Three professors from the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering have been elected as fellows of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). The distinction is considered the highest professional recognition solely for inventors. Rafail Ostrovsky, Gaurav Sant, and Yang Yang are part of the 2024 class comprising 170 fellows from 39 U.S. states and 12 countries.
Ah-Huyng “Alissa” Park, the Ronald and Valerie Sugar Dean of UCLA Samueli, remarked on their election: "I am delighted to see three of our faculty members elected to the National Academy of Inventors this year. It is a testament to their ingenuity, innovation and invaluable contribution to solving real-world challenges and engineering positive change for humanity."
Rafail Ostrovsky serves as a distinguished professor in computer science and mathematics at UCLA Samueli. He leads the Center of Information and Computation Security. His research includes cryptography, network algorithms, and data classification. Ostrovsky has received several accolades such as the IEEE's W. Wallace McDowell Award in 2022.
Gaurav Sant holds positions in civil, environmental engineering, materials science, and engineering departments at UCLA. He directs the Institute for Carbon Management which focuses on climate change mitigation technologies. Sant has co-founded startups like CarbonBuilt and Equatic.
Yang Yang is a distinguished professor in materials science and engineering at UCLA Samueli. His research lab works on organic electronic materials focusing on solar cells and electronic devices. Yang has contributed significantly to organic photovoltaics technology.
The NAI is a nonprofit organization with over 4,600 members globally. With this new class, it now includes 2,068 fellows worldwide who hold more than 68,000 U.S. patents collectively.
Paul Sanberg, president of NAI stated: “This year's Class of NAI Fellows represents a truly impressive caliber of inventors.” The newly elected fellows will be honored at NAI’s Annual Meeting in June 2025 in Atlanta.
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