Ideas Into Impact: Researchers Share Breakthroughs at Young Academic Inventors Symposium

At the Young Academic Inventors (YAI) Award Symposium, from left to right: (Top row) Devinder Mahajan, Carol Carter and Iwao Ojima; (Bottom row) Aaron Sloutski, Dimitris Assanis, Lauren Maloney, Amir Rahmati and Shanshan Yao. Photos by John Griffin.

From emerging diseases to climate change, rising energy demands and growing concerns about privacy in an increasingly digital world, there is no shortage of challenges facing today's society.

At the Young Academic Inventors (YAI) Award Symposium, Stony Brook University researchers demonstrated how innovation can help address those challenges, sharing technologies that range from next-generation antiviral therapies and smart biomaterials to clean energy systems and artificial intelligence safeguards.

Presented by the Stony Brook University Chapter of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) and Intellectual Property Partners (IPP), the symposium recognized the 2025 and 2026 Young Academic Inventor Award recipients while offering insights into discoveries that could shape the future of healthcare, technology and sustainability.

The event, held June 5 in the Charles B. Wang Center, also marked the 10th anniversary of the Stony Brook chapter of the NAI, which was established in 2016 to promote innovation, entrepreneurship and the translation of academic discoveries into technologies that benefit society.

Keynote speaker Carol Carter, SUNY Distinguished Professor in the Renaissance School of Medicine's Department of Microbiology and Immunology and a newly elected NAI Fellow, shared the story behind decades of research aimed at developing new treatments for HIV and other viral diseases.

For Carter, the symposium was also an opportunity to recognize the students and trainees whose work often drives scientific discovery. "Because we're at a university, the workforce of undergraduates, graduate students and postdocs do the work," Carter said. "Events like this permit us to say 'thank you' to them."

Carter described a time when treatment options in the early years of the HIV epidemic were limited and researchers were searching for new approaches to combat the rapidly spreading disease. "We had no drugs, and we had no vaccines," she said. "It was utter confusion, and there were a lot of people suffering."

Her laboratory's work eventually led to patented discoveries that identified new ways to interfere with viral replication and contributed to the development of antiviral therapies. She encouraged the award recipients to continue pursuing innovations that can make a meaningful difference in people's lives.

Carol Carter, SUNY Distinguished Professor in the Renaissance School of Medicine, delivered the keynote address.

The first two award recipients, recognized for 2025, focused on healthcare challenges from very different perspectives.

Lauren Maloney, clinical assistant professor in the Renaissance School of Medicine Department of Emergency Medicine, presented a motion-adaptive ultrasound training system designed to help paramedics learn and practice ultrasound imaging in realistic field environments.

One of the most common reasons people call 911 is shortness of breath, Maloney explained. While portable ultrasound technology has become increasingly effective at identifying the cause, training paramedics to use it inside moving ambulances and helicopters remains a challenge. "We needed to find a way or create a way for our paramedics to be able to learn how to do ultrasound that's durable, that's able to tolerate movement and does not cost a small fortune," Maloney said.

Her team developed a low-cost simulation platform that can distinguish movement caused by the vehicle from movement made by the user, generating realistic training images in real time. "The most exciting part of this is we've been able to accomplish it for $312 for the supplies," she said.

Aaron Sloutski, research associate in the Department of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering, discussed the development of smart hydrogels that can be injected into the body as liquids and then solidify at body temperature. The technology has potential applications ranging from treating brain aneurysms to improving root canal therapies through targeted drug delivery and tissue regeneration.

"We thought, why not take those polymers and capitalize on the fact that our body is basically 37 degrees Celsius," Sloutski said. "We can inject a cold solution inside the body and generate solid devices for future use."

The 2026 award recipients discussed innovations aimed at addressing global challenges in energy, healthcare and digital security.

Dimitris Assanis, associate professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, highlighted research focused on hydrogen and ammonia as alternatives to fossil fuels. As energy demands continue to rise, particularly with the rapid growth of artificial intelligence and data centers, Assanis said new solutions are needed to reduce carbon emissions without sacrificing reliability.

"We are in the middle of a climate crisis," Assanis said. "The reality is, as we're looking at artificial intelligence now, the amount of data centers and energy consumption is causing an energy crisis that is unprecedented."

His research includes patented combustion technologies, hydrogen-powered energy systems and collaborations with government and industry partners working to develop cleaner energy infrastructure.

Shanshan Yao, assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, presented advances in soft electronics, an emerging field that combines materials science, mechanical engineering and electronics to create devices that more closely mimic biological tissues.

Her laboratory develops flexible sensors, wearable health monitors, soft robotic systems and human-machine interfaces designed to improve healthcare and communication. "Our goal is to develop soft tissue-like devices so that our device can better interface with the body tissue, better capture the signal, and better deliver the treatment," Yao said.

Among the projects highlighted were wearable systems capable of monitoring hydration, body temperature and movement, as well as silent speech interfaces that use muscle activity and machine learning to translate intended speech into communication.

Closing the symposium, Amir Rahmati, assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science, addressed the opportunities and challenges presented by artificial intelligence and the growing need for cybersecurity and privacy protections.

"There is a seismic shift that's happening in industry and academia," Rahmati said. His research focuses on developing technologies that allow advanced digital systems to function while better protecting personal information. Recent projects include privacy-preserving frameworks for augmented reality devices and systems designed to secure sensitive information contained in digital logs.

For Carter, the mission of addressing real-world challenges remains integral to the spirit of invention and innovation.

"What I hope for you all is that the inventions you tell us about will actually converge along with other things in place to be able to translate into something that will hopefully be a game changer for someone," she said.

- Beth Squire