Event
Wednesday, June 3, 2026 – Thursday, June 4, 2026
Watch videos from the events here.
On Wednesday, June 3, and Thursday, June 4, 2026, the Bayh-Dole Coalition hosted our fourth-annual American Innovator Award ceremony and Faces of American Innovation Capitol Hill briefing. The two-day event honored this year’s American Innovator Award recipients, whose achievements are featured in the 2026 Faces of American Innovation report:
- Dr. Eric Fossum, vice provost of the Office of Entrepreneurship and Technology Transfer and senior professor at Dartmouth College, and Dr. Sabrina Kemeny, co-founder of tech startup TAP Systems, Inc., who co-invented the “camera-on-a-chip” — a foundational technology that powers modern digital imaging and video across smartphones, medical devices, automobiles, space exploration, and more.
- Dr. Colleen Scott, chemist and associate professor at Mississippi State University, who discovered a new class of shortwave infrared (SWIR) imaging dyes that have potential to allow surgeons to visualize tumors with greater depth and clarity in real time, advancing precision in cancer surgery.
- Dr. Randall Bateman and Dr. David Holtzman, neurologists and professors at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, who pioneered PrecivityAD® and PrecivityAD2™, the first blood-based diagnostic tests for Alzheimer’s disease — enabling an earlier, more efficient, and more accessible diagnosis option for patients.
- Dr. Carmel Majidi, entrepreneur and engineering professor at Carnegie Mellon University, who created “Thubber” or thermally conductive rubber — a multifunctional soft, elastic, and conductive material that is transforming thermal management in robotics, electronics, and manufacturing systems.
- Dr. Robert Dannals, professor of radiology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and Dr. Martin Pomper, professor and chair of radiology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, who developed Pylarify®, an FDA-approved imaging agent for prostate cancer that significantly improved detection and is now used in hundreds of thousands of scans each year.
The 2026 American Innovator Award Ceremony commenced on Wednesday, June 3, at the Top of the Hill Banquet & Conference Center with opening remarks from Brian O’Shaughnessy, board chair of the Bayh-Dole Coalition.
Programming continued with remarks from Rep. Deborah Ross (D-NC-02), who discussed the role that federally funded research, technology transfer, and strong intellectual property protections play in transforming scientific breakthroughs into new medicines, technologies, companies, and jobs.
Bayh-Dole Coalition Executive Director Joseph P. Allen then invited Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Deputy Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office Coke Morgan Stewart to speak. The Deputy Director highlighted how strong intellectual property rights and policies like the Bayh-Dole Act help innovators, entrepreneurs, and small businesses bring groundbreaking discoveries from the lab to the marketplace.
Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council President and CEO Karen Kerrigan announced the induction of Jere Glover into the Bayh-Dole Coalition Hall of Fame, recognizing his pivotal role in securing the enactment of the Bayh-Dole Act and his lifelong advocacy for innovation-driven small businesses.
The award ceremony honoring the 2026 American Innovator Award recipients followed, in which Joseph P. Allen shared highlights of each honoree’s story and presented them with their awards. Each recipient was invited to discuss their research and the role the Bayh-Dole Act played in their journey.
Following the ceremony, Joseph P. Allen moderated a panel discussion, “Tech Transfer Today: Navigating a Shifting Bayh-Dole Landscape,” featuring Association of American Universities Associate Vice President and Counsel for Government Relations and Public Policy Kate Hudson; MIT Technology Licensing Office Executive Director Lesley Millar-Nicholson; Bayh-Dole Coalition Board Chair Brian O’Shaughnessy; and UM Ventures, College Park, Executive Director Ken Porter.
The panel discussed the current challenges and opportunities facing technology transfer professionals as they navigate an evolving Bayh-Dole landscape while working to sustain the commercialization of federally funded research.
On Thursday, June 4, the Bayh-Dole Coalition hosted the 2026 Faces of American Innovation Capitol Hill Briefing in the Russell Senate Office Building. Following opening remarks from Joseph P. Allen, attendees heard from Rep. Kevin Kiley (I-CA-03), who spoke about the benefits the Bayh-Dole Act has delivered to communities across the country and the importance of preserving the policies that support innovation and invention.
Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Deputy Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office Coke Morgan Stewart then provided remarks highlighting the contributions of innovation-driven small businesses to economic growth, national security, and America’s global competitiveness.
Joseph P. Allen moderated a panel briefing on the 2026 Faces of American Innovation report with five of this year’s awardees. The awardees shared how the Bayh-Dole Act helped transform their research breakthroughs into real-world products, underscoring the continued importance of a stable patent and technology transfer system in advancing U.S. innovation leadership.
Following the briefing, these 2026 Bayh-Dole Coalition American Innovator Award recipients and members of the Bayh-Dole Coalition met with more than 20 congressional offices to discuss the importance of preserving and protecting the Bayh-Dole Act, sharing firsthand examples of how the Act continues to drive innovation and economic growth.
