Raj Bridgelall, associate professor of transportation and logistics, has been named a fellow by the National Academy of Inventors. He was among 169 distinguished academic inventors on this year's list of fellows, which was announced Dec. 8.
Bridgelall also is the program director of the Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute's Center for Surface Mobility Applications and Real-Time Simulation Environments.
The NAI Fellows Program highlights academic inventors who have demonstrated a spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on the quality of life, economic development and the welfare of society. Election as a fellow is the highest professional distinction awarded to academic inventors.
“I am delighted to receive this special recognition and I am proud to be among this distinguished group of inventors at the nation’s top universities,” Bridgelall said “I thank the nominators and the NAI committee for this honor.”
The 2022 fellow class comes from 110 research universities and governmental and non-profit research institutes worldwide. They collectively hold more than 5,000 issued U.S. patents.
"This year's class of NAI fellows represents a truly outstanding caliber of innovators. Each of these individuals have made significant impact through their work and are highly-regarded in their respective fields," said Paul R. Sanberg, NAI president. "The breadth and scope of their inventions is truly staggering. I am excited to see their creativity continue to define a new era of science and technology in the global innovation ecosystem."
Bridgelall holds more than 140 U.S patents issued or pending in the areas of advanced sensing, wireless communications, mobile computing, decision support platforms and their applications in transportation and logistics. He has been appointed to several committees of the Transportation Research Board, a division of the National Research Council of the United States, and he was a member of the advisory board of Questex Media Group, a producer of the industry's largest conference dedicated to sensors, connectivity and systems.
He earned his bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in electrical engineering at Stony Brook University, New York, and his doctorate in transportation and logistics from NDSU.
Bridgelall is scheduled to be inducted during the 12th annual meeting of the National Academy of Inventors set for June 27, 2023, in Washington, D.C.
The organization has more than 4,000 individual inventor members and fellows spanning more than 250 institutions worldwide. It was founded in 2010 to recognize and encourage inventors with patents issued from the United States Patent and Trademark Office, enhance the visibility of academic technology and innovation, encourage the disclosure of intellectual property, educate and mentor students, and translate members’ inventions to benefit society.
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