Innovate Maryland Celebrates Transformative Research Shaping the Future

awards

As the race to build faster, smaller, and more powerful electronics heats up—literally—Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering Damena Agonafer and doctoral student Vivek Manepalli have cracked one of the industry’s most stubborn challenges.

Their inventive cooling system, which blends tiny heat-absorbing capsules with specially designed microchannels, offers a smarter and more energy-efficient way to keep high-powered devices from frying themselves. The system—which has the potential to make the future of supercomputing possible by keeping it cool—claimed the Invention of the Year Award in the Physical Sciences category at the University of Maryland’s Innovate Maryland event—an annual celebration of UMD researchers’ creativity in translating cutting-edge research into practical, impactful solutions to address global challenges.

In addition to the Invention of the Year Awards, special recognition awards were presented to honor recipients for their exceptional contributions to UMD’s innovation ecosystem and their lasting impact both in the region and beyond.

ION Storage Systems, founded by Distinguished University Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and Director of the Maryland Energy Innovation Institute Eric Wachsman, was recognized as Startup of the Year for their pioneering work to develop safer, more powerful, and fully recyclable solid-state batteries.

Reinhard Radermacher (1952–2025), former director of the Center for Environmental Energy Engineering and Minta Martin Professor of Mechanical Engineering, was honored posthumously for his unparalleled career at UMD as an inventor. He holds the record for most inventions disclosed with a cumulative total of 150 since 1984, was himself an Invention of the Year winner in 2010, and finalist three other times. Six companies further developed and commercialized Radermacher’s technologies over his career at UMD, demonstrating his lasting, real-world impact.

Read the full list of Invention of the Year finalists in every category.

Adapted from coverage by Maryland Today.

Published May 16, 2025