VA. TECH AMONG PATENT LEADERS

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, April 13, 1993                   TAG: 9304130072
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV3   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG                                LENGTH: Short
VA. TECH AMONG PATENT LEADERS
Virginia Tech is among the top 14 universities in the nation in the number of patents issued to U.S. universities in 1992, and it is the only Virginia school in the top 20. Discoveries by faculty, staff and students earned 23 patents last year, compared with 14 in 1991.
Discoveries included fire-resistant polymers, custom-fitting earplugs formed from foam placed in the ear, materials that retard steel corrosion, a method to detect disease organisms and a method to provide specific nutrients and treat dietary deficiencies in livestock.
Tech President James McComas said that "given the significant decline in defense-related research - and even in on-site industrial research and development, effective university research becomes imperative. Since the university's founding as a land-grant college, this has been our mission: to transfer discovery for public benefit. Our success in gaining new patents underscores the quality and the commitment here for effective technology transfer."
Ted Kohn, intellectual properties manager and director of Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties said that the number of issued patents in recent years "would not have been possible without the cooperation and assistance of Virginia's Center for Innovative Technology and private sector research sponsors."
The nation's leader, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, had 126 patents, followed by the University of California with 81 and the University of Texas with 75 patents.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB