Dr. Katrina Cornish elected as National Academy of Inventors Fellow!

Dec. 16, 2015

The Department of Horticulture and Crop Science is pleased to announce that Dr. Katrina Cornish has been elected to be a National Academy of Inventors Fellow for 2015. Katrina joins the 414 National Academy of Inventors (NAI) fellows from all over the world. Fellows must be nominated and must be listed as an inventor on at least one patent issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. NAI Fellows have “demonstrated a highly 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.” Katrina will be inducted at a ceremony on April 15, 2016 in Virginia. Other NAI Fellows from The Ohio State University are Carlo Croce (Molecular Virology, Immunology, and Medical Genetics), Liang-Shih Fan (Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering), and Yasuko Rikihisa (Veterinary Medicine).

Some of Katrina’s other awards include: Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Good Housekeeping Award for Women in Government, Outstanding Research Scientist of the Year (USDA-ARS), the USDA’s Group Honor Award for Excellence in 2002, Outstanding Research Scientist of the Year from the Association for the Advancement of Industrial Crops, and an ACS Presidential Award. 

Learn more about the National Academy of Inventors on their website.

Summary of Patents, Licensing and Commercialization Activities:

Professor Katrina Cornish, has 22 patents (8 issued and 14 published pending) in plant biotechnology, process engineering, and medical/ industrial materials and products, 12 of which have been licensed. Two patent(s) were exclusively licensed, and 8 more patents/patents pending assigned to Yulex Corporation, and 10 pending licensed to EnergyEne Inc. nine exclusively. Cornish was pivotal in establishment of Yulex and has founded EnergyEne Inc, EnergyEne Africa, EnergyEne Australia, DamSafe LLC., and cofounded Edison Agrisciences, and Farmed Materials. Cornish was key in the commercialization of guayule latex and products. Her most significant patents, so far, are Hypoallergenic natural rubber products from Parthenium argentatum (gray) and other non-Hevea brasiliensis species, US 5717050 A (product - an aqueous emulsion of rubber particles), and US 5580942A (latex production process). The USDA’s exclusive license formed the foundation of the US domestic rubber industry, and led directly to a 23 million 7th framework European effort and a sublicense to the Italian companies Versalis and Pirelli. The US efforts spurred the creation of PanAridus, LLC (a guayule production company), Bridgestone’s $120 million investment into guayule production for tire rubber, and the funded USDA-BRDI grant supported efforts by a federal, academic and industrial consortium led by Cooper Tire.