By Emily Komornik
Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation

For the third time in four years, Virginia Commonwealth University has been named one of the nation's top 100 universities for utility patents granted in 2025, according to new rankings by the National Academy of Inventors.

The NAI and its Top 100 U.S. Universities ranking highlight academic institutions that advance innovation by securing their intellectual property through patents. In doing so, VCU promotes homegrown discoveries that can move beyond the laboratory and into the marketplace.

"Earning a spot in NAI's top 100 in three of the last four years illustrates that VCU's culture of innovation is not just thriving, it is sustainable," said P. Srirama Rao, Ph.D., vice president for research and innovation. "This recognition reflects the relentless creativity of our faculty and our commitment to ensuring that VCU research doesn't just stay in the lab, but moves into the marketplace to solve the most pressing challenges of our time."

Last year, through work conducted out of VCU's TechTransfer and Ventures unit within the Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation, 16 U.S. utility patents were issued to VCU researchers. That figure placed VCU at No. 88 in the NAI list for 2025.

The TechTransfer team works directly with faculty to navigate the patent process, license technologies and launch startups, and "being ranked in the top 100 is a celebration of our faculty's ingenuity," said Ivelina Metcheva, Ph.D., VCU's assistant vice president for innovation. "At TechTransfer and Ventures, our mission is to create tangible societal and economic impact. It is a privilege to partner with our researchers as they transform their discoveries into patented solutions that serve the public good."

This NAI ranking is driven by the work of individual faculty members whose collective inventions are shaping their industries and propelling VCU on the cutting edge of research and discovery. In recognition of those efforts, the NAI inducted one VCU researcher this year as a fellow and five faculty members as senior members:

• Shunlin Ren, M.D., Ph.D., School of Medicine, NAI fellow
• Jayasimha Atulasimha, Ph.D., College of Engineering, NAI senior member
• Casey Grey, Ph.D., College of Engineering, NAI senior member
• Ravi Hadimani, Ph.D., College of Engineering, NAI senior member
• Worth Longest, Ph.D., College of Engineering, NAI senior member
• Hong Zhao, Ph.D., College of Engineering, NAI senior member

For VCU, the latest NAI ranking is among a number of notable achievements recently for VCU's research enterprise:

• VCU crossed the $500 million mark in research expenditures and ranked No. 46 among public universities, according to the NSF HERD survey that measured research impact for fiscal 2024.
• VCU's sponsored funding - the dollar amount of grants, contracts and awards from external sources, primarily federal, state, industry and philanthropic - reached a record $568 million in fiscal 2025.
• VCU ranks No. 1 among Virginia universities for licenses to startups.

"These accolades and our overall growth are simply not possible without our researchers, who have the drive and passion to make our tomorrow a better one," Rao said.