Purdue Research Foundation Honors Faculty Inventors, Entrepreneurs

Business Wire, Oct 12, 2007

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- The Purdue Research Foundation recognized 29 Purdue University faculty and staff for contributions in the areas of research, product development and commercialization.

The recipients were honored for their discoveries that have resulted, or may soon result, in commercial applications that benefit society. The top honor of the 2007 Outstanding Commercialization Award went to Alok Chaturvedi, a professor of management in the Krannert School of Management; founder and former director of the Purdue Homeland Security Institute at Discovery Park; and founder, president and CEO of Simulex Inc. at the Purdue Research Park.

"Our Office of Technology Commercialization works to help move these inventions into the marketplace," said Joseph B. Hornett, the foundation's senior vice president, treasurer and COO. "This is the fifth year this award has been bestowed, and we are proud to say that each year there is an increasing number of our scholars and researchers who receive a patent for their discoveries."

Chaturvedi was recognized for his role in the development of the Synthetic Environments for Analysis and Simulation (SEAS) technology, which seeks to explain how governments, companies, organizations and the public respond to certain situations, including terrorism. The technology's commercialization led to the formation in 1999 of Simulex, which has 40 employees.

"As part of our research for this technology, we focus on the political, social and economic aspects of other cultures to better understand each other and work together to make the world a more peaceful place," Chaturvedi said.

In the fiscal year from July 2006 to June 2007, Purdue Research Foundation reported 222 invention disclosures, compared with 216 the previous year, and 31 issued patents. The foundation also reported the creation of 15 new companies from Purdue-licensed technologies, compared to five the previous fiscal year.

The Purdue Research Park encompasses 591 acres in West Lafayette, Ind., and is home to the largest university-affiliated business incubator complex in the nation. Within the park, 140 businesses, of which more than 90 are high-tech, employ more than 2,900 people.