National Academy of Inventors honors SMU professor J.-C. Chiao as fellow

DALLAS (SMU) J.-C. Chiao, the Mary and Richard Templeton Centennial Chair and professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department in the SMU Lyle School of Engineering, has been named a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI).  

Election as an NAI fellow is the highest professional distinction awarded to academic inventors. The NAI Fellows Program highlights academic inventors who have demonstrated a spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development and the welfare of society.  

Chiao, one of 162 inventors selected for the 2023 class of fellows, is widely recognized for his research in using electromagnetic waves in medical applications including wireless closed-loop pain management systems and battery-less gastric motility management. In January 2023, Dallas Innovates called Chiao a “boundary breaker” for these and other inventions.  

In addition to publishing and editing many peer-reviewed articles and receiving numerous awards for his teaching, research, and scholarship, he was named a fellow of both the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in 2020 and the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) in 2022.  

Under the leadership of the SMU Office of Research and Innovation, Chiao was also one of three professors to receive the Texoma Semiconductor Tech Hub designation and strategy development grants in October, which seeks to build on and drive innovation in the existing semiconductor supply chain in 29 counties in North Texas and southern Oklahoma through regional collaboration and workforce development. The Texoma Semiconductor Tech Hub was one of 31 tech hubs selected nationwide.

“Inventions are built on the shoulders of many giants.” Chiao said, “I am very honored to have been nominated by SMU Provost Elizabeth G. Loboa, an NAI fellow, and supported by Vice Provost for Research and Chief Innovation Officer Dr. Suku Nair and many of my colleagues."

Along with Chiao and Provost Loboa in 2018, two others at SMU have been named an NAI fellow: Bruce Gnade in 2017 and Gary Evans in 2020.

Chiao joined SMU faculty in 2018. Previously, he was a Janet and Mike Greene Endowed Professor of Engineering at the University of Texas at Arlington and also served as an adjunct associate professor of internal medicine at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. He received his B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from National Taiwan University and earned both M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering at the California Institute of Technology. 

Chiao and the rest of the 2023 fellows will be inducted to the organization on June 18, 2024 at the NAI 13th Annual Meeting in Raleigh, North Carolina. The full list of fellows can be found here.  

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