Sounds like success, U of A NSF center wins Innovator of the Year Award

The University of Arizona’s New Frontiers of Sound Science and Technology Center (NewFoS) research team won the Governor’s “Innovator of the Year – Academia” award. The Arizona Technology Council and the Arizona Commerce Authority bestowed the honor at their annual event, the Governor’s Celebration of Innovation, held on Nov. 12, 2025. 

NewFoS is led by director Pierre A. Deymier, a professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the U of A College of Engineering. He is a leading researcher in phononics – a field at the intersection of physics and materials science that explores how sound waves move through materials.

Deymier – a faculty member of the BIO5 Institute and the applied mathematics graduate interdisciplinary program – accepted the award with team members Araceli Hernández-Granados, knowledge transfer research scientist, and Lynn Frazier, research manager. 

“This award recognizes the hard work and commitment to innovation of all NewFoS students, staff and faculty,” Deymier said.

The National Science Foundation granted the University of Arizona $30 million to establish the center in 2023. NewFoS accelerates research on topological acoustics. Topological acoustics maps sound waves to an abstract multidimensional space to examine their geometry. By examining sound in this way, scientists can see and manipulate attributes of sound waves that aren't visible in traditional acoustics. 

Applications for topological acoustics include communications and computing, environmental sensing and monitoring, and noise reduction. 

U of A finalists for the Innovator of the Year – Startup 

Two of the four finalists in the Innovator of the Year – Startup category were U of A startups: LifeSpan Digital Health and Branch Therapeutics, Inc. 

LifeSpan Digital Health, started by Dr. Sam Keim, professor and head of the Department of Emergency Medicine at the U of A College of Medicine – Tucson, and CEO Jeff Cary, is working to apply over two decades of research to craft an evidence-based program that provides real-time support for physician and nurse wellness in the workplace. 

Branch Therapeutics, founded by Chris Hulme, PhD, professor of medicinal chenmistry at the R. Ken Coit College of Pharmacy and co-director at the Arizona Center for Drug Discovery; Curtis Thorne, associate professor of cellular and molecular medicine at the College of Medicine – Tucson; and Dr. Sourav Banerjee of the University of Dundee, is working to develop multi-targeted kinase inhibitors for the treatment of colorectal cancer and other malignancies.

Both teams worked extensively with Tech Launch Arizona, the unit of the U of A Office for Research and Partnerships that works with employees to commercialize innovations stemming from university research.

Other finalists in the category included JACE Sciences/RokPaper Packaging, Blackstar Orbital Technologies; in the end, JACE Sciences/RokPaper Packaging took home the top startup honor.  

Each year, GCOI brings together technology, business, and policy leaders from across Arizona to recognize the accomplishments of researchers, large and small companies, startups, students, educators and policy-makers.