showcases as much mine and my student's work and innovative spirit over the years in Carnegie Mellon engineering," Moura said.

Those named today bring the total number of NAI Fellows to 414, representing more than 150 prestigious research universities and governmental and non-profit research institutions.

Included among all of the NAI Fellows are 61 presidents and senior leadership of research universities and non-profit research institutes, 208 members of the other National Academies (NAS, NAE, IOM), 21 inductees of the National Inventors Hall of Fame, 16 recipients of the U.S. National Medal of Technology and Innovation, 10 recipients of the U.S. National Medal of Science, 21 Nobel Laureates, 11 Lemelson-MIT prize recipients, 112 AAAS Fellows, and 62 IEEE Fellows, among other awards and distinctions.

The NAI Fellows will be inducted on Mar. 20, 2015, as part of the 4th Annual Conference of the National Academy of Inventors at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Deputy Commissioner for Patent Operations Andrew Faile will be providing the keynote address for the induction ceremony. Fellows will be presented with a special trophy, newly designed medal, and rosette pin in honor of their outstanding accomplishments.

The 2014 NAI Fellows will be recognized with a full-page announcement in The Chronicle of Higher Education Jan. 16, 2015, issue, and in upcoming issues of Inventors Digest and Technology and Innovation.

Moura currently serves as associate department head of Research and Strategic Initiatives in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Carnegie Mellon.

Moura was elevated to NAI Fellow in part because of his research and patent contributions in statistical signal and image processing. In addition to being an associate department head and a Philip L. and Marsha Dowd University Professor, Moura also directs the Carnegie Mellon Portugal Program and has been the principal investigator of several DARPA, NSF, ONR and other agencies grants.

He holds 11 U.S. patents ranging from image video processing to biomedical areas, several of which have been adopted by industry. A sequence detector from two of his patents (co-inventor Aleksandar Kavcic) has been placed in 2.4 billion disk drives and 60 percent of all computers sold worldwide in the last 10 years. Professor Moura cofounded SPIRALGen, a company to commercialize SPIRAL technology under license from Carnegie Mellon.

The recipient of many research awards and numerous recognitions and honors from professional organizations, Moura is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, a corresponding member of the Portugal Academy of Science, an IEEE Fellow and a Fellow of the AAAS. He is vice president elect of the IEEE, he was an IEEE board director (2012-2013), president of the IEEE Signal Processing Society (SPS), and editor in chief for the Transactions on Signal Processing. He holds a Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer science, master's and EE degrees from MIT and an EE degree from Instituto Superior Técnico (IST, Portugal).

The academic inventors and innovators elected to the rank of NAI Fellow are named inventors on U.S. patents and were nominated by their peers for outstanding contributions to innovation in areas such as patents and licensing, innovative discovery and technology, significant impact on society, and support and enhancement of innovation.

The 2014 NAI Fellows Selection Committee comprises 17 members, including NAI Fellows, recipients of U.S. National Medals, National Inventors Hall of Fame inductees, members of the National Academies and senior officials from the USPTO, Association of American Universities, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Association of University Technology Managers, and National Inventors Hall of Fame.

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