WASHINGTON –
Debra Rolison, Ph.D., of the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) has been named Fellow of the
National Academy of Inventors (NAI), for having demonstrated a highly prolific spirit of innovation in creating and facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on the quality of life, economic development, and welfare of society.
Rolison has been at the lab for over 43 years and heads the Advanced Electrochemical Materials section. The recognition by the NAI is attributed to the efforts made by her team’s inventions related to a new form factor for zinc anodes in rechargeable alkaline batteries.
“Our team works with architected porous solids — composites of being and nothingness — that have sparked our imagination for a quarter of a century and spurred our in-lab innovations,” said Rolison. “It is thanks to my co-inventors who convert our scientific musings into fundamental results that link to applicable inventions that I am being recognized by election to the National Academy of Inventors.”
Rolison is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Association for Women in Science, the Materials Research Society, and the American Chemical Society. In addition to being the only woman to receive the E.O. Hulburt Award, she has received the William H. Nichols Medal, Department of the Navy Dr. Dolores M. Etter Top Scientist & Engineer Team Award, Charles N. Reilley Award of the Society for Electroanalytical Chemistry, ACS Award in the Chemistry of Materials, and Hillebrand Prize of the Chemical Society of Washington
. She is the author of over 275 articles and holds 47 U.S. patents.
Election as an Academy
Fellow is the highest professional distinction awarded solely to inventors and the 2023 Class of Fellows is comprised of 162 distinguished academic inventors.
The 2023 class of Fellows will be honored and presented their medals by a senior official of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) at the
NAI 13th Annual Meeting, June 18, 2024, in Raleigh, North Carolina.
The complete list of NAI 2023 Fellows can be found at:
https://academyofinventors.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/2023-NAI-Fellows-List.pdf
About the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory
NRL is a scientific and engineering command dedicated to research that drives innovative advances for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps from the seafloor to space and in the information domain. NRL is located in Washington, D.C. with major field sites in Stennis Space Center, Mississippi; Key West, Florida; Monterey, California, and employs approximately 3,000 civilian scientists, engineers and support personnel.
For more information, contact NRL Corporate Communications at (202) 480-3746
or
nrlpao@nrl.navy.mil.