Tech Blog Special Edition: A Celebration of UA's Women Inventors

This month, in honor of Women’s History Month, TLA presents a special edition of the tech blog featuring women inventors from across the University of Arizona. With over 130 female inventors bringing their unique research and technologies to the table, women are an integral part of the UA innovation ecosystem.

Hong Hua, Ph.D. - College of Optical Sciences

Hong Hua, a professor of optical sciences and an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and computer science, has focused her research on areas like 3D visualization, displays, and medical imaging systems. One invention in particular that Hua has developed is an improved laparoscope illumination system that directs outgoing rays from a fiber bundle to provide more uniform illumination, even with non-lambertian sources, which allows the full field of view to be fully observed with good detail. Hua’s low-cost system is well-suited for medical imaging systems like laparoscopes where the device can easily be attached to improve illumination.

Learn more about Hong Hua’s technology here.

Jamie Edgin, Ph.D. - College of Science

Jamie Edgin is an assistant professor of cognition/neural systems and is also the Director of the Memory Development Disorders Laboratory at the University of Arizona. Edgin’s specialized research in children’s memory processes and sleep led her to develop the Arizona Memory Assessment for Preschoolers and Special Populations (A-MAP), a unique assessment with the ability examine children’s recognition and recollection components of memory. The A-MAP includes innovative and engaging materials and processes for measuring a child’s memory.

Learn more about Jamie Edgin’s technology here.

Louise Hecker, Ph.D. - College of Medicine

As an assistant professor of medicine and a research investigator within Southern Arizona VA Health Care Systems(link is external), Louise Hecker specializes in regenerative biology, tissue injury-repair, and why healing processes become less efficient with age. To combat this issue, Hecker has developed rigorous efficacy and selectivity screening assays to identify a novel series of small molecule inhibitors targeting NOX4 for the treatment of fibrotic disorders, including idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), and other age-associated lung diseases.

Learn more about Louise Hecker’s technology here.

Heidi Mansour, Ph.D. - College of Pharmacy

Heidi Mansour, an assistant professor of pharmaceutics and drug delivery, focuses a portion of her lab research on the engineering of multifunctional microparticles and nanoparticles as it relates to advanced drug delivery systems. Such research has led to Mansour’s development of novel dry powder formulations of simvastatin and L-carnitine for inhalation delivery in those suffering from pulmonary vascular diseases. These small particle formulations are therapeutically effective, biologically compatible, easy to inhale and subsequently degrade.

Learn more about Heidi Mansour’s technology here.

A. Elizabeth (Betsy) Arnold, Ph.D. - College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Betsy Arnold is a professor in the School of Plant Sciences and serves as Curator of the Gilbertson Mycological Herbarium on the UA campus. Her research centers on fungal ecology and the evolution of symbioses. Along with her colleagues, Arnold has developed a method whereby bacteria that live inside fungi (endohyphal bacteria, or EHB) dramatically influence enzyme production by fungi. Arnold’s technology is directly applicable to the development of biofuels from plant materials, remediation, and other industrial processes.

Learn more about Betsy Arnold’s technology here.

Kimberly Ogden - College of Engineering

As a professor of chemical and environmental engineering and Director of the Institute for Energy Solutions, Kimberly Ogden has spent her time at the University of Arizona researching the production of alternative fuels using algae. Ogden’s research has resulted the development of a number of different technologies, one of which introduces an enclosed all-in-one solution for measuring biological variables using various optical emitters to harmonize the measurement process for real-time, microalgae growth.

Learn more about Kimberly Ogden’s technology here.

Sudha Ram, Ph.D. - Eller College of Management

Sudha Ram, Anheuser-Busch Endowed Professor of MIS, Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Eller College, is transforming the world of information technology through her research in areas like big data analytics, network science, and prediction modeling. As director of the INSITE Center for Business Intelligence and Analytics(link is external), her research develops quantitative methods based on machine learning, statistics, and network analysis for gleaning insights from big data. Ram has developed a novel method that utilizes big data analytics and leverages spatio-temporal data from smart cards to gather individuals’ social interaction patterns to predict and improve student retention within universities.

Learn more about Sudha Ram’s technology here.

Tech Launch Arizona is proud to work with these women and all women inventors from around the University of Arizona. To learn more about the available technologies from all of the accomplished and talented inventors at UA, visit our technology catalog.