IEEE Council on Superconductivity Carl H. Rosner Entrepreneurship Award

To recognize the potential impact of superconductivity on the fields of electrical engineering, physics, medicine and energy by rewarding entrepreneurs who have established a successful business or had the primary responsibility within a commercial organization to commercialize a device or service based on a property of superconductivity. The award will recognize young entrepreneurs while they are still growing their businesses to encourage others to follow their path. This award is named for Mr. Carl H. Rosner, whose career is an excellent example of a successful entrepreneur in the commercialization of superconductivity.

Historical Background:

This award is named for Mr. Carl H. Rosner, whose career is an excellent example of a successful entrepreneur in the commercialization of superconductivity. Early in his professional career, Mr. Rosner left the research department of a large industrial company to start a small company, Intermagnetics General Corporation (IGC), which focused on the design and manufacturing of superconducting magnets, mostly for the scientific research community. Within five years, the company was viable and self-sustaining. Over the next thirty years, Mr. Rosner grew IGC into a publicly-owned company with annual revenue in excess of 300 million dollars. For his contributions to the field of applied superconductivity, in general, and for the commercialization of superconducting systems, in particular, Mr. Rosner was one of the initial recipients of the IEEE Council on Superconductivity Max Swerdlow Award for Sustained Service to the Applied Superconductivity Community.

Prize:

The recipient of the IEEE Council on Superconductivity Carl H. Rosner Entrepreneurship Award will receive a suitably inscribed plaque and an honorarium of 2,500 US dollars.

Funding:

The initial increment of funding for this Award has been provided by Mr. Carl H. Rosner, for whom this Award is named and whose career is an example of a successful entrepreneur in the commercialization of superconductivity. Once these funds are expended, the IEEE Council on Superconductivity will provide funding for additional IEEE Council on Superconductivity Carl H. Rosner Entrepreneurship Awards. When this Award is funded directly by the IEEE Council on Superconductivity, the Treasurer of the IEEE Council on Superconductivity shall guarantee that the awarding of the honorarium associated with the Award during any given calendar year shall not cause the Council’s financial balance sheet for that year to go negative.

Presentation:

This Award will be presented not more than once per calendar year at a suitable international conference on applied superconductivity that is associated with the IEEE Council on Superconductivity, such as the Applied Superconductivity Conference, or at a time and place designated by the President of the IEEE Council on Superconductivity. The Award will be made only in those years when the Selection Panel has made a selection.

Basis for Judging:

Nomination for this Award shall be made by submitting a (nominal) two-page letter to the Executive Secretary of the Selection Panel describing the educational background and early professional career of the candidate and the accomplishments of the individual in his/her entrepreneurial role that may qualify the nominee for consideration for this Award. Once the nomination letter(s) have been received, they will be distributed to all members of the Selection Panel and each member will have the opportunity to evaluate these letters and make comments, either pro or con, on each nomination. Once these evaluation forms with comments have been circulated among the members of the Selection Panel, there will be balloting (by e-mail, if most convenient) for the selection of a recipient. To be selected, a recipient must receive at least three-quarters of the votes cast by members of the Selection Panel during a given ballot. A quorum shall consist of at least two-thirds of the total membership of the Selection Committee voting during any given ballot. If, after two ballots, no nominee has received the required number of votes, no Award shall be made during that year.
The evaluation of nomination letters shall be completed no later than eight weeks prior to the opening session of the international conference on applied superconductivity, or at a time designated by the President of the IEEE Council on Superconductivity where the Award will be presented. The Award will be made not more than once per calendar year, but only in those years when the Selection Panel makes a selection.

Eligibility:

The Award will generally be made to an individual, independent of nationality, country of residence, race, or gender, who, in early or mid-career started a new company or who joined an existing small business and assumed principal responsibility for the development and eventual commercialization (either in the commercial marketplace, or to the military or scientific communities) of a new and innovative superconducting product or service. At the time of the Award, the recipient would have exercised leadership over his/her company or business activity for a period of time of (approximately) five years and the company or business activity appears to have become a sustaining entity and is deemed to be on the path toward developing a potential commercial product. The recipient does not have to be a member of the IEEE. An individual may receive the IEEE Council on Superconductivity Carl H. Rosner Entrepreneurship Award only one time.

Nomination Details:

The Rosner Award is presented every two years. The next awards cycle will be in 2026.

Nominations must be completed no later than 28 February of the award year.

For further information on the Rosner Award, contact:

Eric Hellstrom
Vice President of Awards & Recognitions
IEEE Council on Superconductivity
[email protected]

Dr. Robert L. Fagaly
Chair, Rosner Award Committee
IEEE Council on Superconductivity
Email

2024

Lixing You

For demonstrating outstanding entrepreneurship skills in the field of applied superconductivity, in particular:
• for founding Photec, Ltd. and the commercialization of high-performance Superconducting Strip Photon Detectors (SSPDs),
• for promoting the use of SSPDs in Quantum Technologies and fundamental research,
• for transferring these technological advances worldwide through several scientific collaborations, and market-oriented technological transfer actions.

2020

Shieh-Yueh Yang

For demonstrating outstanding entrepreneurship skills in the field of applied superconductivity, in particular,
• for founding MagQu Co., Ltd. and the commercialization of SQUID-IMR ac magnetosusceptometers, and
• for transferring SQUID-IMR assay technology and ac magnetosusceptometry to clinical uses for quantifying ultra-low-concentrated proteins in human blood specific to Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and frontotemporal dementia.

