2024 Rutgers Innovation Awards Recipients

Name: SageTech

Research Team: Claudia Santacruz, Rut Mehta, Brianna Lischy, Oliver Kisza, Deshik Iyengar

Rutgers Chancellor-led Unit: Rutgers-New Brunswick

School: School of Arts and Sciences

"The Rutgers Innovation Award means a great deal to our team because not only does it acknowledge the dedication we have cultivated towards technological and scientific innovation, but also exemplifies the true impact we as students can have towards the larger community."

Claudia Santacruz	Rut Mehta	Brianna Lischy	Oliver Kisza	Deshik Iyengar

Name: Haydee Pacheco

Research Team: Haydee Pacheco

Rutgers Chancellor-led Unit: Rutgers-New Brunswick

School: School of Engineering

"I am deeply honored to receive the Rutgers Innovation Award in the 'Graduate Student Innovation' category. This recognition is a testament to the invaluable support and encouragement from my advisors and the Office for Research. I especially appreciate the Office's commitment to fostering innovative research and providing the resources necessary for our success. I am excited about the opportunity to advance technology through my PhD research and grateful for this acknowledgment of our work. Thank you for this incredible honor."

Name: Cameron Love

Research Team: Cameron Love

Rutgers Chancellor-led Unit: Rutgers-New Brunswick

School: School of Arts and Sciences

"I am honored and grateful to receive the Rutgers Innovation Award for my research on a novel class of neuroprotective peptides."

Name: Pingping Hou

Research Team: Pingping Hou

Rutgers Chancellor-led Unit: Rutgers Health

School: Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Rutgers Cancer Institute

"I am truly honored to receive the Rutgers Early Career Innovator Award. This recognition underscores the importance of our research in advancing novel cell therapy approaches for pancreatic cancer treatment, with the ultimate goal of curing this devastating disease. The support from the Office for Research has been instrumental in driving our innovation forward, and I am excited to continue this journey toward making a meaningful impact."

Name: Queens Carbon, Inc.

Research Team: Daniel Kopp, Richard Riman

Rutgers Chancellor-led Unit: Rutgers-New Brunswick

School: School of Engineering

"Receiving the University Startup Innovation Award is a tremendous honor. We are extremely grateful to the Rutgers University Materials Science Department for providing us with a platform for ideation and creativity. In addition, the invaluable support from the Office for Research helped us secure catalytic non-dilutive funding through the Breakthrough Energy Fellows program, which kickstarted our journey. Now, two years in, we are thrilled to announce recent Department of Energy funding to scale our cement decarbonization technology, marking a significant milestone in our mission to drive sustainable innovation."

Daniel Kopp	Richard Riman

Name: Ruo-Qian Wang

Research Team: Ruo-Qian Wang, WHIRL Lab

Rutgers Chancellor-led Unit: Rutgers-New Brunswick

School: School of Engineering

"I'm honored to receive this Rutgers Innovation Award for our AI-powered flood monitoring and forensic analysis system. This innovation represents a significant step towards collecting unconventional flood data, democratizing flood risk management, and enhancing urban resilience. By harnessing the power of AI, social media, and citizen science, we're not just improving flood mapping - we're empowering communities to actively participate in disaster preparedness. Our goal is to transform how we understand and respond to flooding events, making cities safer and more adaptable to climate change. This recognition fuels our commitment to pushing the boundaries of technology for societal benefit."

Name: Eric Wengrowski

Research Team: Eric Wengrowski, Kristin Dana, Matthew Purri

Rutgers Chancellor-led Unit: Rutgers-New Brunswick

School: School of Engineering, School of Graduate Studies

"As a product of the New Jersey public education system from kindergarten through PhD, I am extremely grateful for the world-class mentors that I have encountered throughout, but especially as a Rutgers student-- chief among them is my PhD Advisor and teammate Professor Kristin J. Dana. Scientific research is already an uncommonly-tread and surprisingly messy path. Productizing research technology is especially messy. None of it happens in a vacuum-- it happens with the sustained help of talented, hard-working people. The credit for this wonderful award is primarily owed to our teammates and collaborators at Steg.AI, where we are building the next generation of responsible AI watermarks for cyber safety. I am extremely grateful for the recognition, as we have lots of important work ahead of us."

--Eric Wengrowski

"Receiving the Rutgers Innovation Award is a tremendous honor that underscores the impact of our research on society, especially at a time when trust in digital media is critically low. Our work in creating invisible digital watermarks aims to protect data and ensure authenticity, offering a much-needed solution in today’s digital landscape. This recognition not only highlights the importance of our innovation but also motivates us to continue pushing the boundaries of technology. We are grateful for the support from the Office for Research, which has been instrumental in transforming our ideas into meaningful contributions to the world."

--Matthew Purri

Eric Wengrowski	Kristin Dana	Matthew Purri

Name: Jing Li

Research Team: Jing Li, Kun Zhu

Rutgers Chancellor-led Unit: Rutgers-New Brunswick

School: School of Arts and Sciences

"Receiving the Rutgers Innovation Award is a great honor and a testament to our dedication to forging energy-efficient and eco-friendly innovations in the field of solid-state lighting. Our research on hybrid copper halides not only drives the development of non-toxic solution-processed LED technologies but also addresses the critical need to reduce reliance on rare-earth elements. The strong support from the Office for Research has been pivotal in helping us push the boundaries of sustainable processes, and we are excited to continue exploring the potential of these materials to shape a greener future."

Jing Li	Kun Zhu

Name: Daniela Staquicini

Research Team: Daniela Staquicini

Rutgers Chancellor-led Unit: Rutgers Health, Rutgers-Newark

School: Rutgers New Jersey Medical School

"I am deeply honored to receive the Rutgers Innovation Award. This recognition highlights the significance of our research, which is focused on the development of a novel system for the safe and effective vaccination and pulmonary delivery of therapeutics, including an aerosol inhalation strategy originally designed to combat the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Our goal is to continue leveraging the favorable biological attributes of phage particles as a practical and affordable vaccination method, particularly in the context of emerging pandemics and global health challenges. This award also reflects the excellence of my team and the Rutgers Research Office, whose support and commitment drive our mission to advance these innovations for the benefit of public health worldwide."

Name: James White

Research Team: James White, Kathryn Kingsley, Kurt Kowalski, Xiaoquin Chang, Matthew Elmore, Ivelisse Irizarry

Rutgers Chancellor-led Unit: Rutgers-New Brunswick

School: School of Environmental and Biological Sciences

"I am surprised, pleased, and honored that we are receiving this award on innovation in agriculture. We conducted this research to have a positive impact in agriculture and conservation biology. This innovation award is an indication that we are in fact having a positive impact. The entire research team is grateful for this award."

James White	Kathryn Kingsley	Kurt Kowalski	Xiaoquin Chang	Ivelisse Irizarry	Matthew Elmore