Markvicka named senior member of National Academy of Inventors

University of Nebraska–Lincoln engineer Eric Markvicka has been elected a senior member of the National Academy of Inventors.

The academy’s senior member program recognizes early-stage innovators whose success in patents, licensing and commercialization is positively impacting the welfare of society and economic development in their communities. Senior members are rising leaders in their fields who foster innovation and mentor the next generation of inventors. Each member holds a U.S. patent that has been licensed or commercialized, and/or five or more issued U.S. patents.

Markvicka, the Robert F. and Myrna L. Krohn Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering, is the sixth Husker researcher to receive the recognition, joining a group of 715 senior members worldwide.

Markvicka has been listed on nearly 20 U.S. patents, beginning as an undergraduate student working on robotics. His research combines computer and materials sciences to develop materials and processes that can improve human health.

His work includes the development of:

• Stretchable and wearable electronics that can monitor the human body, including sensing “noses” that sniff out excreted compounds to signal the onset of diseases, and adhesive sensorized skins that can improve the underwater grasping of objects;
• Soft, elastically deformable composites of liquid metals to enable new generations of soft electronics, robotics and reconfigurable structures, such as filaments, films and structures through 3D printing;
• New ways to manufacture rubber composites that can better customize the material’s electrical, thermal and mechanical properties for specific applications.
• A wearable monitoring device containing multiple sensors, enabling faster and more accurate detection of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and other chronic conditions, such as asthma, heart disease and inflammatory disorders.

With these innovations, Markvicka envisions future devices that will improve health monitoring and medical treatments both on Earth and in resource-limited environments such as long-duration space missions.

Markvicka said a desire to innovate has always been a defining part of his career — from his time as a Nebraska Engineering undergraduate through graduate school and then as a member of the university’s mechanical and materials engineering faculty.

“I think it’s incredibly important for the research we do at the university and within the college to have an impact on society,” he said. “We must file patents and actively champion these ideas — on our own or through students — to get our work out into the world to help make the world a better place.

“Being selected a senior member is a testament to the students in my research lab who have made these inventions possible, as well as my mentors. Their willingness to involve students not only in their research, but also to be considered as inventors on patents resulting from that work, has been invaluable.”

Markvicka will be inducted as a senior member on June 25 at the 14th Annual NAI Conference in Atlanta, Georgia.