UK innovators honored at Patent Palooza! 2025
UK Innovate celebrated the achievements of innovators across campus at Patent Palooza! 2025.
These researchers, entrepreneurs and industry partners all drive intellectual property creation, commercialization success and entrepreneurial growth at the University of Kentucky. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2025, UK saw the most patents issued, the most licenses executed and the second-most inventions disclosed in UK history.
In FY 2025, 29 teams completed Launch Blue’s UAccel program, and more than 100 UK innovators were issued 61 patents, had 40 licenses and options executed for their innovations, and received four Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) awards.
The event featured a short compilation video of four faculty members with pioneering ideas as part of the “I am a UK Innovator” series. The faculty members include:
- Julie Cerel, Ph.D., professor in the UK College of Social Work, for her work on CODE RED Safety Planning — a proactive crisis planning intervention. CODE Red stands for “COntact,” “DElay decisions,” “RElax” and “Distract.” This approach fosters open dialogue and encourages individuals to create a simple, customized safety plan they can access during a crisis.
- John Anthony, Ph.D, the C. W. Hammond Professor of Chemistry in the UK College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Chemistry and associate director of the UK Center for Applied Energy Research, for his work developing new materials that will allow quantum computers to operate at room temperature.
- Allen Page, D.V.M., Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Veterinary Science at the Maxwell H. Gluck Equine Research Center in the UK Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment, focuses on disease and injury detection and developing diagnostic tools for the equine industry.
- Guoqiang Yu, Ph.D., professor in the F. Joseph Halcomb III, M.D. Department of Biomedical Engineering in the UK Stanley and Karen Pigman College of Engineering, for his work on imaging and sensing tools. Specifically, Yu is developing special magnifying glasses with a built-in glowing light technology to help surgeons see and remove brain tumors more accurately.
UK Innovate and Research Communications will spotlight each innovator in depth later this fall.
Patent Palooza! 2025 was held Sept. 23 in the Gatton Student Center. Learn more here.
