The University System of Georgia (USG) Board of Regents has named Farrokh Ayazi — along with four other Georgia Tech scholars — a Regents’ Entrepreneur at the board’s Aug. 9 meeting. Ayazi is the Ken Byers Professor in Microsystems in Tech’s School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE).
The new Regents’ Entrepreneur distinction was approved at the board’s February 2022 meeting and is granted to outstanding full-time tenured faculty members who have an established reputation as successful innovators and who have taken their research into a commercial setting. The Regents’ Entrepreneur designation is bestowed by the board only upon the unanimous recommendation of the USG institution president, the chief academic officer, and the chancellor, and upon the approval of the Committee on Academic Affairs
“Farrokh is exceptionally deserving of being ECE’s first Regents’ Entrepreneur,” said Arijit Raychowdhury, Steve W. Chaddick School Chair of ECE. “He has been a leader in establishing a culture within ECE — following the Institute’s strategic goals — that encourages entrepreneurship and technology transfer. I am thrilled that he has been chosen by the USG Board of Regents and the Georgia Tech administration to hold this title.”
Ayazi’s research, which focuses on MEMS and microsystems, has allowed him to establish two start-up companies based on intellectual property (IP) developed at Georgia Tech: Qualtré and StethX Microsystems.
Qualtré commercialized a new class of acoustic microgyroscopes (‘gyros’) integrated on a chip that operate in the ultrasonic frequency range with much improved small-scale accuracy. Applications include guidance, automotive, defense and personal navigation. Qualtré commercialized low-cost chip-scale gyroscopes for GPS-free navigation of autonomous cars and unmanned air vehicles before being acquired by Panasonic in December 2016.
Ayazi also founded and serves as managing director of StethX Microsystems, which is commercializing a wearable micro-chip for long-term recording of mechano-acoustic cardiopulmonary signals. The data recorded can identify indications of asthma, COPD, and pneumonia.
In addition to Ayazi, four other Tech faculty members were bestowed the Regents’ Entrepreneur designation, including four in the College of Engineering (CoE). They include Kirk Bowman, professor, Sam Nunn School of International Affairs; Andrei Fedorov, Neely Chair and professor, Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and the Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences; Mark Prausnitz, Regents’ Professor, J. Erskine Love Jr. Chair, School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering; and Gleb Yushin, professor, School of Materials Science and Engineering. In total, six CoE faculty members were honored with Regents’ titles.
Read the press release about this year’s Regents’ Professors, Researchers, and Entrepreneurs.