2018

Gianni Grasso

For demonstrating outstanding entrepreneurship skills in the field of applied superconductivity, in particular,
• for founding Columbus Superconductors, a commercially successful company that produces MgB₂ superconducting wire,
• led development and made critical technical contributions to ex-situ processed MgB₂ wires, and,
• led conductor manufacturing in a commercial environment. Under Dr. Grasso’s leadership, Columbus achieved high-quality, low variability, competitive costs in long lengths.

2016

Danko van der Laan

For demonstrating outstanding entrepreneurship skills in the field of applied superconductivity, in particular,
• for founding Advanced Conductor Technologies LLC with the goal of commercializing high-temperature superconducting CORC® cables,
• for the development of innovative HTS CORC® cables for high field magnets and high current power transmission systems, and,
• for transferring these technological advances to the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Navy

2014

Christopher M. Rey

3 (Southeastern U.S.)

Biography

Dr. Rey is the Vice President and founder of Tai-Yang Research Company.

From 1996-2004, Dr. Rey was the product manager for HTS magnet technology at DuPont in Wilmington, DE. At DuPont, Dr. Rey served as both the Program Manager and Principal Investigator for two separate Department of Energy sponsored Superconductivity Partnership Initiative (SPI) programs. The first a $ 7.1 M, 3-year (1999-2002) effort to design, build, and test a 0.2 m, 3-T HTS reciprocating magnetic separator. The second is an $8.4 M, 3.5 year (2002-2005) effort to design, build, and test a 0.5 m, 3.0 T HTS magnetic separator. In terms of combined size, magnetic field strength, and stored energy, these represent the largest HTS coils ever fabricated.

From 1991 until 1996 Dr. Rey worked at B&W in Lynchburg, VA where he was the project leader for the 20 kA / 10 kV HTS Current Lead Program for use in a Superconducting Magnetic Energy Storage (SMES) device. He was also a Task Leader for the testing of Nb3Sn Toroidal Field coils in support of the Tokamak Physics Experiment (TPX), and was responsible for performing the cryogenic tests for the main ring quadrupole magnets.

Dr. Rey received his Ph.D. in Physics from Florida State University and his B.S. in Physics from Loyola University. He has been a participant in the Department of Energy HTS Annual Peer Review from 1995 to 1999, and served as Chairman in 1996 and 1997. Dr. Rey has authored/co-authored over thirty-five publications in superconductivity, is presently serving as technical editor for IEEE Transactions on Magnetics for the MT-16 and MT-17, and Applied Superconductivity conferences, and has several patents and patents pending in the field of superconductivity and magnet design.

Affiliation(s)

Energy-2-Power

For demonstrating outstanding entrepreneurship skills in the field of applied superconductivity, in particular,
• for founding Tai-Tang Research Co. which became Energy-2-Power (E2P) with the goal of commercializing HTS products including: magnets, current leads, cables, and power equipment, and,
• for the development of innovative HTS degaussing and cryogenic cable connector technologies which were successfully transitioned to US Navy surface combatant ships.

2012

Stuart J. Berkowitz

For demonstrating outstanding entrepreneurship skills in the field of applied superconductivity, in particular:
• for founding Out of the Fog Research, LLC, with the goal of commercializing cryogenic RF technology,
• for the development of innovative superconducting RF technology and the successful at-sea testing of HTS tunable filters, and,
• for transitioning these technological advances into US defense systems.

2010

Terry L. Grimm

4 (Central U.S.)

Biography

Dr. Terry L. Grimm received his Bachelor of Science degree with highest honors in Nuclear Engineering from Purdue University in 1987. He then attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he received his Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering and Plasma Physics. While working on his doctorate, he was a research assistant in the Coherent Electromagnetic Wave Generation Division of the Plasma Fusion Center of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), studying high-power, high-frequency microwave devices (gyrotron) for electron cyclotron resonance heating of fusion plasmas.

Dr. Grimm was a senior physicist and adjunct professor at the Michigan State University (MSU) National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory (NSCL). In early 2000, he established the Superconducting Radio Frequency group at NSCL and supervised the construction of infrastructure to develop, fabricate, and test numerous superconducting cavities. Dr. Grimm’s research on superconducting particle accelerators for the Rare Isotope Accelerator (RIA) involved the supervision and guidance of 10 staff members and six Ph.D. students. His work on RIA laid the foundation for the $500 million Facility for Rare Isotope Beams project that was recently cited at MSU. Prior to his research with MSU, Dr. Grimm was a physicist at the Department of Energy’s Superconducting Super Collider Laboratory in Dallas, where he led a team that designed and tested the low-energy booster cavity and studied longitudinal beam dynamics.

In 2005, Dr. Grimm founded Niowave to commercialize superconducting electron linear accelerators in fields as diverse as healthcare and national security. It has grown to be a world industrial leader in superconducting accelerator research. In 2008, the firm qualified as the second U.S. vendor for accelerating cavities for the International Linear Collider. In 2009, Niowave became the first private company in the world to design, fabricate, and test a superconducting electron injector. Niowave has grown to over 60 employees and has received numerous awards, including being named among Michigan’s 50 Companies to Watch in 2008. In 2010, he received the IEEE Entrepreneurship Award in Applied Superconductivity

Affiliation(s)

Niowave, Inc.

For demonstrating outstanding entrepreneurship skills in the field of applied superconductivity, in particular,
• for the founding of Niowave, Inc. and the commercialization of superconducting linear accelerators and electron injectors
• for the development of innovative superconducting niobium structures and manufacturing techniques, and,
• for transferring these technological advances to the Department of Energy and to defense, homeland security, medical and industrial applications