The Early Career Innovator of the Year award recognizes Ohio State researchers who are early in their career actively working to promote commercialization of university intellectual property, through invention disclosures filed, patents applied for and/or received, technologies licensed or spin-off companies formed. Join us in congratulating the 2021 Early Career Innovator of the Year finalists.
Abraham Badu-Tawiah, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Abraham Badu-Tawiah is an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. His research is focused on the development of new mass spectrometry techniques for disease detection, and the studies of novel ion chemistry in charged micro-droplets. Badu-Tawiah is a recipient of Sloan Fellowship Award, NIH MIRA for New Investigators Award, ACS Division of Analytical Chemistry Arthur F. Findeis Award, Eli Lilly Young Investigator Award in Analytical Chemistry, American Society for Mass Spectrometry Research Award and Department of Energy Early Career Award.
Badu-Tawiah obtained his PhD in chemistry from Purdue University and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University.
David Hoelzle, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
David Hoelzle is an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. His research interests lie in applied control theory and dynamics for applications in additive manufacturing robotics and microsystems for mechanobiology research. He received his MS and PhD in Mechanical Science and Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and his BS in Mechanical Engineering from The Ohio State University. He completed a post-doc in the Department of Integrative Biology and Physiology at the University of California, Los Angeles and previously held the position of assistant professor in the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Notre Dame. Hoelzle is a recipient of the 2016 CAREER Award and the 2016 Society of Manufacturing Engineers Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award.
Mark Mitton-Fry, PhD
Assistant Professor
Division of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy
Mark Mitton-Fry is an assistant professor in the Division of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy in the College of Pharmacy. His research is dedicated to inventing cures for multidrug-resistant bacterial infections. Mitton-Fry’s research group designs and synthesizes novel inhibitors of bacterial topoisomerase enzymes as potential therapies for multidrug-resistant bacterial infections. In addition to support from the College of Pharmacy and Ohio State’s Discovery Themes Initiative, the research has been funded by grants from the Dr. Ralph and Marian Falk Medical Research Trust, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, and the NIH. Mitton-Fry is also co-director of the Antimicrobial Resistance thematic program within Ohio State’s Infectious Diseases Institute. Mitton-Fry graduated summa cum laude from Carleton College with a BA in chemistry and received a PhD in organic chemistry at the University of Colorado Boulder.